The moment you walk into any schooling system you
can tell what its focuses are. Math, English, science, and the occasional
history. It’s apparent that our school’s are lacking something vital and that
is communication. School’s are so focused on cramming an extensive amount of
information in kids’ minds to set them up to pass state issued tests and so on.
What the school system needs is a communication class to teach the kids to be
open and interactive. Everything in school is teaching pure information, what
kids are lacking are communication skills that teach them how to talk to people
and be confident in themselves.
What our children need is to have the chance to set
themselves apart from others and give themselves the best chance of succeeding
possible. The most qualified person in the world is not going to get a job if
they can’t walk into an interview and represent themselves appropriately. There
are very few jobs that are strictly independent, young adults need to learn how
to communicate with others in order to be able to work in a group setting.
Schools are focusing on meeting only academic standards and its crippling
student’s ability to have an opportunity to express their thoughts and
opinions. Worst of all, schools are teaching kids that this is something that
does not need to be addressed. Allowing them to think that getting good grades
will ensure success. In his book Pedagogy of the oppressed, Paolo Freire
writes “education is suffering from narration sickness” (Chapter two), and
that’s just it. With teacher’s bonuses depending on how their students pass a
state issued test, of course classes are going to focus in from an academic standpoint.
Not to mention all of the schools budget cuts students aren’t even being
offered extra-curricular activities such as debate, drama, and other various
sports. Schools need to recognize the value of making a class like this
mandatory to ensure a well-rounded array of opportunities for their students.
Unfortunately school systems are being set up to suggest to students that conformity is important, and are making sure they are dependent on their teachers to feed them knowledge to recite at a later date. In bell hook’s book Critical Thinking, she notes “those students who do not dread thinking often come to class assuming that thinking will not be necessary, that all they will need to do is consume information and regurgitate it at the appropriate moments” When really they should be benefiting from the opportunity of learning how to think critically on their own. In a real life setting there is no teacher directing you on how to complete the group task that may be at hand, you are left to figure these things out on your own. Young adults are not granted the free knowledge in a normal situation, they need to take the initiative to go and get it themselves. A communications class would begin to build and prepare them for the real world and build a sense of confidence student’s lack, allowing them to be successful in communicating.
Schools aren’t giving students the opportunities to learn productive communication and express themselves in a positive way, and it’s crippling our young adults. Behavioral problems would be sufficiently lessoned if students were given some way to channel their energy into acting positive. In the movie Chalk, directed by Mike Akel, the students had severe behavioral problems and don’t listen to their teacher, which causes the teacher to feel overpowered. This would help shape our young student’s into adults. In Chalk, when the history teacher lost “teacher of the year” he became very upset and flipped a desk in front of his students. If he had better communication skills he would have been able to express himself in a more appropriate manner. Also, after he had behaved so negatively in front of his students, he didn’t know how to apologize or explain himself to his students, which he would have known how if he had been taught how to handle such situations. If kids were taking a class to teach them how to communicate positively it would help with students talking skills, which becomes their behavior. Kids are being robbed of their chance to become outspoken independent people. It’s something that seems so easy to learn but unfortunately many people don’t, and schools need to address this. In her article, “Arizona Bans Mexican American Studies Program”, Deb Aronson writes “young people being empowered is scary to many people, institutions, and establishments” and involving kids in the ability to communicate is empowering them. Schools should not fear or restrain young minds growing to express themselves in becoming young outspoken adults. It is important to equip students with what they need to succeed outside of school, and while math will always be helpful, knowing how to talk to people and convey yourself to others is something that will be necessary on a day to day basis.
Initially people might think this class would be a waste of time and that it would be an easy A, but its teachings would be valuable. Many people think that children get enough social interaction at school with their fellow classmates and should be learning how to communicate on their own by trial and error. Unfortunately what people fail to see is that the ability to have friends and be social with someone you are close to is not what people are lacking, they are lacking the ability to be confident in their speech and walk into any situation prepared. Common people might assume that the teachings in this class would be social, meaning, talking and gossiping with fellow classmates which is not true. It would be designed to create situations for students and see how they would react, and then showing and teaching them the right way to act. This class in no way would be made to teach kids how to have friends, but how to handle situations presented in life.
The movie Dead Poets Society, directed by
Peter Weir, is a perfect example of how schools drive to be purely academic and
don’t feel it necessary to hold on to classes such as drama. The school teaches
students that if they want to be an accountant, to take accounting classes. Of
course you are going to need accounting classes, but how will you gain clients
if you have no people skills. No one will want to do business with you. In the
movie a student’s parents wouldn’t allow him to take drama because he was on a
purely academic track. He didn’t know how to take control of his life and
convey to his parents and teachers what he wanted. This resulted in him
ultimately committing suicide. If he had learned how to deal with these
situations he would have been more prepared to handle them, and perhaps his
situation would not have become so dire. Being able to talk to people and being
comfortable in social situations is a requirement in life. This is what our
schools need, and that is what they are lacking.
Without the addition of a communication class,
school would ultimately be the same. Class would be academic and students would
become experts in reciting, but they will continue to have a harsh realization
that they are not yet equipped to handle real world situations when they begin
to encounter them immediately after graduating high school. When they move into
their dorms at college, when they go to their first job interview, and when
they encounter a difficult situation with someone they just met. They will be
forced to try and adapt like they always have been, when schools could be
preparing them with knowledge that is immediately applicable to the real world.
Sited sources
hooks, bell. Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. New York: Routledge,
2010. Print.
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
New York: Herder and Herder, 1970. Print.
Debaronson.com. Arizona band Mexican American studies
program, 2012. Web. September 2012.
Chalk. Dir. Mike Akel. Perf. Jeff Guerrero, Chris Mass. Virgil Films, 2007. DVD.
Dead
poets Society. Dir. Peter Weir. Perf. Robin Williams, Robert Leonard. Buena
Vista Pictures, 1989. DVD.
