I'm still aggravated with my students, but mainly because of their apathy. I just don't understand it. Why wouldn't someone want to learn? There is so much on this world to know, and ignorance is just not an excuse for me. I have always loved learning new things. I've always been one of those people (before the Internet age) who would look something up in the encyclopedia, find something else interesting along the way, read both, and then end up finding something else. I could spend hours perusing the encyclopedia. (Maybe I had a bit of ADD, LOL.) I'm the same way with Wikipedia and other information sources on the Internet. The difference now is that I can open a new tab instead of having three or four fingers holding my place for the next thing I wanted to read about.
I realize that this makes me a complete nerd. Then again it also makes me a great partner for Trivial Pursuit. I'm full of useless knowledge; some not so useless. Sometimes it just comes spilling out, and I have the fear that I'm a complete bore. I try to guard against that. A bore, a nerd, or whatever you would want to call me, I've always loved adding to my knowledge and reading new things. My love of learning is why student apathy frustrates me so much. I think it is something all teachers have to deal with at some point. It's one of the reasons I loved teaching at the college where I was an adjunct. A lot of my students were older and had tried college once before but left because of apathy, then they realized what they were missing and were back to really learn this time around. Middle and high school students just don't have that life experience yet to realize what they are missing. And it's not just with my teaching because that would sound incredibly arrogant of me, but it is with nearly all teachers (many coaches are the exception). We have so much to give, and it gets frustrating when students don't care.
3 comments:
I'm with you in wanting to learn things — following links, noticing interesting encyclopedia articles along the way.
Maybe the problem is that when schoolkids have to study some subject they aren't interested in, that taints their feelings about school as a whole.
I'm so in the same thinking way as you are...
I often heard my French speaking students asking:"Why should I learn English when here, in Province de Québec, everything is going on in French..."
How frustrating to realize the «narrowness» of that idea.
I was so angry once that I said:"OK, it maybe doesn't matter after all. With the lack of knowledge you have and not even have a high school degree, you'll surely NEVER have to go further than Montréal because you'll be poor and unable to go in some foreign countries..."
Today, it's seems that « glamour and apperances» are more valuable than knowledge and culture...
AND I'm not talking of the most basic knowledge: writing your own language without mistakes...
Funny to hear my silly students telling me that the «Google translater» wasn't accurate...(LOL)
As I mentionned them, if you put your so bad written French texts with so MANY ERRORS... Not suprising it gives you BAD translations...
Education in primary and high school in Province de Québec has so much been lowered in regeard of the basic knowledges, that they get out of their high school with a diploma that has not great value...
They don't even know how write without errors at almost every words...
So, be assured that many teachers in many countries are in the same «boat» as you are...
What I often say:"Culture is like JAM (confiture in French), the less you have, the more you spred it..."
La culture c'est comme la confiture, moins tu en as, plus tu l'étends..
Friendly yours!
Your first paragraph sounds exactly like me as I was growing up. The encyclopedia's yearbook was grabbed the instant it arrived each year. I'd read all the rest already!
I dealt with it when I was in a high school. I don't know how teachers do it. That's why I hold you all in such high regard.
Peace <3
Jay
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