Do YOU care?

[Artemis84]

I'm researching for my speech topic this year (speech team). I've decided to talk about the growing amount of student apathy toward education. I've come across a couple different opinions. So what are your's?

What do you think makes students stop caring?
What makes a good student?
What makes a good teacher?

I'd really be interested to hear what people have to say.
Thanks!

BB

[Amethyst Rose]

Hmmm....

Well, I can't answer your first question because I wasn't aware that students had stopped caring.

Your second question however.... I think what makes a good student are that student's goals for life and their drive to achieve them. Those goals are affected by a number of things....family life/status rates high.

What makes a good teacher? Ability to keep information interesting and fun, for one. One of the best teachers I had taught social studies (which I found very boring normally), but he would punctuate lessons with amusing antidoes about historical characters and such. For two, a person who loves their job so much that they always find it fun and rewarding, no matter how often they've taught the same material.

[Stacy]

I can answer you your third question : What makes a good teacher?

A cute one (looooove proffesors) :T

[SimplyStrange]

What do you think makes students stop caring?
What makes a good student?
What makes a good teacher?

I think a lack of student caring is in close relationship with the quality of the teachers. From my personal experience, I am most interested in a class that has a teacher that at least appears to be interested in my being in that class, and at least some passion for what he/she does. Also, whether or not the student is interested in the subject matter effects how interested in the class they are.

A good student, in my opinion, is one who understands the importance of education and is willing to get all that is needed done in order to recieve the best education possible and to become successful with meeting his/her goals for the future.

I believe a good teacher must care about what they are doing in the first place and must understand the importance of education and the importance in the role they play in their students' lives. What they learn from them effects them for much of their schooling. They also must understand what it's like for the students, and be able to keep the students' attention in such a way that the students will not lose interest.

Just my 2 centavos.

[shnen]

What I think makes a student stop caring is a few things, mainly because they don't feel theya re cared about. The schools here are falling apart, some have no hot water, and have mold growing in them... why? Lack of funding. A horribly dirty school would make me go, well if they don't care either do i, I would most likely litter and vandalize, afterall... who would care right?

another reason I think is if the teacher shows they don't care, or is obvious for favourites. I have had teachers that outwardly show they are waiting for retirement, jsut the pension that's all... I ahve also had teachers that had you in a mindset. For instance I was a B student in her class. I wrote a paper, spent night and day getting it perfect, what did I get... a B... I took it to my VP and she made my teacher change it because she couldn't tell her why she gave me a B. If you know no matter how hard you try you will end up with "this" result in the end, why even bother.

I think a good teacher makes a good student and vice versa.
A good teacher will be understanding and patient, and will try to teach so the students will WANT to learn. They will motivate them.. and when the students try, smile, and even break past the hard to do equation, it will make the teachers realize over and over why they chose the profession they did. :)

[mol]

Originally posted by Artemis84

1. What do you think makes students stop caring?
2. What makes a good student?
3. What makes a good teacher?


1. Teachers that dont care.
2. A good teacher.
3. A good student.

[Kaylara]

1. Parents that think the schools should be raising their children.
2. Someone who likes the subject they are learning, and a good teacher to explain it in a way that makes the subject interesting.
3. Someone who relates the subject to things that the children can understand. Someone with interesting stories that make them seem more human. Someone who speaks, but also knows when to listen.

I had some great teachers in school. I had some really crappy ones. The difference between the two were that the great teachers never spoke down to the children, they showed them respect, and were respected in return. They made their classes come alive, and were supportive to students even in between and after classes. They let you speak your peace, but made sure that you knew where they stood on a particular subject.

Kaylara

Kaylara

[Autumn]

Students stop caring because public education is often(not always) very boring and reptitious. I became the queen of homework avoidance in highschool because it was all so damn dull. Now they tend to make the whole class wait for the slower students and as a result the students who got the concept first are left spinning their wheels. Supposedly they help the slower students, but it isn't always happening.

Education is indeed the foundation of democracy but in and of itself education isn't always democratic. It has been proven over and over again that "disadvantaged" students can be effectively taught if they are expected to learn and if they are put in ability groupings taught be teachers who want to be there. I always remember the middle school math teacher who was talented with the students and extremely good at what he did, he taught the most advanced students in the first two years and then had everybody for 8th grade. Seems like he could have been more effective used for the students who were not so advanced since I learned more from him then the other two years with an art teacher who taught math and a social studies teacher who taught math.

A good teacher is someone who wants to be there, wants to work with kids and gets excited when the student succeeds. They set standards in the classroom and followup on behaviors. They do not permit students to pick on one another, in the classroom or elsewhere, and they are savy enough to recognise the subtle crap and act on it.

A good student comes to school ready to learn. If something is getting in the way of their learning they seek to change it, ask for help when they need it and they do not participate in the harassment of other students or other acts that interfear in the learning process.

Now thanks for letting me rant...I feel better now!

[Xentor]

Greetings,

Students stop caring for education once they start believing it isn't going to help them in their future lifes.

Why do students start believing that? The students I teach tell me, they never get to see the full picture. Especially in Mathematics. They are treated as apes, being thaught an ape's trick, learning things by repetition instead of understanding. High school students have to learn 3000 years of Maths in 4 to 6 years. It's not gonna work. They can't see how the individual parts connect, they can't see use for the individual methods in their near future carreers. Thus, they turn away from Mathematics entirely.

They don't care for learning things because the teacher says so, or because their parents want them to. They want to set goals and reach them. They will care if the education system gets goal-centered. Let them participate in defining the goals to reach. Motivate. Make them curious.

Again, this kind of response I get from my own students. I try and help them by showing how all methods connect, why they do and what their practical use might be. Every one of my students have their own carreer plans, and I try to let Mathematics fit in with that. Untill this day, very few of my students fail Maths.

What makes a good student? Curiosity.

What makes a good teacher? Purpose / motivation. Set clear goals: This is what you need to know. This is how long it will take (most of) you. This is why you need to know it. This is how you may use that knowledge.
Bring curiosity: what questions does this article raise? How would you go about researching it? How would you create an answer? What would you need to check whether your answers are correct?

In the Netherlands, goal-centered teaching started as an experiment at the universities (college) in the early 90's. Now, all high-schools use it. It motivates the students and seems to raise their grades. It helps them prepare for college and the real world. It seems to work.

[Aijou_no_Tenshi]

Hmm ...

People are just lazy ... as simple as that.

A good teacher would be someone whom is understanding of their students. Someone whom is strict but doesn't really yell.

A good student would be one that pays attention and waits to socialize AFTER class.

[IsisErin]

Originally posted by Artemis84

What do you think makes students stop caring?
What makes a good student?
What makes a good teacher?


Generally, I don't think we have stopped caring. There were people who didn't care about their studies when I was in high school. To generalise again, I think it was mostly because they either found the work too difficult and didn't feel it was worth trying, or found it too easy and could coast through it on a whim.

What makes a good student? Enthusiasm for the subject, a good attitude towards getting things done, someone who is really willing to consider the issues involved and not just spout forth what the lecturer or teacher has said.

What makes a good teacher? Again, enthusiasm for the subject and a genuine desire to pass one's knowledge on to the students. Some eloquence is needed when passing on this knowledge, after all, it's all very well knowing about it, but can you get others interested in your subject and motivated to study it?

These are just some ideas.

[Haedis]

I see a lot of students stop caring out of conformity. Sometimes when you're surrounded by a bunch of other kids who will either make fun of you for wanting to learn and pay attention, or will be so disruptive you CAN'T learn...you just give up and try to eek by.

And when the teachers see that most of the students aren't listening they stop trying to make it fun and stop trying to apply the lessons to real life... and the kids who were actually interested end up discouraged.

A pattern that I've seen (which I hate to admit) is how much the parents care about the students grades. The ones who get good grades are usually the ones who will get punished if they fail.

[SagaDraco]

I think the worst thing about school is the "cookie-cutter" approach. They make you take things you will just never use. OK, some of us will be engineers, but does that mean we all need calculus? Let's face, some of us will be in jail too--will schools teach us how to make shivs? Some will be rock stars--should we all learn the electric guitar and develop a coke habit? I think not.

[SagaDraco]

I think the worst thing about school is the "cookie-cutter" approach. They make you take things you will just never use. OK, some of us will be engineers, but does that mean we all need calculus? Let's face, some of us will be in jail too--will schools teach us how to make shivs? Some will be rock stars--should we all learn the electric guitar and develop a coke habit? I think not.

[IsisErin]

clone! :eek:

[living_criticizm]

--what makes a student stop caring--
in my experience a student stops caring because they either are not being challenged mentally or they (in my case) get tired of the social circle bulls***. kids in middleschool and highschool can be really cruel. they dont (i think) understand how much their words affect other people.

--what makes a good student--
i think challenges, and changing your learning plan around a little...changing the way you approach learning tecniques. kids get board with the same old same old.

--what makes a good teacher--
i find that the new teachers are the best. because they are excited about changing the youth. the longer the teacher is in the game the more discouraged they get. i think teachers should change what they teach every so often...that way THEY dont get board. and again play around with new tecniques.

[AstraSkye]

What do you think makes students stop caring?

The lack of challenges. Staying at levels that are too low for them. Teachers who don't care. Teachers who aren't trustworthy.


What makes a good student?

Challenges. The feeling that they add something to the class. Feeling useful. Encouragement. Being told they're doing good, and that they're improving their skills. The feeling of learning something. The feeling of succeeding.


What makes a good teacher?

Devotion. Care. Love for the job, and for the students. Time. Patience, and more patience. Will to teach. A good attitude (i.e. "friend", not "authority"). Knowledge on how to motivate students. Creativity. Independence from colleagues, i.e. dare to not follow the mainstream.