I was inspired by a video below to write this, please watch this powerful message.
I hated math. It was more than just not liking doing it, I mentally could not grasp it- to the point where I shut down. I spent hours at the dinner table in 3rd grade, at a stalemate with my dad who tried his best to help me until I broke down in tears of anger and refusal. If my worth was measured by mathematics alone, then I was nothing; however, teachers saw through my weaknesses and realized my other skills, talents and strengths. I was creative in numerous ways, I was a writer, a communicator...I was so much more than numbers. School didn't scare me- and math stopped scaring me because teachers showed me possibilities and not limitations.
Everyone loves to debate about education and claim that they know what is 'best practice.' People who aren't in the classroom actually teaching students seem to think they know what's best. Policies are created based more off numbers than they are actual people. I am in awe of this video which echoes the sentiments of what education should be and was always meant to be. Education isn't meant to be one size fits all- this is a dangerous mindset that so many school policy makers and curriculum designers seem to have adopted.
Unfortunately, a lot of the responsibility and blame will fall on teachers whose administrations impose restrictions on who they teach, what they teach, and how they teach. I'm aware that not all teachers are great, but I guarantee you the majority are going above and beyond for their students. Being a teacher is one of few jobs where the individual spends an insane amount of time caring for and worrying about children other than their own. They don't enter this career because they simply love science or love English; they enter this field because they want to provide students with the skills and opportunities to be the best versions of themselves because these young students are 100% our future. I love English, but the reason I entered this field of teaching is for the sole purpose of helping each child find their purpose, their passion. If we've lost this as our goal then we've really lost our way. Teachers need to be supported in their drive to prepare students for their future lives beyond the classroom and yet, it is sometimes one of the most under-appreciated jobs in today's society. We place value on so many other things and forget that each politician, surgeon, scientist, banker, etcetera- they were not born with the knowledge in relation to their profession, but they were taught by someone else. Not only that, but there was someone in their life who helped them aspire to greatness, supported their ambition and helped them get there. A teacher helped them discover and pursue their interests.
Education is designed to educate the whole person, to introduce students to passions and new interests, as well as to teach them to aspire and inspire. It's reassuring for me to be working with teachers who see the big picture, but also who see students as individuals and not simply as a class. I wish some people could see up close the difference a class, a lesson, and a teacher can make to a student and be driven to support teachers, students, and learning the way they should be rather than trying to undermine their efforts in the name of statistic results. I'm student teaching in a high school class where the lead teacher has introduced a particular routine of independent reading. Students read what they wish, at their own pace, and with no assessment (I can hear assessment administrators gasping across the country). But the goal here is to teach students to be lifelong readers and to give them an escape into something else. In life, when are you reading to be assessed? You're not, you're reading for your own benefit and pleasure and schools seem to sometimes forget that these two qualities are crucial for students. She also explained to me how her grading doesn't consist of letters and points and percents because she recognized that her students started to care only about grades and not actual learning. The students' success is instead determined by their ability to collaborate, participation, putting in effort, progress and improvement. She is measuring actual learning and not how well kids can memorize a list of vocabulary words or perform well on a timed exam.
The common core is nice in theory and I know it was created with the intent to help, but in lesson planning I find the standards asking me to teach Pythagorean theorem and how to write papers about a specific genre; however, these standards don't emphasize communication, how to be creative, how to be thoughtful and critical, compassionate and much more. They don't focus on the ability to hold discussions and learning to understand and respect the perspectives of others. They focus on things they can only measure with numbers and immediate, concrete evidence.
Intelligence is more than just math, science, English, and history alone. It's being musically inclined, a critical thinker, sympathetic, a communicator-among so many other things. Schools aren't meant to reveal limitations, they're meant to teach students that there are none. Students and teachers should see doors opening, not closing. We need communities and policies that are willing to invest in schools whether that be supplying the right amount of materials or assistance. We need to invest in people, in futures.
"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all." -Aristotle
