It has been proven that students who enjoy attending school have greater levels of academic achievement and are less likely to have disciplinary problems. Issues with absence, truancy, and dropping out of school are also lessened when students are motivated to attend school. With that said, one way to improve students’ academic results and boost their desire to learn might be to increase their attraction to school. So the question is, what is one of the attractions that appeal to students?
Teachers, without a doubt, are one of the main attractions for students to attend school joyfully and willingly. Student and teacher relationships are crucial in establishing a warm, safe environment where the students can feel secure. It is no surprise that teachers play significant roles in the lives of their students, as they influence the students’ experience as well as achievement in school. Attraction to school has been proven to affect a student’s academic performance and perspective. No longer would they feel as though attending school is a dreadful, dull routine; but they would be energetic and motivated to attend, to learn. Qualities such as compassion, kindness, respectfulness, and generosity can go a long way, as it has been found that students who deem their teachers as caring mentors are more likely to like school and succeed academically.
Teachers should not be regarded as unresponsive, indifferent robots whose only goal is to drill irrelevant information into their students’ minds. The role of teachers should be to create a sense of desire and longing in their students’ to learn, think creatively and critically, analyze intricate thoughts and draw up their own conclusions instead of abiding by the book blindly. Although one might say that a teacher’s main purpose in a student’s life is to strictly make sure that the student retains all the knowledge learned, I think that a teacher should be capable of doing so much more. Certainly, teachers are responsible for their students’ academic achievement; however, they should not stop at that alone. Whether they realize it or not, teachers can make all the difference in their students’ outlook on their education as well as in life. Lessons taught in the curriculum are important to the students’ growth and cognitive development, yet life lessons taught indirectly within the classroom setting are just as or even more vital in a student’s life.
Being born to parents who worshipped cocaine, Elizabeth Murray has had the unfortunate experience of having an uncompromising childhood in a forgotten family. Despite her parents’ insistence on loving her very much, their use of the fatal drug had prevented them from living up to their full potential as care-givers. Acquiring an education was not a privilege in Elizabeth’s eyes, but it was a needless chore, the least of her worries. Being that surviving through one more day with a bare minimum amount of food was at the top of Elizabeth’s list of priorities, it is understandable that school was not an attraction or motivation factor at all. In fact, it was the least of her worries in her struggle to survive. However, little did she know that just around the bend lay a select group of teachers and mentors, waiting to tend to her academic needs, teach her life lessons far more applicable outside of the classroom, and guide her onto the path she longs to follow.
Elizabeth Murray, a woman whose devastated childhood had been tainted with poverty, isolation, pain, and neglect, is a living testimony to dedicated teachers everywhere. In her memoir, Elizabeth Murray states, “My whole life teachers had acted that way, like they felt sorry for me. The Westchester-living, string-of-pearls-wearing ladies took one look at my life and it always made them sad” (Murray 246). This indicates a sense of pity from her teachers, which does not help her in the least. All her life, Elizabeth has endured ridicule from her classmates as well as teachers, as she lived a life so separate from their own, a life they could not possibly understand. Murray was ridiculed by those who called themselves her mentors, victimized for the life she had been born into. Having reached rock bottom, Murray knew that the only way to break apart from the vicious cycle of poverty was to bury the past and fashion herself a fresh new outlook on life. Placing her previous, less than par experiences in school aside, Elizabeth Murray decided to muster up the courage to enroll in an alternative high school, where there was a chance that she could thread her life back together.
The alternative school consisted of a group of teachers who shared the collective goal of segregating failing students from everyone else, weed out the rejects from the cream of the crop, if you will. The alternative school was even nicknamed “failure academy” by a small crew of teachers behind the scenes. Still, this pitiful reputation did not hinder Professor Perry, the chairman of the school’s governing committee and passionate English teacher, from trying to challenge the true meaning of equality in education among school systems. In fact, Professor Perry’s intention was to “design a school that would serve, rather than ‘park’ this at-risk population of kids who had failed within the structure of mainstream education” (Murray 252). Rather than base the model of their alternative high school on what was not working with the troubled students, they decided to seek out an educational model that did work. Professor Perry gathered a team and together they would visit and observe other high schools that catered to the elite, more privileged group of students.
“Failure Academy” transformed into “Humanities Preparatory Academy” also known as “Prep” into a place where caring, committed teachers would provide at-risk students with opportunities and privileges of a personalized education. Standardized tests would not be the foundation of a student’s success at “Prep,” as it only narrowed down the curriculum and failed to assess a student’s ability to exercise their true knowledge. Professor Perry replaced these objective standardized tests with performance-based assessments that were more in-depth and personalized for each individual student. Demonstrating real knowledge by means of application to relevant circumstances would enable the students to be engaged in what they are learning. The courses prepared by Professor Perry were designed to cultivate an atmosphere of true learning and encourage deep, meaningful, and provoking thoughts in their students. In this way, the teachers created a more intimate classroom environment to suit each student’s needs accordingly. For Professor Perry, the new alternative school was his fruits of labor. He served as a counselor, mentor, and guide for his students, as he was a strong believer of devotion and perseverance, especially within his once deemed “dysfunctional” students. He realized that it would require something different for these students to succeed, as they were just as bright as any other “elite” student. Perry understood that his students were not dysfunctional, but the education system was.
Needless to say, Elizabeth Murray, under the genuine care and guidance of teachers such as Professor Perry, thrived under such circumstances. Attending school was no longer a useless chore; it became a motivation factor to succeed, to prove to herself that there were options in life, that she could create a new chapter despite her traumatizing past and start over. For the first time in her life, Elizabeth Murray felt respected, appreciated, cared for, and at home. Teachers, such as Professor Perry were her saving grace, her attraction factor in attending school on a consistent basis. Professor Perry’s dedication, sincere love and concern, and faith in his students have proven to be the difference on their academic performance as well as perspective on life itself. Teachers, through their actions of love, passion, and faith in their students, have the capability to teach their students lessons beyond the academic curriculum, lessons that are cherished beyond measure, lessons that each student carries on with them in the future. Elizabeth Murray’s journey from detesting school to becoming an active student body member is a testament to teachers like Professor Perry, teachers who did not dismiss students based on their first impression or initial academic failure. She states, “I learned a lot in the years I spent at Prep. I learned that my voice mattered. But I think that it was the teachers themselves who were my biggest lesson at Prep. My teachers, my role models, became my compass in an otherwise dark and confusing world” (Murray 286). Elizabeth Murray’s sentiments cannot be more accurate.
Teachers, without question, serve as vessels of inspiration, motivation, encouragement and guidance that equip their students with knowledge and insight that are carried with them wherever they happen to go. Professor Perry was the pure embodiment of these qualities, as he believed in every one of his students, and as a result, the students learned to believe in themselves.
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