The media thrives on sensationalism. Someone is more likely to click on an article that says fourth graders don’t know how to read over one that says a teacher is giving extra help to his students. This is an inherent bias that isn’t avoided by one political party or another, or even by an independent. And I think this applies to a lot of topics in our everyday world, including the school system.
While there are obviously issues with the school system (or else there would be nothing to report on), there is a lot that goes right, and I think we need to bring attention to this. Instead of dwelling on its flaws, we will progress as a nation by improving the foundations it brings to the table.
One of the biggest things that the school system does right is facilitating good student-teacher relationships. As stated in an article published by Terrell Heick on teachthought.com, “the relationships between teachers and students in many of the top classrooms in the United States is very strong, with teachers acting as mentors, guides, content experts.” I have experienced this many times myself in the school system.
One of the first teachers I had when I moved here from Illinois was Mr. Widmier. I’ve always been good at math and so I had many conversations with Mr. Widmier who I sat close to at my table. Having a teacher who was this friendly with me established this school as less of a hostile and draining environment which was especially important as I had practically no relationships here considering I had just moved.
A more long-lasting and impactful relationship of this type has been with me and Mr. Murphy. I’ve been in orchestra all three years I’ve gone to this school and Mr. Murphy has been one of the single most identifiable reasons for my growth as a musician in that time. He has given me multiple individual lessons or pieces of advice that I have taken to heart.
Another great example is Mr. Balk, no matter the inconvenience to him, he will take as long as needed for you to understand something, as long as you are willing to learn. And I think that if I took calculus with any other teacher I would have been seriously behind with my learning style, one that he catered to so well.
An outside example is from fellow Rocky senior Gabriel Phillippe who said that his favorite teacher was “Ms. Madison because she was a really relatable person, she knows how to keep the classroom environment under control while being friendly and welcoming.”
Now with all these examples of the school system fostering great student-teacher relationships that benefit the students’ growth, how can we expand on this, and use it to improve the school system moving forward? The answer to this question is to reduce the maximum number of students per class, hire more teachers, and allot time in class for students to people to have one-on-one conversations with teachers to allow the teachers to teach the students directly how they need to be taught.
Obviously, a large part of this solution involves more funding for the school system, as hiring more teachers across the country would be a large financial commitment that also involves more funding for educating and promoting teachers’ success. Teachers’ pay would have to be higher to persuade more people to become teachers.
Some may say this is too large a commitment to take, but with all the examples I’ve shown of how closer student-teacher relationships benefit students’ learning, I’d say it’s one we need to take in order to ensure the success of our nation moving forward.
One of the single greatest causes I’ve found for students not doing well in school is that they aren’t being taught in the way they learn best. If we create a school environment where every child has the opportunity to work their hardest and find success from it, we will have a much more educated and equipped society, one that can handle the unique situation we’ve been placed in in recent years.
