Teacherly Musings 1–First Installment

One of my students posted this on his blog near the beginning of the school year: “Mrs. I has established a reputation for making her classes be a LOT of HARD work.”

I am not surprised. I am dismayed, but feel only a little bit guilty.

I would be devastated if someone posted this comment: Mrs. I has a reputation for teaching classes in which no one learns anything. I would also be very sorry if anyone ever felt that in my classes students are asked to do things which I am unwilling to help them with.

Despite appearances to the contrary, I feel a lot of sympathy for overworked students. I hate for school to have to occupy the mind and effort of every waking minute for students of any age. I think it’s evidence of a system gone awry when this happens. I suspect that one of the reasons adults in our time have so much trouble keeping the important things at the center of life is that we’ve trained them to put school (performance outside the home and church) at the center for so long that the habit is hard to break.

If I had my “druthers,” students would never be asked to spend more than eight hours a day on school work, and weekends would be free of school obligations. On any day of the week, that should allow for eight hours of rest, and eight hours of something else, preferably including interacting with one’s family and helping meet family needs, pursuing ministry opportunities, contributing to and socializing with others in the community, and developing non-academic skills and hobbies. In the artificially-weighted world of the high school student, school attendance and school work occupies perhaps half of each 24-hour period on weekdays, plus several hours on most weekends. Youth group activities take up some hours on weekday evenings, and always some weekend hours. Attending church on Wed. eve. and on Sunday call for other time commitments.

While I know that some students help at home, I think SCHOOL WORK has effectively staved off many parental requests for help with home keeping. The accompanying parallel to “school work as priority” then can easily become “incompetence with domestic or job-related skills.” This situation is pathetic–very far out of sync with our traditional values.

When I was first a parent with a student in high school I hated what it did to our family life. The high school student’s heart was no longer in tune with activities and plans for our home. His heart was with his peers and his time at home was devoted to school work. The all-important privilege week dominated the rhythm of life rather than the seven-day week instituted by God. Life seemed maddeningly out of balance. From the knee-hole side of the teacher’s desk it still looks out of balance. (To be continued.)