HW 40 - School Interviews x 5 & Synthesis

Part A: I went into these interviews not wanting to ask prewritten question but to ask question that would add to their last response. All of my interviews are conversations and that’s why I only have main ideas and concepts that they said as notes. I interviewed my grandmother who only made it to fourth grade; she doesn’t have much experience with school but holds it to a high pedestal. I interviewed my dad, a Hiram who just got kicked out of college, Jen who dropped out of high school, Bryan who is still in high school and Kenny who is a senior. (Sorry I know there is six I read the HW wrong)

Grandma:
-Living in poverty only allowed her to go to fourth grade. She learned how to write and read it turned out to be the only thing she really needed in life. She doesn’t really know what kids today are learning but it was always a must that her kids go and get an education. Even with her attempts her kids didn’t get very far in school but it didn’t stop them from having good lives. Overall all the lessons that she needed to know she learned outside of school.

Poops:
“I love school and I’m a big supporter”
-Teachers made school amazing for him, in his times teachers were nice and supper helpful. The only reason he stopped was so that he could get a job and help his parents out financially. In school he learned he had a passion for math, this passion mainly came from the motivation that his teachers gave him. Luckily he chose a career that worked in his favor. If one of his kids dropped out it would be unacceptable although he knows school is much different know.

Hiram:
He hates school and is having to deal with it now. The only motivation he feels to go to school is the harsh economy; his true passion is on the court. Although being a smart kid he often got bad grades because of his lack of motivation. Going to Museum left him with too much independence, if he could change school he rather go to a high school that allows students to get more experience with occupations like others schools have with nursing programs.

Jen:
When looking back on school she couldn’t remember anything except hating it, maybe that was one of the main factors of her dropping out. She hated the routine and felt above it, “waking up and going to do something you dislike feels horrible”. “When the teachers don’t care it makes it easy for a student not to care also.” She thinks having too much independence at a young age results in no good. She continued to hate school until she met the right teacher who showed her that she could do something with her life outside of school. She viewed school as just a stepping stone.

Bryan:
Hates school. It was hard to focus on anything else because he kept repeating it over and over. He views elementary school as his glory days because he was popular and the work was easy, the teachers felt like go getters to him and it rubbed off. His school leaves him no room to be creative and even gives him a dress code that they enforce. Most of his work is time consuming not challenging and that’s the most frustrating part. He doesn’t leave because he has a strong connection to his friends that he can’t give up. If he could change one thing it would be that he makes school more interesting.

Kenny:
If he could change the school system it would be so that school goes to 10th grade and after that you spend the last two years doing internships testing the waters for a potential occupation. He thinks school is a great thing but feels that people lose passion along the way much like himself. As a student he always found school very challenging and not so much hard. With all the time spent in school he feels like the only thing he will ever use is what he learned in elementary school. He says being senior is the worst thing ever and wishes the pressure wasn’t so bad. {I agree!}

Part B: To me it seems that teachers really set the tone of a student’s experience in school. Almost all of the responses included something about how teachers affect them. I really was thinking about what Bryan said when he mentioned how the teacher’s mood rubbed off in him. I think as teachers are in the field longer they lose their passion and so do we as time goes on it ends up with people hating school. I think it all comes down to how much people love to perform, if teachers enforce a more positive outlook onto things the students will respond better and gain motivation in themselves.