Why is education such an important factor to every kids development?
I substituted as a paraprofessional in a kindergarten classroom today. The main teacher, who I will keep anonymous, was one of the worst teachers I have ever seen in my educational journey as a student. Her lack of motivation and excitement made the classroom environment feel exhausting. Rewind… I am studying at the University of Vermont and majoring in secondary education with a concentration in English. The fundamentals that I have been taught in my first two years at UVM that every teacher needs to include in their classroom were all missed during my observation of this teacher.
Rule 1: Make every student feel loved and cared about in the classroom. This teacher would isolate students in front of the entire class, and state, “Bethany, now that you have not listened to the directions, you will not use the water color paint tomorrow when everyone else is painting.” First off, her directions were never clear since her classroom organization and transitions were a mess. Second, this student is in kindergarten. These kids are 4 and 5 years old!! Teaching this student at a young age that school is a place where you are isolated in front of your classmates during prime development for this child can cause lasting permanent damage to this child.
Rule 2: The classroom should be a safe space where all students feel they can be themselves. Many students don’t have a safe space at home. As a result, it is essential that school can serve as that place for many students, since when they go “home” (if they even have a home) they have no clue what they are stepping into and many times, they feel unsafe. Once again, this teacher isolated students, yelled at them, sighed and said “ what now” in a sarcastic tone to the students who struggled more in her classroom. All of this makes students believe that school is a place where they don’t feel heard and is something they should hate. OK, I’m done talking about the negative and this teacher. The next step is how do we improve? (Education is something I am very passionate about and will probably do another post with my thoughts being more clear since it is very late tonight)
Education has a direct translation to removing students from the socioeconomic status they are placed in at birth. I argue, education is the way out of this cycle of poverty. Students who are born into poor homes are already placed at such a disadvantage when coming into school. Many times, these students come from homes where their parents are not college educated. These students have to start working at a young age and many don’t go to college since they need to start working out of high school to help support their family. Many families also can’t afford the cost of college.
Another huge issue that we see with many students is this idea of ACE’s which are adverse childhood effects. Many kids before even arriving at school have experienced an ACE during their life. Some examples of ACE’s are parents getting divorced, parents yelling or cursing at kids, parents beating kids, parents being addicted to drugs or alcohol. These are a couple. These students who don’t have a stable life at home or feel no love or support from their parents or guardians psychology are at a disadvantage and their development is altered. No matter how hard kids try to argue that ACE’s don’t affect them, they have negative effects on health and wellbeing.
Socioeconomic status as well as ACE’s are two main things that affect student’s performance and wellbeing in school. One organization that I was recently introduced to that is combatting this problem with socioeconomic status is Hope Chicago. Hope Chicago recently went to a high school in Chicago where almost all of the students live in low socioeconomic households or are also first generation students. Hope Chicago announced that every student sitting in the auditorium has free tuition to a college if they apply and get in. This ability to receive higher education will change these kids' lives, removing them from the cycle of poverty that they are stuck in and giving them an opportunity to change their economic status as a citizen for them and the children they have. On top of that, Hope Chicago is giving 7 parents free tuition who want to go back to college and earn a degree. This allows them and their child to become college educated, completely changing their socioeconomic status and position is life. Education is everything in today’s world!
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