Sensible Syllables

Several years ago, while teaching a poetry unit, I handed out a formatting worksheet for the students to use to write a haiku. My standard practice is never to ask anyone to do that which I am not willing to do myself, so I modeled the use of the worksheet by writing my own haiku, which I recently found in a stack of "what should I do with this" papers.

Education

Students in the rows
Watch me like a T.V. set.
Engage: don't observe!

In 17 syllables, I summarized my philosophy of education: the student has to participate for the process to work.

It's time for the annual exit exam debacle, with districts, site admin, and teachers in an absolute frenzy of preparation geared toward one goal: to make sure that students pass the test, especially seniors, who cannot graduate without passing both the English and the math. The clock is ticking for the Class of 2008.

However, that's the problem in my mind: the district, the site admin and the teachers bear the brunt of failure, not the students! Students who cruise through school, doing the bare minimum, attending when they feel like it and refusing to complete homework assignments that cut into their personal time become the focus of the frenzy. The students who are there, who are participating in the process, usually don't have to worry about whether they will pass the test because it's an 8th grade level skills' test and the test is given for the first time in 10th grade.

The student who does not attend, who does not engage, who does not participate will not pass the test--and should not pass the test. It is NOT the fault of the institution, of the teacher, of the curriculum: it is a choice made both by the student and the parent who refuses to do the daily job of monitoring attendance, checking homework, listening to reading assignments, signing worksheets, requesting weekly progress reports. A passive parent often nurtures a passive student, and when it comes down to the wire and the student is not going to graduate, they both blame the system, rather than accepting their own failure to perform.

Districts, sites, and teachers can throw time, effort, and financial resources at these students ad infinitum, but these students often effectively quit school about the 7th grade. Is the institution required to go back and recreate the educational experience for the student who has been in abstentia for 4-5 years? I don’t think so, but that’s what’s happening.

I laughed when my former district paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase software programs guaranteed to skill and drill (senior) students to pass the exit exam. Computers were dedicated to the process, teachers were trained and paid extra to mentor the remedial sessions, ad campaigns sold the entire package to the parents--but the students didn't show up! The computers sat idle; the teachers waited for the hungry masses to log on; the parents complacently waited for confirmation of the passing score--but the students who don't attend school, who don't complete homework assignments, who don't write essays, who don't participate in the educational process also don't show up for tutoring.

The educational process cannot be passive observation: it must be active participation. Until students not only realize the difference, but are held accountable for their own failure to be part of the solution, rather than being the problem, nothing is going to change.