Middle School Student
How do you feel about school as a student?
Its okay.
What are some things you would change about schools if you could?
The freedom of rights. They limit that.
What do you mean?
Like. You know.
No, I don't. If you make grandiose statements please back them up.
Like when you're in trouble you don't really get to say what you want to say, they're just like oh, too bad and don't listen. Like this kid's watched beeped and my math teacher was like "Get out" and we're like what? its only a watch beep.
You're saying some teachers abuse their power and overreact?
Yes
What rights specifically are they limiting?
They are limiting our rights to speech.
So what would you do to change it?
Nothing. Nothing can be done.
Why do you say that?
Because no one will listen to a kid. They'll believe the adult of course.
SOF student- Henry
What have you learned from school?
Well I have really learned the most about social graces and how to interact. I have learned about the balance between work and socializing and how sometimes it isn't always crystal clear and honestly I think that a lot of the time the classes are an afterthought because it's all about the people
What are some things you might change about school that you think would make it better?
Well, I really think that's it's not the school so much as it is the student. School needs to have a consistent format and it needs to teach you certain things you might not like learning about because at the end of the day you don't always know what's best for yourself and the system works for the majority of people. If anything, I would say that the classes need to be more open, like more choices. More, shorter classes would expand people's horizons a lot and teach them more in the end if done right
Do you think fewer days per week at school would be more conducive to student learning or more detrimental?
Well I think that it could be either, and that depends on the student. It can work fantastically if the students pays attention and can keep up, but can crash into a wall if the students don't bring their A game. I also think that if this were done, you would need to have school until 5 or so, because a certain amount is needed
In terms of years, is the time spent at school too long and dragged out or is it fine as it is for the amount we learn?
I think that it is dragged out in a way. If you made school more specialized earlier you could teach the stuff that is really important to the people that would need it, while others might not. So somebody who wants to be a physicist could learn science and math while the writer would learn English and history. This would make things more concise in the long run.
I like it. I have always liked it, because at the very least there is something that I find interesting in my day and I surround myself with people that keep it enjoyable. I feel happy about it for the most part. There is nothing that outright bores me or annoys me
Bard Student- Reggie
What are some things you might change about school that would improve it?
Take some of the years off i.e. middle school. Seriously, I learned nothing in middle school. They reviewed everything in high school. Take a year or two off elementary too. I mean how long does it take to teach kids to add and subtract? We spend enough time in school as it is and it just keeps getting longer.
Do you think fewer days per week would be more conducive to student learning or detrimental to it? It would be better. We'll have more time to get things done and sometimes my mind just needs a break and the ratios are retarded too, I mean 5:2?
How many days a week do you think school should ideally be?4:3. 4 days in school 3 days out
How do you feel about how school has changed?
In today's society you can’t really accomplish much without education. Now it’s all about the brand name colleges.
Do you think education focuses on the wrong things, i.e. tests and quizzes?
Yes, some schools base their entire course on regents but that's dumb b/c the regents really doesn’t cover all that much
College Student- Brian
What has school taught you? How to sit down for four hours without moving writing an essay. School teaches you discipline and work ethic.
How do you feel about school? It is a necessary part of society. That said it takes too much of my tax money and gives too little in return.
What are your feelings on middle school and high school? You're going to look back and realize that the days when you had no responsibilities at all were wonderful.
What type of school would you send your child and why? Private school where there are no teacher unions, where the acceptance rate is in the single digits. Unions are a general bane in American society.
Are there any flaws with the educational system? Moral integrity.
What do you mean? A lot of countries have classes teaching their students how to be good citizens and we don't, that’s why they end up being drunken idiots.
What is it doing right? Uhhhh..... well... we have really good literacy rates so obviously our kids can read and write which isn't that bad of an accomplishment.
What have you learned in school? High school or college?
HS be polite to people, you'll make enough enemies don't need to add more just because of rudeness
College? No one gives a crap about you so you better learn to stand of your own two feet. The professors don't give a crap about your excuses, you could be bleeding crawling to the door and the professors will mark you absent.
SOF Teacher- Melissa
How do you feel about school as a teacher?
I feel very conflicted about it. The whole emotion of school, I guess from my own personal experiences as a student and working as a teacher at SOF. I guess it is such a big contrasts. Hopes more opportunity for meaning making in school. I thinks Andy’s class is good for that. I think in some classes it’s not as easy as a Humanities class but I think the teachers in this school try to make it meaningful for students. I definitely feel the structures in school is very flawed. How stuck it is. So many hoops you have to jump through and things that confine you. At least in our world here fluid, we push the envelope even though it doesn’t always work. So much time is wasted experiences that you have to go through. I feel it’s important to question because we always know when it is happening when we’re having these experiences. Having awareness then trying to find ways to make them not occur or shift them in a way that feels more real.
How has your experiences effected your teaching?
So much, one of the reasons I went into teaching. There was no place to think about my own learning in school. My experiences also have shaped my career path and have informed my passion for being in a school where we try to not differentiate from students and put labels on kids and we just learn and grow from each other. I was raised in a tradition stuck setting where you have to muddle through one way. So I feel very strongly that there is not just one way, there are different ways, different entry points for kids to learn, and that will always be my passion for my career.
What is something you would change about the educational system if you could?
Oh my gosh, there’s so much I would change. Flexibility on schools supporting the needs of the student. I don’t think every school should be the same. What makes us successful is that we’re unique and students choose the school. A lot of times it’s the right one for them sometimes its not. I think it’s important for schools to have a vision, to create a diverse community of learners, from all backgrounds and socioeconomic situations and its starts from the schools. Because school is where students become young adults and if you’re in an environment with lots of people who are different from you. It demystifies it. It helps chip away those barriers because you form relations and see how other people live day to day. Its one of the most important aspects of school and I don’t think its valued enough where people learn from differences. That’s why we still have a lot of schools that are so segregated. It’s pretty pathetic.
Synthesis
I think I got a pretty varied responses but for the most part people seem to agree that there are certain parts of school that are not needed and things that could be changed because its not perfect. I did different ages and schools, mostly students to see what they thought about it. I think the most interesting insight was from the perspective of a teacher. To see what they thought about it and why they do it. One insight, that made sense to me was that by choosing our schools we're kind of choosing what learning style that we want and that different students will learn differently there is no one set way to doing things. I think most teachers do care a lot more than we think they do about teaching and they want students to be able to learn from them. All the interviewees were in a consensus that school has become a necessary part of our society, their reactions were interesting. Most excepted it, and even if they didn't want to, they dealt with it in one way or another. Some people like that and some people don't. It seems that its easier to point out the flaws than to say what it is doing right.
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