This month’s article is on how I feel about a few issues in our schools. There are many problems that I feel needs to be fixed, but for now, we will deal with a few.
First, I feel we need to start with a quality education. If the city wants our students to have grades that compete with students in the suburbs or across the country, we at least need to have the work that helps us make the grades.
Second, I definitely think that school environment plays a big role in how students learn and act. If you have kids that are horse-playing in class, talking and disrupting other students, and causing problems, it makes it pretty hard for those who really want to enjoy school and get a good education. Then add bullying and peer pressure and you have a recipe for a negative environment. Uniforms and dress codes seem to be more important than the school environment. You can actually get suspended for not wearing the proper uniform, but students get away with using inappropriate language and disrupting the classroom. That’s very sad!
Third, I think schools need to have better student-teacher bonds and trust. When students come to school, they should feel comfortable going to an adult or teacher to talk about things important to them. Students should not have to feel that they are being a bother to the staff when that’s what they get paid to do, which is to teach the students!
Fourth, school lunches are horrific! I mean, the most important meal of the day is at school and kids are fed crap! How are they supposed eat food the looks disgusting or has mold or unrecognizable meat? Nine times out of ten they are not going to eat it. If students don’t have quality food, they don’t eat. How can they pay attention through the day to concentrate and get good grades?
I think that schools should come up with a better, healthier lunch menu that students will at least enjoy. The meals they get there are the most important of the day. Maybe schools could have students join them in making decisions about the food; after all, they do have to eat it.
My last thought is about uniforms. I understand why schools would want students to wear uniforms, but I think that uniforms take away the expression and personality of a student. You don’t get to have fun with different styles and it’s really boring when every day, everyone looks exactly the same. We live in a world where people are not the same at all. I wonder how it would feel if teachers and school staff had to wear the same boring outfit every day.
Although we are the future, sometimes it doesn’t feel like our schools reflect it. Our schools are full of winners and we need winning schools.