At the end of this month, many high school seniors around the country will complete their twelve years of formal and mandatory education. Ahead will come a series of new decisions about career and identity. This rite of passage can be invigorating, illuminating, and illusory.
To the high school seniors who read this blog, you are a child no more. You are an adult who’s made many initial decisions about your life and future. You’ve traveled a very long path to be at this sometimes tenuous, sometimes wonderful moment in time. Before you take that last step off your high school campus, I’d ask you to take a few moments to think about life as it was for you as one of America’s children, especially in your former role as a student. You can also help those of us in the field of education to know your generation a little bit more, if you will. (Please note that the comments to this blog are pseudonyms. Anonymity offers a certain freedom.)
Consider the Native American proverb, “No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning.” How do you look back on the twelve years of formal education? Are you nostalgic? Relieved? Reticent? Why? Do fond memories of simpler times resonate? Or was life never really simple? Do life lessons that once seemed traumatic now seem just an awkward stage, even cathartic? What was it like for you to be a learner at the cusp of a new millennium?
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American poet and essayist, said, “Not in his goals but in his transitions is man great.” Life when Emerson wrote surrounded small New England community enclaves; discourse rose primarily from family and religion. Your life is very different. How did the society and culture in which you were nurtured create pathways for your academic integration into school culture? What is life like when you are ready to graduate high school? Pesky calls you “a digital native” due to the ubiquitous technology in which you have been emerged. He says:
It is now clear that as a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors. These differences go far further and deeper than most educators suspect or realize. http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf
Do you agree with his statement? What advise to you have to offer to educators? If you were given the power, what institutional changes would you incorporate for other students in public schools who follow you? To what degree do you feel that school has been a microcosm of society? What were the best parts of school? What challenges continue even though you will no longer be a participant?
Dr. Michael Welch, a cultural anthropologist and digital enthnographer from Kansas State University, recently uploaded a short video to YouTube called Web 2.0, the Machine is Using Us. The video discusses how the Web is changing how and how fast humans around the globe communicate. After you view the film, offer a socio-cultural critique of Wesch’ argument. Is his view accurate? Why or why not?
As you think about your answers to these questions, I’d like to thank you on behalf of educators in the United States everywhere. You have offered us vicarious links to the energy and enthusiasm of our own youth. You’ve also introduced us to many new ways of knowing our own worlds. A part of you will live on with us and in the students we’ll help to grow as learners in the future to come.
14 comments:
Graduating from public, institutionalized education is going to be a little bit weird. School is all I have ever known. Receiving my diploma is going to be a very surreal moment. It seems like it is the end of what was the beginning, however sometime I fell like it is the beginning of the end. Looking back, I have been shaped by school and society, yet I feel like I have chosen my own path; no one has decided it for me. Things that have been important ad decisions that I have made have all led up to this moment. It seems as if I’m being reborn again. Like I said, very surreal. I’m excited, nervous, and anxious all at once.
As i look back at my twelve years of education i am definitely relieved that they are finally coming to an end. I loved them, but i am definitely glad they are over. Most of them, i honestly forget, but there are things in each grade level that stick out to me. From the first day of kindergarten, to the last day of fifth grade, to the first day of having three teachers in sixth grade, to the final day of junior year. All of the years spent in public education were very good for me. There were times throughout my education where i thought the problems that i came across were huge... but looking back on them, they were actually nothing. The drama in 4th grade was nothing compared to the drama in 10th. As i matured, so did the millenium. We are learning in a time when computers are smarter than people. It is very wierd. I honestly have a hard time dealing with the fact that a cellphone can do more than i can. I hate that. I wish we lived simpler lives, but with todays technology is it impossible. I am a sucker for youtube and facebook, but i can honestly say that i wish our high school years were not spent banging away on the keyboard. I wish i could have spent my time outdoors, or doing other things besides communicating with my friends via the internet. It is kind of pathetic that we no longer need to get up to talk to someone in the other room... why get up when you can send an email or instant message. i can honestly say that i wish we could live in a world that technology didnt consume our every day life. I am not upset that the world is changing so fast, but i do wish that we could just live a simple life. It wouldnt hurt to leave a cellphone at home when you go on vacation, or leave your computer off during the day, but we are unable to that becuase we could miss something very important. That it how we live our every day lives, and it is changing day in and day out. One day, we are going to regret the internet.
The way i think and process information is extremely different from those who graduated a few years ahead of me. I think in a time where technology can do it for me.I dont have to write out math equations becuase a calculator can do it better than me. I do not have to use a dictionary when writing a paper, becuase spell check will underline it in red. The world has become much easier, but it has not become simpler. Books are now located online, i dont have to read a book when i could just get it off of sparknotes. We live in a very different learning environment than our predeccers.
If i were to change the way public schools are and education is, i would make every student go back to the way things were. I really do believe that the internet is taking over our lives, and it is really really pathetic. I understand that i use the internet daily, and i am sort of being a hypocrit, but in todays society, it is considered bad if you dont email, or if you dont have a cellphone. Society makes it a norm now to have a cellphone by the age of thirteen, it makes it a norm to have a screename, it makes it a norm to be online, it makes it a norm to talk to people via the internet. We as a whole are becoming dependent on technology and i think that in the long run, it will hurt us rather than help.
Moving away from that aspect... i think that the best parts of school were the classes that helped me advance in my own life. These included creative writing, public speaking, journalism, theatre and english. I liked the downtime with friends and the teachers who actually cared to stay after with us and talk to us about stuff other than school. When a teacher actually knows who you, that to me, is really cool. I think students need to have relationships with their teachers in order for the both of them to truly understand one another. I enjoyed school, especially in high school, becuase that is where i grew up the most. High school is where my life really turned in a new direction.
The challenge that will continue throughout life, is the social challenge of meeting new people and co-existing together. People to people relationships are the hardest relationships out there. I love meeting people, but i also love picking who i want to associate myself with. Society gives you a bunch of different groups of people to hang out with, and it is my decision to entertain myself with those groups. I look forward to meeting new people at college and i look forward to changing and maturing as i grow up.I am excited for the future, but i will definitely not forget the past.
Looking back on my 12 years of education, I feel a sense of relief, pride, and achievement. The times where my face turned as red as a tomato now seem like nothing compared to the experiences that we will all face going off into the next stages of our lives. I look back onto my school years with nothing but fond memories, whether they be with friends, family, or my teammates.
Growing up as a child of the millennium influenced our generation into a different way of learning. We grew as technology grew. Children know the different techniques and strategies of using a computer while many of their parents have trouble finding the power button. The way children are being educated is changing, and will continue to change as long as technology changes. Students are now able to find all the resources they need online whether it be an online database, google, or even youtube. I can't even remember the last time I walked into the public library.
Although we have all faced many challenges and overcame what seemed like great adversities, the most difficult and exciting parts of our lives are only beginning. We are now adults. We can make a real difference in the world whether it be by voting, joining the armed forces, or making the right career decision. Mandatory school years are the years where you experiment with your identity and try new things. Now that those 12 years are up, many of us are psychologically forced to make a decision on who we are and who we want to become. The majority of us have no idea exactly what we want to do in the future, but have a general idea. The teachings and advice we get in the next years, along with the help of technology advancement, we will all hopefully become the best we can be. The best advice I can give to educators is to try your best to keep up with the racing minds of your students who are influenced by their ever-changing surroundings.
When looking at teaching styles today, it is clear that they are changing due technological advances. I think that educational institutions are destined to adapt to a changing youth, but at the same time it is sad to see the old ways fade away. I think that our generation is loosing their communication skills due to all of the technological advances. We hardly talk to one another in person or even on the phone, and instead have replaced it with texting, messaging on facebook, instant messaging, emailing; it seems as if nothing is personal anymore.
If I was to make any changes to the public schooling institutions for the future generations, I think I would try to create a balance of technology based learning and book focused learning. I think that students shoud be exposed to new methods of learning with technology, but should still have that base of book learning. This allows them to have experience with both skills, and enables them to communicate in a meaningful way. I think that the real challenge is learning how to keep things personal in such an impersonal society. As technology continues to change and advance, I think we need to keep in mind that it is affecting the future generations and how they interact with one another.
Lily
Overall my educational experience over the last 12 years has been a wonderful journey. I have grown immensely over the years with the help of some great teachers. If it not had been for some of those teachers, I probably still would be a mediocre student and not really challenging myself. I have enjoyed all the friendships I've developed through my many years in the Taylor Public Schools. Most of my best friends that I am still friends with, I met in elementary school. I think as a resident of Taylorville I was able to have a better learning experience than most, because of the various technologies we had in our schools. I have to say I am relieved to be done with High school, because I am looking forward to college and all the new friends and experiences I will have. However, looking back at all the good times I have had, I am going to be a little sad that it has come to an end. Now that I think of it, we grew up in a very "happenin" time period, with many technological advances goin on, such as: the internet, aim, the ipod, text messaging, and so much more stuff. It was really cool to be a part of a new generation of living.
-Jimmy
I do agree with Pesky's statement and believe that today's students think and learn differently from their predecessors. Students today have a very short attention span enabling themselves to only pay attention to their conductor for time periods within a class. It is not that the student are not willing to learn, it is simply the fact that there is always something else going on. You see this especially when completing homework. Students who participate in athletics, musicals, or out side curricular activities and take honors classes have to make time for everything. When assigned to read a vigorous book written in complicated language is hard to complete because of everything else going on in their life. That is when the student relies on spark notes.
If I were given the power to make institutional changes in the public school I would make it mandatory to have a study hall. Having a study hall would force and give students the opportunity to complete school work. I would also change some of the books that are mandatory to read in English class. I feel that there are so many other good books out there that teach us the same lessons learned from the uninteresting books we have read over my high school career. The books that we read are hard to read because they are hard to get into. I love reading books that you can not put down and I have never experienced that reading a book assigned through out my high school career. High school students want to learn fun and exciting things. I think that it is important that teachers take advantage of all the new technology and ways that the mandatory curriculum could be taught.
The best parts of high school were definitely the dances that were planned each year. Senior banquet was especially the best. Challenges that will continue with me as I leave high school will be writing papers and grasping a good method to studying. High school was a great experience for me personally. I learned team work and hard dedication through sports. I learned time management and effort through school work. Lastly I learned trust and respect through my friends.
Looking back on my educational career, I am very proud of my accomplishments. I am not the most nostalgic person and I feel very relieved to embark upon the next journey in my life. Although many people feel sad and maybe aren’t so ready to move one, I do not look at it in a sad way. High School and prior education years have been interesting and important to me but I believe there are much more things to look forward to. Occasionally, when doing immense amounts of school work, I wish to myself that I was back in a first grader’s body with much less stress. However, I always get through it and am glad to be where I am. Being fortunate enough to be a student during this era has been fantastic.
It is extremely helpful to have almost all the resources you need at your disposal. When I consider the technology that my predecessors were exposed to I realize how privileged students are now. Not to mention, I believe that as a society were are much more intelligent and aware. We now learn about all the injustices that our country and world have experienced. Being exposed to this knowledge makes us much more aware of what is right and wrong and what is acceptable in today’s society.
When I graduate high school in a couple of weeks, I feel that I am extremely prepared for college and the “real world.” As I mentioned, all the technology and knowledge that we have available makes it much easier to succeed.
Today’s society is much different from many years ago. Family and religion were much more influential years ago. Because of this, I feel like I am more ready to be independent, because I have been so already. Although family and friends are extremely helpful and important to me, I have not been dependant on anyone else but myself throughout my life.
I would advise future educators to look more into the big picture. What I mean by that is people should focus more on the real important things. Having book smarts is important to an extent, but what students really need is life lessons and an expansion of worldly views. Although I believe I have been prepared well for my future, there are still many obstacles to overcome, such as becoming proficient in whatever profession I chose and even raising a family.
As I look back at my 12 years of public school education, the one things that stands out is the technology. It was constantly changing. As a person who is not very technologically inclined, this was both good and bad. Good in the sense that I was learning new skills, but bad because it took so long to learn them. Also, after we learned how to use something, then we never went back to it again. Either because there was not enough to go around, or because we simply never needed it.
There was always pressure to be good at everything that was presented to us. I am glad I am not one of those people who stress out a lot, or else I definitely would not have enjoyed my schooling. Many students believe that that they need all A's and participate in sports to get into a good college. A peer of mine was told by her guidance counselor that she needed to join a sports team in order to get into a good college. She is in many other clubs and a talented musician, as well as an excellent student; obviously, she got into a good school without sports. I rarely got worked up about grades, and did not do any sports, but participated in various other activities and got decent grades. It is important to work hard and excel in grades, and sports are a great aspect of high school, but I think students need to remember that colleges don't want 10,000 of the same students; they want a variety, both kids with A's and kids with C's, kids who do art, kids who play lacrosse, and kids who are good with computers.
As the world is getting more crowded and more competitive, so are schools. College is considered a necessity in order to be successful. There are more students, but less teachers. I think there could be more of a variety of classes in order to speak to students’ needs, but if we don’t have enough teachers, that is not possible. I wish there were more options than college, the workforce, or the military, but obviously that is more a note on society than our public schooling. Overall, I'm pretty glad with my education and I think had a pretty good time.
-Ethel
Chloe
Public school, high school specifically, is a rite of passage. Students learn life lessons through relationships and hardships, as well as discover who they are.
One quote in the passage discussed how students of today learn differently than people of older generations. I agree with this entirely because we live in a different world than the world that was decades ago. The technology is always improving; we now have projectors, smart boards, overheads, laptops, and computers. And partly due to the improved technology, the way people communicate has changed. Text messaging, online chatting, and social websites have become the prominent ways to communicate with others. The above mentioned are more advanced forms of communication, however they are not as effective as talking face to face with another. I believe educators should be in tune with the advancements of today's society, but they should also not lose touch with effective communication.
The past 12 years have shaped and molded my life: my motivation, my ambitions, and my future. I have not just learned about educational subjects, but I have learned my own strengths and weaknesses, how to interact with others, and how I've grown physically and emotionally. The best parts of my school experience were when I wasn't thinking of school work or stressing about a test, but when I simply enjoyed being around the people I met, watching a theater performance, or participating in an after school club. The best parts were the opportunities school offers each student, which I did not want to pass up.
Looking back on the twelve years of my education, I have no regrets. I cannot even fathom how fast these years have gone by. I feel relived that I have made it onto the next step of y life, college. Thinking about all the things I once felt were traumatic, I now only see them as minor stages in my life. Throughout my education, I did not know that I was a learner of a new millennium. I now can see how my generation was much different than my predecessors with all the new learning techniques and ways of thinking. Although I will be moving onto bigger things, I will still endure the challenges of our generation when it comes to my schooling. The past twelve years of my education have been full of gained knowledge and great memories that I will never forget.
As I look back on my years of education, I can't help but to think of the numerous situations or emotions I have experienced. Some I'd like to forget, but most bring me nostalgia. School, always a teaching environment, has taught me how to move onto the next stage in my life- to make the transition. Elementary school, where everything seemingly was known, where all you had to do was ask a teacher for the answer, was crucial in developing my social skills. If there is one thing I could take away from elementary school, it would be my ability to get along with others, because elementary school taught me something I still believe to this day: everyone has some good in them. Middle school taught me adaptation, as life requires one to adapt countless times. I learned to adjust so that everyone could get along. Finally, having learned social skills and adapation, I was ready to move onto high school- where I would learn how to search and discover myself and who I really was. However, I do believe there is more discovering to do, and I believe college will be crucial for it.
All three levels of schooling have helped to gear me for the real world. By incorporating the use of technology in all three, school has helped me prepare to use technology every day of my life to come. Essentially, school has taught me multiple times how to overcome adversity, how to help and interact with others, and how to make adjustments. These will be crucial in the future, because, as Wesch truly argues, the internet and technology is constantly changing the world and how we in the world communicate and live. We all must face change as the world around us changes.
I've gone through my own hurdles and learning experiences throughout my twelve years. These hurdles occurred because school is a microcosm of society itself. However, a problem also lies therein. Because of some of the difficulties school will garner for students, many who never even struggled academically will become detached from the schooling environment. My two best friends in the whole world dropped out of high school. Regardless, because school's more important for teaching morals, actions, and adaptations rather than actual academics, both [and many others like them] are still going to college and are still prepared for life ahead of them. As for me, I'm plenty ready for the lemons life will give me.
-George
As graduation comes near, I find it as a very sentimental time in my life. I associate school with my childhood, and now that school is coming to a close, I feel as if I am saying goodbye to my childhood as well. I’ve always tried to see change as a good thing in life, but with such a huge transition, it is inevitable that it will be difficult to deal with at times. I have started to realize that life from this point on will be completely different. There won’t be any more lockers, volleyball games, or lunches in the art room with friends. What I do with my life is all up to me now.
I feel like over the past year, I have transformed as a person. I have never been as confident as I am today. I look back upon my earlier years, especially in elementary school and middle school, and laugh at my awkward stages. I do remember how traumatic I thought certain situations were and how scared and worried I was all the time. It was all for nothing. As I look back on those years, I try to learn from my experiences rather than feel badly about them. I definitely care less about what others think and now enjoy the unique person that I am. Being a student of the new millennium, I am amazed by the incredible tools and opportunities I have to learn. I believe teaching styles have drastically changed during this century, compared to the book-focused learning of earlier centuries. Being a visual learner myself, I think the technology based learning has more of a direct effect on me than constant book-based learning. The society we live in today is so technology based that we as students are nurtured in an environment where it is essential to learn the basics of technology.
Almost graduating high school is surreal experience. It still hasn’t sunk in yet. I am actually very glad to have gone to such a large a public high school. I feel more prepared going to the real world than I would going to a tiny private school. If I had to give advice to younger students, I would say that even though you may feel awkward now, as you go into your junior and senior years, you will start to gain a sense of your own identity. It may take years to establish this, but I guarantee you will start to feel more secure with yourself. Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my high school experience and hope for the best as I go into college and beyond.
Best Wishes,
Lucy
As a graduating senior, I find myself looking back at the experiences and education my twelve years in the public education system have provided me. Honestly, it seems impossible to believe that my time in public schools is coming to in end, as my life has revolved around my relationship with school for the past twelve years. Through my time in the public school system I have learned various disciplines varying from the English language arts to the sciences to the social studies to mathematics and many more life lessons. It seems to me that the most valuable thing that I have gained from my past twelve years of school has not been learning how to find the circumference of a circle or the relationship between protons and electrons; but rather the skills needed to identify and relate with all levels of humanity teaching me to be a compassionate and conscientious global citizen.
In terms of technology and its relationship with school, I feel that there has been a struggle to find a happy equilibrium between the two. Although I feel that many of my teachers have embraced the opportunities provided by the internet, there is still a struggle between the maintaining traditional convention and embracing innovative ways provided by new technology. More often than not this friction between the two learning methods results in students being prohibited from using the internet or certain sites and forcing students to use print texts in many projects. Personally, I feel that fighting this technological revolution is attempting to prevent the future from happening; rather educators should welcome this pioneering way to share information and incorporate into their teachings. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed my twelve years in the public education system and look forward to my future and utilizing the tools that I have gained from the experiences it has provided me.
Jonathan
Looking back on the twelve years of my education, I have no regrets. I cannot even fathom how fast these years have gone by. I feel relived that I have made it onto the next step of y life, college. Thinking about all the things I once felt were traumatic, I now only see them as minor stages inn my life. Throughout my education, I did not know that I was a learner of a new millennium. I now can see how my generation was much different than my predecessors with all the new learning techniques and ways of thinking. Although I will be moving onto bigger things, I will still endure the challenges of our generation when it comes to my schooling. The past twelve years of my education have been full of gaining knowledge and great memories that I will never forget.
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