TRASHING TRADITIONS: "... Teachers are victims of the establishment. They are thrown to the wolves every day, expected to use theories, magic, and talent to properly educate our nation's youth.".

• Author: Berens, Kimberly Nix
• Position: EDUCATION

I HAVE OBSERVED a lot of classrooms throughout my career, and the scene typically is the same. The class period often starts with the teacher returning papers that have been graded for an assignment that was completed days before. Some students seem pleased about their grades; however, many look forlorn, slump down further in their seats, avert their eyes and quickly hide the graded assignment. Watching kids respond to the grades they receive can be a truly heartbreaking experience.

After papers are returned, the teacher stands in front of the class and starts talking. Some students in the class have their eyes trained on the teacher, seemingly paying attention to the lesson. However, a majority of the students are not looking at the teacher but are doing other things like watching one another, picking their fingernails, doodling, staring out the window, or sleeping.

When the teacher eventually asks a question of the class, a few alert students raise their hands to answer. However, most do not raise their hands. The student who gets called on has the opportunity to respond and receive feedback from the teacher. The rest of the class does not. On a single day in the same class, students have vastly different experiences.

Even for those students who do appear to be paying attention to the lesson, it is difficult to determine if learning actually is occurring. Students may have their eyes on the teacher, but they likely are thinking about things other than the lesson at hand.

Eventually, the bell rings, students move on to another class period and the cycle repeats itself. I always find it extraordinary that during a class period, the person who has behaved the most with respect to the subject matter to be learned is the teacher, not the students. When the students file past me to their next activity or class period, I always get this sinking feeling that another hour of these children's lives has just been wasted.

A majority of students move mindlessly through their schoolday because of the traditions that dominate our nation's schools.

Educational traditions arise from blind spots regarding how learning actually occurs. Let's be clear from the start that these traditions do not exist because they work. They exist because people believe in them and, more important, because it is just how we always have done things. More often than not, traditions continue because we think we do not have a choice. We become so blind to these traditions that we never consider other options...