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The Student Voice of UNC Asheville

The Blue Banner

The Student Voice of UNC Asheville

The Blue Banner

Education redefined by generation

by Amarra Ghani – Campus Voice Editor – [email protected]
“Dedication to students” may have a different meaning when it comes to educators and the education system in the United States.
A New Jersey school is undergoing a massive change of authority after teachers were accused of helping students cheat on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge exam in 2010.
NBC New York reported the students practiced methods and signs from teachers to indicate the student was filling out the wrong answers. The signs included tapping on the desk or giving second chances to the students.
Being one of the most powerful and largest countries in the world, cheating is not exactly the way keep that title.
Everyone understands the pressure of school, assignments and exams, but if our educators are helping our students cheat their way through elementary school, we are failing as future leaders of the world.
If the entire basis of our education relies on exams and test taking, it lacks the most important quality in education: knowledge.
However, teachers are mentally strained by the time of end-of-the-year exams. They are told if their students do not meet certain test scores, their jobs are on the line.
Students as young as elementary school have become apathetic to school, studying and learning. There are a handful of students who appreciate what they learn in school, while the majority of students are ready to get out their classrooms and jump onto their laptops, cell phones and iPads.
But we are a generation of giving up. If we try our best and don’t get 100 percent perfect the first time, we do not try again.
And that is not all our professional educators are doing with our students.
If they are not helping students cheat their way to the next grade, then they are slapping them for not bringing required materials to class, calling them names or having sexually intimate relationships with them.
These scenarios are not only a parent’s nightmare,  but they are slowly becoming a new definition of school for students.
A pre-school teacher in South Carolina was arrested for throwing alcohol and sex parties for teens in 2011. A New York teacher was irritated with her student who repeatedly got up during a test, so the teacher duct taped the student while other classmates laughed and pushed him around.
While teachers are struggling to inspire their students to learn, they are not promising a comfortable atmosphere for them.
A parent assumes when they drop their kids off at school, they will come back with knowledge, discipline and the means for success.
The United States, once a country of renowned success and geniuses, is losing to other countries in various subjects.
The United States has an incredible ability to educate and define a student’s career through academics. We are choosing not to challenge our young thinkers, instead becoming a crutch for every scenario in their life.
There is a difference between helping and doing it for them.
We repeatedly ask ourselves why the United States chooses to outsource. Maybe it’s because home-grown Americans cannot do the job as well as someone who has been educated in the slums of India or the strict schools, of China.
We are up against countries that hold a 300 times greater value on education than Americans.
Our students are dreaming about prom night during freshman year, butstudents in Egypt are rallying youths who are conquering, overthrowing and successfully demanding change in their governments.
While our kids are screaming out YOLO, you only live once, the rest of the world mocks our stupidity.
School has become a nuisance that gets in the way of life. Students do not look forward to going to school until college, but that’s if one even gets to that point in their academic career.
If you are going to be a teacher, one thing is for certain; you are not in it for the money. So the next question you probably want to ask yourself is how hard you are willing to try your patience, time and devotion to educating.
If you struggle to answer that question, then you are almost on the right path. No one person can determine how successful they will be before they face their challenges. If you are too optimistic about teaching the next Einstein, you will burn out quickly.
There is a better way to help students learn the material they need to know without scaring the crap out of them through exams and threatening letters to teachers. Until we discover a better method, everyone must keep their eyes on their own papers, teachers included.
 

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