I went into school today to find five packets of surveys from Dr. Alonso's office, with a note saying they'd take 5-10 minutes to complete in class and that we're required to do them. They were, of course, dumped on all English classes. The Assistant Principal saw the mock dirty look I gave her when she mentioned them in our faculty meeting last week, and made a little joke about it; I still sort of thought they'd be distributed differently. No such luck. That's the burden of English class, I guess - losing all sorts of class periods to guidance visits, survey distribution, school pictures, and any other chore that needs to be done. I guess it has to be done, as every student takes one of our classes.
That's all fine, but the survey was definitely not ten minutes. Half of my class, maybe a little more, was taken up by this darn thing, which asked 9th grade students to predict their future careers, majors, and five possible college choices, among many other things. I spent a lot of the class answering questions like, "So, if I want to be a forensic scientist, what major should I have?" and "What state is the University of Chicago in?" and "What are is the state abbreviation for California?" and "Why isn't their cosmetology on here?". I put a list of colleges on the chalkboard that our students have gone to and been successful at, to give them ideas.
I act like I'm complaining, but it's actually pretty inspiring to hear 9th graders ask so many excited questions about their future. The thing that is sad, though, is that they have so much work to do before they're ever going to be considered for these great schools they're putting on this survey, and, while they're capable, I'm not sure if they're willing. With the state of the economy right now, and the possible death of Pell grants and other federal aid programs, I am a little worried for the class of 2012. The lower socio-economic level kids with the A's will be getting the scholarship money. The kids who can't afford college with the B's will get what is left over. The poor kids with the C's and D's won't be getting much at all, it doesn't seem like.
Resep Masakan
10 years ago
5 comments:
I sure hope Swarthmore College was on that list of colleges you put up on the board....
- ZW
Um, not to be nit-picky about it, but as a school counselor, our visits to classrooms are not "chores". I think people tend to forget that nowadays schools don't just teach academics. In the absence of parents, we are also teaching values, manners, life skills, etc. While I hate to take class time away from teachers, sometimes we just don't have any other option.
Sorry to characterize your visit as a "chore," but the way it's presented to me by the counselor is that counselors are required to speak with students once a semester, so that's why it's happening. I agree there is important information, sometimes, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm bitter that it's always English that is the place where everyone else's tasks (probably a better word than "chores") get done.
It's all good! I understand your bitterness. I'm bitter that when a kid is dealing with an abusive parent, a drug dealing older sibling, and a dying grandmother that I'm expected to try to mend their feelings in 10 min. to get them back to class because in school that's the priority (that's another huge misconception--that counselors are just there for college and career information--we do actual therapy. A lot). We all have our jobs to do, and they inevitably overlap each other--I just find it all works much more smoothly (and sanely) when everyone understands each others' roles and that none of us are actually trying to make things more difficult.
To anon: I can only speak for myself but I think it was probably back as a HS student when I last thought of counselors in that manner. In fact, since coming to Teach's school(hmmm...Capt. teach as a nick name...better not or he'll have to make a new blogspot)in the late 90's, I have come to bemoan their overloaded responsibilities when I feel the need to collaborate with them re. students with serious personal issues like the ones you mention.
Teach: I understand your frustration, which mirrors the feelings I had back when they always did it during 1st period. I first figured it may have been based on HSA tested classes, which is why they probably stayed away from Science and Math classes, but you guys get tested too...maybe they should do it during foreign languages? or are there kids at our school that don't take a FL all 4 years?
-The Chaplain
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