"Let Kids Rule the School" by Susan Engel

Hey Everyone,

Reading this NY Times article by Susan Engel was very informative and truly inspiring. It reiterates the idea that allowing students to be in control of their education fosters very positive results and meaningful learning experiences. I have always believed that one can only truly learn and retain information when they are able to be independent thinkers. An experiment, which was called the "Independence Project," only proved further this fact to be true.

When I reflect upon my experiences during my fieldwork, I have noticed that students are more engaged and do much better when they are interested in what they are learning. I do believe that it is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that they are picking meaningful lessons in which they facilitate in order to engage, at least, most of their students. If a teacher can accomplish this task, students will have been afforded the opportunity to take charge of their education instead of having education imposed upon them.

I have seen, far too often, that teachers are basically training their students to perform well on a standardized test rather than teaching them to be effective learners which will ultimately foster positive test results anyway. So many teachers create a classroom environment in which students just imitate their voice rather than finding a voice of their own. In other words, so many students are simply "regurgitaters" of information imposed upon them by their teachers. This is a great problem that I was happy to learn that Obama has recognized as well. Hopefully, he will take steps to address this issue.

I am curious to see what would happen if we saw the "Independence Project" implemented in more schools. How about you?

-Meaghan