I keep trying to figure out when the "common school" started to fail again. There were some drastic changes that occurred in the eight years from me graduating from a public, multicultural high school and me beginning to work in the public school system. I don't know what happened.
I love my job. I even love the kids as difficult as they can be sometimes. I wonder where the disconnect is occurring. As a student I didn't get all the bells and whistles and super inspiring lessons that were so fun and interactive, but I learned. I went to school and I learned.
We did have activities that I was able to participate in which made school a much more desirable place to be. I was in band, high steppers and junior honor society in middle school and choir, high steppers, national honor society and class officers in high school. I was always busy and had other reasons to come to school other than to learn and casually socialize. We performed at games and school events. We had fund raisers.
Do you think the removal of most after school activities take the incentive out of being a good student?
I think it certainly is one area to look at. It infuriates me that some of the first things to go is arts, when looking at to trim down the budget. Many programs suffer because of this, especially when its art and theatre. These are such positive ways for children and adolescents to expressive themselves in ways they may not be able to through math and science. I would also be willing to suspect the increase of importance in high stakes testing. Now more teachers are forced to teach to the test, so a lot of the extra lessons are cut out to make time for test material. It was through those extra activities that teachers made the material relatable and applicable to my life.
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