by Billie M. Dove

Created on: May 08, 2008

As a first year teacher, previous member of a gang, and an ambitious "C" student; I can justify that schools fail for various reasons which do not include the learning pace of a child. Public schools and private schools have the main goal of educating each child. Public schools have a second agenda of not allowing George Bush's No Child Left Behind act close them down. No matter what justification a school may have for opening its doors every school year, the failure of a student can be blamed on a culmination of the teacher, administration, parent(s), and the student.

After being enslaved by the cubicle for the past ten years, I realized that it was time to make my passion for teaching a reality. A high school teaching position opened up and became my salvation of ultimately finding my dream job. However, with that dream job came many surprises in which I was not prepared for. The students not only hungered for knowledge, but they yearned for acknowledgment, praise, and most of the time an open ear. My students wanted to hear more about my life and wanted to share theirs with me. My students were proud to show me that they raised their previous grade up by three points. My students wanted me to listen when they apologized for not giving it their all that day, but they had just had a big fight with their best friend. Teaching, I realized, was much more then just transferring knowledge.

High school was difficult for all of us who ever attended and teachers as well as administration need to acknowledge that. It was to my dismay that I encountered many teachers who didn't want to bond with the students. There are teachers who really do teach simply for the summers off. And what is worse is that there are administrators that focus more on being the enforcers that they lose sight of the humanistic part of education. What occurs then is that these students get so wrapped up in their own lives filled with teenage angst that high school adds fuel to their fires they have within themselves. This in turn can result in a low desire to learn.

In order for high school students to succeed, they need teachers that want to be there because they care about the education and overall well being of their students. They need administration who will praise them for any amount of effort that indicates they are trying their best to learn. They need parents who are also involved in what they learn and what they are dealing with on a day to day basis. The most important attribute of a successful high school student is that they take responsibility for their education. After all, once they leave high school, there is no one else to blame.

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