11 April 2010
Expectations vs Perspectives
As a teacher my 'expectations' for my students is that I will hopefully prepare them for life after high school. While this might be less obvious for the freshmen and sophomores who sit in my classroom, for the juniors and seniors I strive to make activities, projects and assignments 'life lessons'. The student 'perspective' is often that I am just trying to make life difficult.
Okay, perhaps I do want to make the lives of my students challenging (not difficult, that is what they make it). I want those that sit in my classroom to do more than memorize; be more than just clones of society. I want students to be independent thinkers! I want students to make informed decisions! I want students to look at situations from multiple perspectives and come to their conclusion.
A recent survey that was done of workers, 19-29, indicated that they have a poor work ethic. They come into jobs not understanding that deadlines are just that, the day in which a project or task is due. That these young workers don't have to be accountable for being on time, showing up for work or taking accountablity for their actions. Of course this is an interesting "perspective" of a work ethic, however probably not a perspective or expectation shared by the employer.
According to the survey this behavior is learned in school (starting in elementary and continuing through college) and now young workers are expecting similar treatment in the work place.
Of course I don't believe that schools are the only ones that can held accountable for this learned behavior - parents have also played a role in this learning.
Expectations in my classes are that assignments are given a due date, and unless your are proactive and make arrangements prior to that due date, your assignment is due on that date. I do not accept late work. I will give no credit for late work. I expect students to take accountablity for themselves.
Over the course of years this expectation has been challenged by students and parents. In the beginning I might have given in but that action only came back to be a bigger headache. As the years progressed I analyzed why I had this 'expectation' and the 'perspective' from which I approached this philosophy. I was an owner of businesses that a majority of the employees were 19-29; a first hand perspective to work ethic run amuck.
So I stick by my education philosophy that I believe will prepare students for life after high school. Time management, accountablity, and reliablity. Why wouldn't we 'expect' this of our students? Why wouldn't parents want attributes such as these be part of their childs resume? Why would our 'perspective' of what should be happening in school be different than what is 'expected' from employees in the work place?
Of course this is my perspective and understand that those of others might vary - and that is okay. I just ask that you respect my educational expectation and that is from the perspective of preparing my students for life, not to just give them assignments.
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