School is boring. Anyone reading this, if truly honest with themselves, no matter what their age, must agree. More accurately, we can all agree that some teachers are more boring than others. That is not the students' fault.
Why a blog post on this? Because I want to simply say it out loud. Say it proud. Say it with no hesitation or embarrassment. Say it in defiance of anyone who would think or say, "shame on you." Look, we've got to get real in order to make things better.
I just watched an episode of Assume the Position, a brilliant show on HBO by Robert Wuhl. Basically he teaches a college class for an hour. As you watch you're on the edge of your seat. You're laughing. You're engaged. The sixty minutes fly by like five. And guess what? You obtain and retain tons of relevant, historical and sociological information. It's sort of a cross between a history and a sociology class. But it's so entertaining! That got me thinking. Why were most of my classes in school (from elementary school through college) usually so boring? Answer: the teachers were boring.
Ok, so lots of teachers are boring. I won't cite examples since you'll have no trouble drumming up examples from your own experience. But here's the real travesty: when the teachers are boring they blame the students! How do they blame them for their own shortcomings? Well, they use a variety of techniques.
One way teachers unconsciously "blame" their students for their own shortcomings is by creating rules and then blaming the children for breaking them. Here's an example. Let's say a teacher is supremely boring. She's so boring that kids tend to act up in her class. When a human being is forced to sit for an hour or more and listen to something that is terribly uninteresting they become restless. They begin to think of other things. They begin to think of their friends, their girlfriends or boyfriends, their music, anything to keep them from having to focus on the torture. That's only natural! So because her teachings skills are not enough to keep the students' attention she tries to make the students listen. She'll make strict rules like, "No talking in class," and "You all must be silent before I begin to talk." Now as kids sit down in a theater at the debut of the latest Harry Potter movie, must they be told to be silent? No. Why? Because it's interesting and entertaining! Must they be told under threat of punishment to keep quiet? No. Students usually talk and otherwise act up in class because the teacher is so not interesting and entertaining.
Another accusation that boring teachers often use to reflect their own shortcomings onto a student is that "the student has a hard time focusing on his classwork." Uh, ok. Here's how to test to see if a kid can focus: Put him in front of a video game that he enjoys and see how many hours he can focus without interruption. 'Nuff said. Okay, the child can focus then. So why isn't he focusing in your class? Answer: He's just bored as hell!
Usually a boring teacher's answer to the unwanted (but natural) response from their students is to invoke authority. Oh that is so sad. The general sequence of events goes like this: 1) the teacher bores the kids, 2) the kids' minds then wander, 3) the kids begin to engage in other activities as anesthesia against the torture (like talking, shooting spitwads, writing notes, or something else that's actually entertaining), and then finally, 4) the teacher punishes the kids for doing it. That sends the message that it's the kids' fault when it's actually the teacher's lack of teaching skill!
If you're a student reading this please have mercy on your boring teachers. They don't know what they're doing! They need your help, not your resistance.
If you're a teacher reading this wake up! Instead of trying to blame the students, watch a real entertainer at work (like Robert Wuhl in HBO's Assume the Position) and then learn how to make your class interesting and enjoyable!
peace,
-Forsyth
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Wow, thats all very true but I've never looked at it from that perspective. Being a student I have always seen rules and such designed to keep the class maintained, which I'm sure some are for but i now see that most are just ways of making it seem like the teacher is the victim when in all actuality, the student is the one suffering!
ReplyDeleteVery nice post.
Thanks cadirac (great name). Glad you got something out of it.
ReplyDeleteMiddle and High school students these days are bored at school, no question about that. But is that the only place they find boring? Uh….let’s see. After a day at school, while traveling back home, they listen to their Ipods, talk to their friends on their cell phones, pull out their lap tops and surf the net, etc. When they get home they say to their parents, school was sooo boring, I can’t take it anymore! So they sit at their computer and play games and communicate with friends on myspace for an hour or two. Then, it is the Wii or X box or PS3 for another hour or so. Their favorite TV show comes on, that takes about another hour. Friends keep calling on the phone saying how bored they are and that they want to come over. So the kids say to their mother: can so and so come over, we are so bored, we have nothing to do!
ReplyDeleteSo, what is the problem? Have school teachers and parents come together in some sort of conspiracy to deprive America’s children from entertainment? Are our children so deprived that they feel compelled to play such games as the “choking” game because they have nothing else to do?
What we are witnessing here is very simple and very sad. It is what our society has produced. American society should be called the “me” society. We repeatedly tell our children how special and how talented they are (even if they have no talent at all) and that they are all winners. We bribe them to get good grades and pay them to do their house chores. We keep pulling out our Visas and mortgaging our homes so that our wonderful children don’t go without the newest Iphone. We are creating a nation of fat, lazy, spoiled rotten, selfish, little weaklings that will get their little assess kicked by the very bright, united, strong and industrious Chinese.
These “me” people (and I’m not talking about just kids here) spend so much energy and time thinking of how others (teachers, parents, spouses, friends, etc) “owe” them fun, entertainment, and happiness. They go to great lengths to obtain that next high, even if it means hurting others and themselves in the process. The “me” people have no sense of commitment, community, of giving, producing, earning, and working to make life better for all. Everybody is out for themselves because they believe they are special and deserving and if any given activity such as education is not entertaining it’s not worth their time. They now have the nerve to suggest that the classroom becomes a one man/woman show for them! It is a very sick state of being. It is a terrible disease caused by the abundance of the “me” society. Yes, we have too much! So many fun products to buy to amuse ourselves! We want, want, want, so we shop, shop, shop. Electronics, cars, even everlasting love and meaningful relationships are for sale, for a small fee we can find a soul mate, pick from a catalog exactly what we want, we deserve it because we’re special right? We keep feeding the machine while the clock is ticking. As long as we keep feeding the machine, our children will be bored, it’s simple, the more we give them the more bored they will become and the more they will continue to look for that next thrill, whatever that may be. The more they get from others, the least they will feel they need to produce. I once read about how the mighty Roman Empire came to an end and I was going to suggest……..oh, sorry, I forgot, that will be reading history …..too boring!
I actually liked your post "anonymous", and don't disagree with a lot of what you say. But, you call the rising generation with disdain the "me" generation. Is it so bad for each person to think of themselves? I don't think so. But it definitely does need to be tempered with the understanding that each individual is part of a society and a universe and that *giving* of their talents to others is the key to their own happiness.
ReplyDeleteI also detect a deep resentment in your voice. Could it be that *you* are angry at what *you* had to go through (and are probably still living) and a wee bit jealous that the rising generation doesn't have to go through it too?
We both agree that kids should grow into durable, productive, contributing adults. (I started to say "responsible" but found it too moralistic.)
So my question to you is, "How should we do that?" By subjecting them to boring, irrelevant classes?
peace,
-Forsyth