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Perceptions of School and Education
Role of School
With all that the average student manages to do in a week, what role does school
play? How important is it and how central a concern? One common view, that
school is the expected focus at this time in life, was summarized by a middle
school student at King:
Well it basically is my life during school days, cause in the summer I have a
job to earn money for clothes and stuff. School is like important cause we
have to go and attend and pass and that’s how we get jobs and stuff, edu-
cation, and that’s basically what I do. Even if I’m not at school, I’m basically
being at school because I’m doing homework and studying for school. So it
plays a big role.
Students such as this accept school as an important part of their lives and appear
not to question its centrality and its purpose. Accepting its importance, however,
does not always mean putting school first. A 16-year-old male, who had described
a rich pattern of academic involvement, good grades, and an orientation toward
college, when asked ‘‘how much of your life revolves around school?’’ responded
‘‘I would say a lot. About 50–60 percent.’’
The roles most discussed by students as competing for time and attention were
friends and athletics:
I think with high school kids, their first priority is friends. They might be into
school and everything, but I guess they are more into friends. School would
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probably come second. And sports . . . . A lot of them are more into sports
than into school. (Eleventh-grade male, West High School)
Those seriously focused on athletics may perform a complex juggling act and may
make decisions about whether to focus more attention on academics or sports.
A 17-year-old gymnast notes that student athletes differ in the emphasis they place
on academics, suggesting that this varies along several dimensions:
(It varies by sport) and different sizes of teams too. The football team is really
big, so they are going to have more people that are better students and more
people that are not really good. The gymnastics team only has 16 people, so
there are fewer extremes. I would say overall that the smaller the opportuni-
ties for doing the sport later as a career, like professional baseball or football,
then the better the students. When you are younger and you play softball and
stuff, there is always the thought that you could make it your job, and that
is like a dream. Gymnastics, even if you go as far as you can with the Olympics
and stuff, your career is over when you are 25 and you do not make any
money from it. So you have to be ready to do something else when you are
done.
A large number of students simply are not engaged in school. As one high school
junior at Springdale described it:
For some people I know (academics) are a major part of their life. And they
go home and study. But for most people, they just do the homework, they
study, they do what they need to do, but would almost prefer not to.
A high school teacher in Metro City responded to a question about the role of
school in students’ lives:
I don’t think that they see it playing a very big role. I think they see that they
have to go there and so they go. They don’t see where school is going to lead.
Many teachers struggled to interpret why some students appear to view school
as a low priority. A high school teacher commented that the students who are
doing well
. . . . are the ones with the incentive. Many students don’t have that incen-
tive, because you have to feel good about yourselves first. I think that a num-
ber of students don’t feel good about themselves, because nobody has taught
them. No one has said, ‘‘You are so special, you are extraordinary, or look in
the mirror—you are so pretty!’’ No one gives them a hug, but I do. We are
not supposed to touch them, but you almost can’t get around it, you have to
give people a pat on the back. (Business teacher, Uptown)
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Some students discussed having been alerted by parents as to the central prior-
ities. A junior high student at King said:
I think about my friends a lot. And I want to hang out with them a lot, but
my mom and dad always give me sermons. You have to sit down and set your
morals . . . . like, your friends won’t always be there, but your education
will. You will need your education to move further in life so that’s basically
the most important thing to come to school for, not your friends.
Few students approach this as a dichotomous choice, however. For some, school
may compete for attention with other interests, but for most of those interviewed,
school was a place to meet multiple goals, perhaps simultaneously. As one Spring-
dale parent described the priorities in her children’s lives:
If I had to give it an order, for my kids, I would say school one, friends two.
With the exception of (one of the children)—it might be school, gymnastics,
friends. And I do not even want to say one, two, and three, because school
and friends are really tied into one another . . . . Family is also another big
main focus, but I do not think that they think of it as such. It is just taken
for granted. Which is OK. I want them to feel that this is the place where
they do not have to think of it as any particular priority, or number. It is just
there for them all the time.
An administrator at Hamilton, noting the range of involvement in school, com-
mented that ‘‘some kids’ needs are answered here and others are not.’’ Others
described the drawing power of money:
I think most, especially our boys, are interested in making money. They’re not
into education the way that I think they should be. They come to school at
various times, when school begins at 8 a.m. . . . Those that work, that is
their responsibility—they may be trying to help mom with the little ones, be-
cause welfare is not enough to make ends meet. It takes a lot away from the
kids. I’d much rather see them in school than trying to take on the role of
adults. It is taking a toll on the kids. Money is such a priority—sometimes they
just like to have money in their pocket. And drugs—you can make a lot of
money. I had one student tell me that he makes between $500 and $1,000
a night. (Parent volunteer, South Central)
One student at Hamilton commented that the range of involvement in schooling
varied because:
Some people’s focuses are placed in schooling from the time they were very
young. Other kids grew up with lives where, you know, you do not really
need school, it is just something you have to do. Different experiences make
you focus on different things.
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