Blog #4

For many of us in this class, we were those “good” students. These students were the children that sat nicely in their desks, didn’t interrupt the teacher, and answered the teacher when they asked the class a question. These children could also have been known as the teacher’s pet. For myself, I wouldn’t call myself a bad student, but I also wasn’t the child that was the “good”. I liked to have fun with my friends in class, I liked to talk with everyone, and I didn’t sit back and listen to everything the teacher would say. As I list these things off I realize no I was not a great student, but I enjoyed school. I made school fun, I made it enjoyable for the students around me, and I still go the grades I needed to feel proud about myself. The good students are supposed to be the children that get all As and don’t skip class. This means a good student in common sense. Right away when I was asked what a good student is I went right to someone with good grades and listens, but maybe this is completely wrong. Maybe it is the student that comes to school every day even though they are working three jobs and have to go home to take care of other siblings or the child that has mental health issues but still manages to get out of bed in the morning. We as educators need to take a step back and realize that just because one child has an A and the other has a C doesn’t mean the child with the C is any less.

In many areas of the world, the good students are supposed to be the white students. They are supposed to get better grades, listen better and in some areas, they are even known to be more “civilized”. We treat the white children with privileges, so why wouldn’t they be stronger learners or want to come to school every day. Students that get treated with respect, and get a proper education want to come to school. When we hear “bad” students; who do you think of? Is It the white female teacher pets that you see in movies, social media, or in your everyday classroom, or is it the child that comes from a one parent home and has to work three jobs?  Why would these students want to come to a place every day where they are already looked at as “bad” before they even have a chance? We as educators need to make a change for the better. No one but us as teachers can change the way classrooms are run, or the way children are treated.