Extra Credit

TED Talks Education focused on the high school dropout crisis. This is a major issue in our society today but no one seems to have a solution to the problem. The first speaker Rita Pierson discussed how vitally important relationships are when it pertains to learning. She said she made her class feel as if they were chosen to be her students not that she was chosen to be their teacher. She seems to encourage them more than degrade them. I believe if you make a child feel good about themselves then they will do better in school. As someone that just graduated from high school many of my friends dropped out within that four year period because they were discouraged. If the teachers make you feel as if your nothing then your work will reflect as such. We spent more time in the school then at home, 8 hours for five days a week and some of us had Saturday school. Within that time span we should have walked out feeling better about ourselves but in most cases we felt worse. The next speaker Ramsey Musallam is a chemistry teacher who sparks the minds of his students to question "why"? If you get the mind of a child going with curiosity then he/she will be motivated to learn more about that topic but if teachers don't get the mind going then they will never really leave trying to learn on their own. The next speaker Angela Duckworth spoke about the mind and said the smartest person could actually be the dumbest well at least that's how I interpreted it. Schools focus so much on testing when in my opinion grades hinder the ability to learn. Students become focused on the grade they will receive and not focus on really understanding the work itself. Sometimes high school can be so discouraging and especially when you go to a school an urban school. The environment has an effect on you the fights, the metal detectors, the students around you basically it can all make you feel like giving up. Bill Gates really made me think about how poorly my high school teachers were. If they aren't getting feedback on how they can improve then how will they ever know? Only a few teachers would ask if they were boring, or going to fast and some didn't really care. Most of my high school teachers had the approach that whether we learn or not doesn't matter because they are still getting paid. Now that statement is very true but why a be a teacher if you don't care whether all of your students walk out of your classroom knowing more than they did when they walked in? Just a question for thought. Geoffrey Canada is such an inspiration and all my life my parents have taught me that America finds money for wars, to go into space and other useless things but no one invests money in our schools. They are quick to take away art programs when that's what really sparks the mind of our children. If it costs 5 billion dollars America has it but its not being used on the FUTURE OF THE CHILDREN! Pearl Arredando discussed how students have to travel far just to be in a decent school. I myself was one of those kids that traveled all the way to Bayside to get a good education. I live in Jamaica and it took me an hour to and from school just to learn, I loved bayside but there are three schools in my neighborhood all three are on the list to be closed? Why should a child have to take a bus to school to learn? I was taking public transportation since 8th grade to learn better. The United States has to do better for our children. Sir Ken Robinson was the last speaker and he believes you can be called a teacher but that doesn't mean you are fulfilling that role. Testing is a controversial issue, my English professor doesn't give tests because he said what's the point of making students memorize a bunch of things and testing them. Tests don't show how smart or how dumb you are it shows how some can memorize and some can't. My English professor has never had to fail a student because of his teaching methods now if every educator could follow a trend like this I believe there would be less high school and college dropouts.