a little bit of a rant, my apologies

Today in class Susan said something really cool: (I'm paraphrasing.)

"The objective of homework should not be to train students to be responsible. Homework shouldn't be about controlling behavior."

I love that; so interesting and optimistic.

On my more cynical days, I get a little nervous about how schools are these intensely whack institutes of socialization of which I'm about to be a part. Students raise their hands and wait to be called on; they walk in single-file lines; they write five-paragraph essays; they organize into cliques; the boys get good at math and science; the girls get good at art; everybody learns that abstinence is the coolest; smart students pass; dumb students fail; young minds are filled with knowledge. ...This is what I'm doing with my life?

But Susan's suggestion in class today was basically, "Um, fuck that." It's the novel idea of respecting students' time, intelligence, and individual motivations. If they don't want to do the homework, then they shouldn't necessarily have to. Make assignments more interesting and/or relevant and maybe students'll see the point and do the work. Or, if teachers want to make sure students've learned something, why not let them prove that in class. Why are students simply expected to care about their coursework outside of the classroom? Because most of the time, they don't. They don't do their homework, and then their grades reflect that. Then, they get put into lower track classes, with less motivated teachers (in general), and less motivated students (again, in general). And what's the point? To teach responsibility? To teach students that "I'm the teacher." and "My class is important." and "You should respect me."? Why is all that stuff simply expected of students? Are not teachers supposed to teach? I'm not saying that responsibility and classwork and respect aren't important. Au contraire. I just think it's outrageous for teachers, of all people, to expect students to immediately know and comply with these conventions.

This whole respecting students thing is particularly poignant for me today; because, when I was observing in a high school this morning, I watched one of the students get punished for saying ass. First of all, who. gives. a. shit. Seventeen-year-olds say ass; the world is an imperfect place. Secondly, in a Language Arts classroom, above all, I would think that all language would be interesting and worthy of examination. Isn't it funny that someone whose job, I would think, is to help students become critical readers and writers of the English language, could be so unwaveringly punitive when it comes to "cussing"? (Or is a teacher's job really to teach students to uncritically adhere to convention?)

Finally, and most importantly: whether the no-swearing-rule is whack or not, the student broke it because the student was trying, I bet, to preserve a shred of dignity in a class where he consistently displays signs of embarrassment. He's failed the class twice, on account of the fact (the teacher has explained to us observers and aloud to the student in question in front of his classmates) that he doesn't turn in his homework. In fact, he didn't turn in the assignment I gave him last week. He's demonstrated to me in class, though, that he can do it. I know that he's met my lesson's objective. She knows that he does know the material. Today specifically, we read a short story that he's read before. His participation in the class discussion demonstrated that he was well able to meet the objective for today, probably to the point that he was bored with the material. So when the teacher, frustrated, burst "I'm trying to figure out why he did that [said ass]," I suggested that maybe he was feeling a little contemptuous at having to spend a whole class period repeating information he already knows. Her response? "Well, you know why he's here? Because HE. FAILED. So he needs to get over it." Awesome. Stunning attitude. I'm shocked that you haven't been able to engender this student's respect. NOT.