Primary and Secondary Students

It was really interesting to sit down and discuss educational experiences with the

younger generation.

I began my interviews with a six-year-old names Ian. He is incredibly bright for

his age, but, as most six-year-olds are, Ian was very easily distracted and wanted to

talk about anything except for what I asked him. Despite this, he was my favorite

to interview because it gave me some insight on the generation and age group that

I will be teaching in a few years. Selections from Ian’s interview are transcribed

below.

So when you get to school, what’s the first thing you do?

“Well um, we sometimes… like the night before when we had… when we brought

our stuff home, Ms. Whitson, she takes our folders while everybody sits in the circle

while she takes the folders. And they play the announcements so we say the Pledge

(of Allegiance) and that’s where we put our hands on our hearts and we have to face

the flag and everything.”

And what do you do after that?

Well then we get to see who gets to be the leader of the day. It’s my turn sometimes.

I think like four or five… um, like, uh… a few weeks ago.

And what does the leader of the day get to do?

We like go to the front of the line when we walk to the lunchroom and we get to pick

out the book before naptime and stuff.

Do you always have naptime?

Yeah, after lunch but I can never sleep.

What’s your favorite thing to do in class?

Oh well on Fridays, we get to rotate stations and we go from the computers and

the sandbox and the finger painting one and the big teeth that you can brush but I

always want more time with um… with the Native American teepee because you can

wear head dresses and write on the walls. That’s my favorite.

How often to you get to use the computers?

Well just when we um, when we do stations or if we have a book on the Internet.

And we have to share them because there’s lots of students but only like, um, ten

computers.

What do you like about your teacher?

Ms. Whitson? She’s pretty nice I guess. She sometimes gets mad cause like… people

will be talking. But she’s really nice when she gives us extra time on the playground

if we’re good all week and she’s a pretty good teacher I guess.

I got the idea from Ian’s interview that technology is not a focal point in their

Kindergarten classroom. They have limited and shared access to computers, but

it certainly doesn’t dominate the lessons. From what he described, everything

sounded like a typical Kindergarten class. They even say the Pledge of Allegiance on

a daily basis, which seemed a bit traditional to me.

My next interview hit home, literally. I talked to my thirteen-year-old brother, Jonah,

about his seventh grade classroom experiences. Selections from his interview are

included here.

Can you tell me how your typical day is set up?

Well, I get up early to catch the bus to school, and it comes at 6:40. And then when

we get to school we sit it the gym until 7:50, and they release us by grade to go to

Raider Time (homeroom). And then we go to class. I have math first, then social

studies, then we go to our electives. I have band, then P. E., then woodshop. Then

I go to language arts and finish with science. And when the early bell rings I get to

leave and get on the bus to go to West (High School) for track practice.

That sounds like a lot in one day. Is this how things are always set up?

Yeah, for the most part. We have A days and B days, but that’s just to say if we have

to change out for P. E. and if we don’t we just have a health lesson.

Can you tell me about some of your teachers?

Well Mrs. Batson teaches math and she’s okay. She’s like, nice and everything but

she’s kind of boring. She plays along with our jokes though. It’s hard to make her

mad. And Mr. Nock teaches social studies. He’s probably my favorite. He’s only

twenty-two so he’s super cool, but he gets really mad if we try to joke with him and

he won’t let any of us be his friend on Facebook. I mean, I understand I guess but

he’s just really touchy sometimes. Like he’s trying to be powerful and everything.

Do you guys get to use computers for a lot of assignments?

Yeah, a couple times we’ve gone to the computer lab to work on assignments for the

literary magazine in language arts, and right now we’re learning how to do research

with databases. And whenever we have assignments to turn in we do it on Moodle.

I got the idea from Jonah’s interview that technology becomes a much bigger part of

classrooms as the children get older. I also found it very interesting that they pack

so many subjects into one day, and that they have the same classes every day.

My last interview was with Kelly, and eighteen-year-old senior in high school. Kelly

was the first of the three that was really able to make meaningful connections to

her educational experiences as she compared what she had experienced in the past

to the things that she was currently learning. Selections from her interview are

included below.

How is a typical day set up for you?

Well, it depends on the day. We have A days and B days. These help with AP classes

and means that we only have them every other day. So on A days I have Foods II,

AP Chemistry, AP Language, and Honors Yearbook. And on B days I still have Foods

and Yearbook, but instead of Chemistry I have AP Calculus and instead of Language I

have AP Literature.

What do you think the benefits of AP classes are?

I think that they’re a really good opportunity just because I know that if I pass the

test at the end of the year, I’ll be ahead when I get to college because they can get

you college credits if you score high enough. Colleges also look at students who

take these classes because I guess they see them as competitive students. I don’t

really think that AP classes help you to be more prepared for college unless you’re

retaking the same class because the setting is way different. But I could be totally

wrong I guess. I guess I’ll figure it out once I get there.

Any plans on where you’re going to end up next year?

I’m still kind of undecided. I’d planned on going to Wilmington for nursing, but I

think it might be smarter just to start out at Tech because it saves a lot of money. So

I don’t really know for sure, I just know that I need to end up somewhere because I

know that today no one can get a job without some kind of degree.

And why do you think that is?

I don’t know, I guess it has to do with the economy. And jobs are scarce so people

have to be competitive. If you have a degree, you look better on paper and nine

times out of ten, businesses will hire people who seem to have more qualifications.

Do you remember any teachers emphasizing the importance of college when you were

growing up?

Not really. I mean, maybe in middle school, but it’s nothing they really talked a

lot about until high school. In middle school we were placed on either a college or

technical prep course but we really didn’t get to decide which one we were placed

on. The teachers kind of just did it for us and nothing else was said about it… wow,

when you say that it sounds pretty bad. But I mean, at that age no kid can really

decide the fate of their future.

Her last quote haunted me. A teacher deciding the fate of their students before they

even reach their teens seems like an absurd idea. How could this even be possible?

But, as Kelly said it, the poor state of the economy has public schools producing a

highly competitive generation of students. Whether it’s kindergarteners learning the

basics of computer skills, middle school students turning in all of their assignments

on Moodle, or high school students taking four college courses in one year, the idea

is clear. Students and teachers of the youngest generation must learn to adapt to the

digital advances and competitive nature of society.