Growing Roses in Concrete

So far in my educational career, that's elementary school up until today, I can count on ONE hand the number of teachers I will personally remember for the rest of my life. They were the sources for inspiration and motivation that drove me forward and expanded my curiosity. They got me excited for going to class, encouraged exploration outside of the school and were single-handedly responsible for completely transforming my perspective on the world. A student from the The Passion Project named Ray is quoted saying, "A great teacher is always like a student because they're always learning so they're always learning new and better ways to do something." This is the exact sentiment I have for the aforementioned professors I admired. For the past few years I've been hearing left and right from social activists that the importance of a teacher or professor to become more engaging and invested in their students is paramount to their success. Why hasn't this been realized and actualized previously? Who's ass are their heads stuck up to not notice the importance of great educators? Because from the get go, I'm talking about lying there in a crib as a baby, I could have told them this.

I'm mostly curious as to when the schooling network will look for something better than the grading system. Sure, tests and quantifiable scores are an acceptable measure of a student's capacity to memorize and regurgitate information, but it is hardly what I would considered learning. It's already made evident that most teachers are under qualified and do nothing beyond purely teaching the subject, rather than teaching the students. "If the environment that I'm in encourages risks, then I'm not going to be afraid the try things," says Karina whom is another student interviewed in part by The Passion Project. Another student named Ray reflects on the same belief by stating, "The teacher should definitely encourage us to take risks because without taking risks you're stuck in one place." It is here where test scores are failing us most because these teachers assess the student's capacity to learn based purely on their ability to mimic their coursework that does not reward risk taking or exploration. Just think of the kind of damage an under-qualified teacher administering poorly designed exams is doing to a student's desire to remain in class. What are we telling them about the most important years of the lives? Can you blame them for opting out?

After witnessing major advances, and major setbacks, imposed on our education system in the past couple years has left many feeling, myself included, helplessly washed along as seemingly disconnected politicians make decisions that will affect the lives of many. Now, this may sound like nothing new, but nonetheless it would be great if there was more open dialogue between the administrators of our schools and the students. A bridge that can help connect this gap is the professor. Emily, from The Passion Project believes that "...constant communication with the students, constant reassurance," is the key to connecting the difference that separates students from faculty. If there was more accessible information and open communication regarding discussions of changes that are being made and changes that need to be made, I believe this would greatly increase the involvement of students abroad. With that, it brings me to my final question, what can we do to help?