Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence in an Urban Context

“What you learn now will help you in your years to come”. We all heard this when we went to school and children still hear it to this day. Yet school systems these days do not teach children to their full potential and they do not do all that is possible for children. From classroom sizes, to the teaching curriculum, to the qualification of teachers, school systems have many shortcomings and need to change fast to better children.

There have been arguments with classroom sizes in schools. One argument is that smaller classes will be better for children because it provides a better teaching environment for children and teachers. Teachers can take more time with each child individually and take to their special needs. But unfortunately this has a downside because as schools have smaller classroom then there is less space for children. Schools will not be wasting more money to make more classrooms in already finished school buildings and they will not get more teachers because they are already having cutbacks. With this the children suffer having less space so children have to apply for schools that are further away and with sub-par education. The other side of the argument is that schools should have bigger classroom so that children can interact more with others and that more children can be in a school at one time. Unfortunately this idea has its downside as well. With overcrowded classrooms teachers have trouble tending to every child’s needs so children who are having trouble in school fall through the cracks or fail and struggle to reach their full potential. Also teachers get over worked with large classrooms and thus the children suffer due to lack of work on the teacher’s behalf.

There has to be a middle ground in which there are enough students to fill the classroom but not too many where it is overcrowded and the teacher can’t help children. With a balanced number of students and teachers there will be spaces in schools and teachers won’t drown with the amount of students they have. And if a teacher does have a few too many kids that she/he can handle during a class period they should make time during recess or before/after school to meet with children who need the help. If that is not possible they should at least recognize that a child is struggling and mention it to the parents so that they can help the child out send the child to an after-school program (which are free) where people will help the children with homework and things they have problems with, or tutoring. No child should be left alone to struggle without help. Like the book said there are children who give up easily but with the right help and recognition children can prosper.

Another major shortcoming of the school systems in this day and age is that many schools have sub-par teaching curriculums and they do not regulate the way teachers teach. In many other countries outside the United States children learn at a much higher level knowing advanced math and reading at younger ages. As the book mentioned there are many ways of teaching students such as reciprocal teaching, realistic mathematics education, traditional teaching and play world practice. These methods used can be very helpful to children when used in variation and properly. But when used improperly children can suffer. For example my sister goes to junior high, and she came home one day with a “math” project. When I saw what she was going I thought it was more like art class. She solved a few math problems and had to make it colorful and into a booklet (which to me made no sense and was wasting her time). When I was in school on the other hand I remember doing math projects that were complicated with lot of math and we had to draw picture in some of them to better understand the project. Yet the teachers now don’t seem to care about the math just the art (it’s not colorful enough, or artistic instead of saying the problems are not complicated enough or too simple for your grade level).

Teachers need to balance their teaching methods. They should have reading time as a group reading time, not in silence but have each student read a paragraph out loud and after each chapter talk about it or write about it, or if it’s a dialog have the children act it out. Also having children read books that they like even if its levels that are higher than their reading level will keep them interested. Boring books don’t entice reading they discourage children because they are boring. Same goes for math and any other subject. Instead of having mundane projects that will be put up on the walls for parents do soothing that will challenge the children as well as doing it in a way that will be fun and helpful such as an art project. Teachers do not need to stick to the old ways of teaching such as standing in the front of the room and children in rows and silent readings. Interact with the children rearrange the desks to be in a circle or a semicircle, have children come up to the front of the room to present or read or play games that make the children what to learn. For example my old science professor had game day on Fridays in which the room would be split into two and we played science jeopardy but a child from each team would be chosen for different round so that everyone got a turn even the shy student or the one struggling (this made you study and learn things in a fun way). At the end we would win points on a test, candy and more.

Even though there are a lot more problems with schools one of the major issues is teachers themselves. It seems to me that more and more under qualified teachers are teaching and molding the minds of young as well as older children. Many have been tenured in but the new coming teachers should be teaching their students not trying to be friends with them. Well to be honest I do think teachers and students can be friends but there should be a limit where the teacher is the authoritative figure and the student knows his/her place. Also I think that teachers should be like babysitters, you cannot favor students. Everyone should be equal and a child cannot be penalized because they are just disliked. Teachers should not just think about themselves but they should care about their students as well.

I do understand that teachers worry about themselves in situation of amount paid and if they will be laid off. But with they should have worried about that when they became teachers. Some don’t seem like they care about the students at all. These children spend more time with their teacher who are molding them to who they will be when they grow up and instilling them with ideas that will travel through their years, then they do with their parents. Parents trust teachers to do right by their children but when children are failing and struggling because a teacher did not want to meet with the child after, before or during school for help, everyone is hurt students and parents because they have to pick up the pieces or they can’t help and just watch their children stuffer. Teachers should know what they are talking about and not second-guess themselves thus confusing children and instilling wrong information in their growing minds. This problem is very easy to solve, hire teachers who are well trained and who what they are talking about and give them exams to see where they can be placed maybe some teachers need to be with a needier group of kids because they can handle it or teachers need to be with honors kids because they can’t do needy (placement exams just like students take). Also have younger children evaluate their teachers because little children may not be able to mouth off to their teachers but they still have an opinion about them that may help see if the teacher belongs there or not. Lastly teachers know what they are getting themselves into (or so I think) when they choose this profession, you have to be neutral and be there for your students to help with problems whether it be during class, before, after or by email help should reach the students eventual.