For the joy of learning
As we told the students that they were going to be learning ballet today, they all cheered. Loud.
I almost fell over.
See, when this past school year ended, like most teachers, I was drained. Exhausted from long days of teaching, managing behavior and dealing with all things that come in education.
I was also exhausted of the American “take-education-for-granted” mindset of many students. It was as if they were burned-out from learning.
I know, obviously not all kids love school. For some, it’s hard because of learning disabilities or academic struggles, they get frustrated and end up shutting down, resenting school.
But I have seen over the last decade of teaching in US public school systems, a trend in entitlement and a lack of the appreciation of learning in students.
There’s a mindset of entitlement: that they are supposed to get what they want and not have to work hard for it. If they don’t get a grade they want, they send in Mom or Dad to fight their battles. They ask for make-up work a week before grades are due—after a semester of never doing any work. They get a consequence from a teacher? The blame is on the teacher, not the student. (Trust me, I’ve had many parent conversations based on this one.)
Education has become an obligation, a routine. A given.
However, in my experience teaching internationally especially in areas of conflict or hardship, it is the exact opposite.
In Lebanon, I had students show up an hour before school started to help set up in exchange for a little extra time to practice their English.
Here, students are so excited to learn a new dance style, they jump and cheer. They say thank you to me at the end of class with a huge hug and without any prompting from another adult. Their parents drop them off with a kiss and a stern reminder that they better be good for the teacher.
Why the difference?
There could be a lot of contributing factors but I think the main one: these children understand that education is not a given but a gift.
A gift that can be taken away.
A gift that they need to survive in the world.
Many know what it’s like to not have an education. The Syrian refugees in Lebanon who I met had missed years of school because of the war. They were so eager to catch up that they would ask us for extra homework, everyday.
They understood the importance of education and hungered for it.
So how do we bring this mindset back to the US? It’s a struggle I face each time I return home to my students.
A few words come to mind. Four steps we can do for ourselves and teach to our students:
Perspective.
Empathy.
Gratitude.
Action.
Perspective: when we remind ourselves of what others in this world go without or when we reflect on what those who came before us had to endure to earn an education, we begin to shift our mindset. It becomes less about us and more about the bigger picture.
Empathy: the moment when we take that perspective and we jump inside. How would it feel to one day wake up to your nation at war and the inability to go to school, work or walk safely down the street? Do we listen to the stories of those who have endured hardship without responding with our own thoughts? Do we just listen, taking their stories in and sitting beside them in their struggle? Understanding that hardships like theirs can happen to any of us, at any moment.
Gratitude: then we can move into gratitude...being thankful for the freedoms, the rights, the gifts that we have been given. Free access to education, freedom of speech, the right to protest, freedom to travel, clean water, 24-hour electricity.
Action: all of the above should propel us to take action...understanding that even though we are grateful, there is still work to be done. Free education? Yes but not equality in education. Clean water? For some parts of our country but not all. (Think: Flint, Michigan.)
And how do you get the wisdom to do these four steps?
Through education.
1 comments
This is so profound and beautiful. thank you so much for sharing this. Your dad actually shared with us at work.
ReplyDeletethank you for your dedication and love of others and what you do.