Do we really understand who we teach? We spend a lot of time and money determining what to teach, and when and how to teach it, but how much time do we spend studying who we teach? Nearly every other profession focuses primarily on the people it serves. The business world spends billions in market research to understand everything about its customers. Medical professionals would not dare progress with treatment without knowing everything there was to know about the patient. Tech companies like Google are founded on understanding every tendency and online habit of its constituents. Yet, we in education often continue with the same methods and decision making we have used since the 1930s without the effort to truly understand those who enter our classrooms every day.
Students today are profoundly different than previous generations. 9/11, the subsequent cultural changes, and the rapid advancement of technology affected this generation in ways sociologists still do not fully understand. Their ideas about education differ from the adults in their lives. Their moral compass does not have absolutes. They hold to different views of respect, authority and leadership. They exhibit many well documented positive characteristics, but they simply are not the same as their predecessors. If we are to reach them, we must truly understand them.
My department ran a comprehensive study of our 656 high school freshmen to gain a better understanding of our students. We asked a series of questions to which the students' responses would give us a clear picture of their ethical and moral boundaries, their feelings about education, leadership and authority, and their ideas about life after high school. We then gave the same survey to our teachers which gave us the ability to cross reference the data. The study showed extreme differences between the students and teachers. One example is the response to a question regarding cheating. The question read, "Is it okay to cheat?" 100% of the teachers chose the response, "It is always wrong to cheat." Only 22% of the students chose that response. 47% of the students chose the response, "It is okay to cheat when you have been treated unfairly (not given enough time to complete assignments, not given enough time to study, etc.)" Another 21% chose the response, "It is okay to cheat if you have no other option to get a passing grade on the assignment." This is one simple example of the insight we gained about the students' attitudes about situational ethics. The most revealing aspect of the study was the discrepancy between the teachers' and students' ethical standards. 100% of our teachers chose this response to another question: “those in authority deserve respect simply because of the position they hold.” Only 14% of our students chose that response. Over 75% chose the response: “those in authority must earn my respect before I will give it to them.” These examples represent the numerous differences in the way adults and students understand the world and our culture.
After full evaluation of the survey data, our teachers began to see the profound differences between them and their students. We teach from a certain perspective based on our life experiences, particularly our experiences related to our education. Our students are listening from an entirely different perspective generated from their own experiences which we have established are much different than any other generation. Often what we say and do from our perspective is received in a much different way, and the results are much different than what we as teachers intended them to be. We then get frustrated and do not understand why our students are not learning, and why they do not seem to care.
I was captivated by a goofy performance of a middle aged man in the early stages of the American Idol competition. He sang a song called, "Pants on the Ground." He was lamenting over the fact that the young guys sag their pants below their waist line. It was hilarious. It struck a chord with many educators. It is a battle fought in almost every school in America. The issue however is a glaring example of the disconnect between adults and young people. Will we continue to complain about the attitudes and actions of the students, and forge ahead with the same methods based on our perspectives without an understanding of why they do what they do? Can we commit to study them, to learn from them, to spend quality time with them, to fully understand them so that we will be able to engage them in learning? Will we learn what motivates them, what inspires them, and avoid what alienates them? Can we stop complaining about the clothes they wear and the attitudes they have toward leadership and responsibility and figure out why they think and act the way they do? The stakes are high. If we cannot change, we run the risk of these students choosing to raise themselves. If we can, we will earn the right to be heard, and we will be given the incredible opportunity to teach them.
I was captivated by a goofy performance of a middle aged man in the early stages of the American Idol competition. He sang a song called, "Pants on the Ground." He was lamenting over the fact that the young guys sag their pants below their waist line. It was hilarious. It struck a chord with many educators. It is a battle fought in almost every school in America. The issue however is a glaring example of the disconnect between adults and young people. Will we continue to complain about the attitudes and actions of the students, and forge ahead with the same methods based on our perspectives without an understanding of why they do what they do? Can we commit to study them, to learn from them, to spend quality time with them, to fully understand them so that we will be able to engage them in learning? Will we learn what motivates them, what inspires them, and avoid what alienates them? Can we stop complaining about the clothes they wear and the attitudes they have toward leadership and responsibility and figure out why they think and act the way they do? The stakes are high. If we cannot change, we run the risk of these students choosing to raise themselves. If we can, we will earn the right to be heard, and we will be given the incredible opportunity to teach them.
No comments:
Post a Comment