A: It's geography class and the teacher doesn't ask me about rivers and mountains, but he does ask me if I'm searching for my sexual orientation. I had come to school with my hair dyed in purple shades. I didn't know how to process what I was feeling and decided that a change would help me exist while my mom was in the hospital. At his question, the whole class laughed.
M: As a child I learned to hate and fear in almost equal measure. My mother named me Martha, but it, the name, different, unfamiliar, strange, became a weapon for many of my classmates. Nicknames became my only name, but the school and the adults in it did little to protect me. I was, naturally, in every way, but not Martha. My name meant nothing. My name wasn't mine from when I was a little girl until high school, when I decided to transfer at the end of tenth grade, far away from everything I knew.
A: Better schools. I, we need them. I'm a in the first year of college, and I know I've missed a lot to this day. I want schools where we don't have a superior relationship between teachers and students. I always learned better when I felt like I was in that desk or in that classroom because the teacher is coming to give me a little bit of his experience, not to show me who he is and how great has he become in life.
M: Teacher-pupil or teacher-student relationships should be based on respect and dialog. Many teachers still adopt a teaching style based on authority and conformity, where students are expected to listen and not challenge, and this only discourages dialog and critical thinking, and in many cases encourages students to not express their opinion out of fear. Not infrequently I have memorized lessons without understanding them, just to avoid conflict. There is no real communication with us, the ones in the desks, and this often leads to other issues such as emotional problems or learning difficulties which are also often ignored or minimized. I am bothered and it also does not do my career any good the lack of feedback from teachers who often only grade the final result, without offering explanations or guidance on how I could progress. I guess in the end it all comes down to the need for security. On both sides.
Sometimes teachers don't respect students, insults, name-calling and humiliation in front of the class are still common practices. At other times they form fixed and superficial opinions about us without noticing individual progress. Of course, there are also many cases where students disrespect their teachers, challenge them, verbally and sometimes even physically harass them. If we don't feel safe, we can't progress. Neither one of us.
A: I felt sometimes that I was always expected to excel, but the teachers in front of me were not supposed to evolve. Our schools need a system where professional preparation is regularly evaluated. I live and we all live in a restless society and we need quality conversations that help us focus on the information and ultimately become better people. I want the professors who teach us to know about the world we are going to live in and to adapt, to professionalize, not to teach in the way that would have been useful ten or 20 years ago.
In the World Economic Forum report on the competences needed for 2030 notes that we need to have skills in artificial intelligence and working with big data. That basically means critical thinking, but also creative thinking, synthesis abilities, analytical skills. There it is also noted that we need leadership and social engagement skills, but in how many schools are you, pupil, or you, student, allowed to say what your vision is or how many of them are planning activities where you have to take ownership, build something from scratch, test, even fail, to learn to be a leader? The same report says that our motivation and self-awareness need to be trained. Do you have any idea how many of us are over twenty, but don't know what to do with our lives, even if we've chosen a major in college? Have you ever wondered?
M: I too want more transparency and ownership. I think we need to combat this practice of covering up problems in schools and “cosmeticizing” grades. These are toxic practices that affect both students and the education system as a whole, symptoms of a system that values image over quality. Schools are under pressure to have a “good image,” not a good substance. Headmasters and teachers are judged by students' results in exams (in the baccalaureate, the national assessment, the bachelor`s), and a school with high marks, without scandals, gets more students and therefore more funding. To maintain this image, some schools hide internal problems such as cases of violence, harassment or corruption.
Often, even the grading is artificial to look good in the statistics, and if a serious case comes to light it is more easier to be ”swept under the rug” than investigated. What are young people learning? That image is more important than reality. Those who obtain high grades through real effort feel demotivated when they see others getting the same grades “by the pen”, and teachers who are fair can be isolated or penalized by the system.
The real problems are not solved, they are just hidden and schools end up producing unprepared graduates. I would perhaps like to see more transparency and accountability, cases of violence, fraud or abuse to be properly investigated and punished, not hidden, more objective ways of measuring school performance, not just inflated grades. Teachers who refuse to inflate grades should not be punished or marginalized, and students should be encouraged to report problems without fear of repercussions. Instead of the perfect image, schools should focus on providing a quality education in a healthy environment that encourages a culture of hard work and accountability, not falsifying results.
A: The psychological preparation of those who train us. That's something we need to work on as well. On paper I'm sure it exists. How it reaches us is another story. Perhaps compulsory pedagogical training programs should be introduced, constant training to adapt to new teaching methods and situations that can occur in a classroom. Sometimes we expect resolutions and benchmarks and all we get is a kind of carelessness or sometimes even insecurity. And I understand. Generations have changed, we are also different.
But between me, a kid not even in his 20s, and someone who has made a profession out of teaching, who gets the reins? Maybe...maybe it doesn't seem like it, but we need guidance, good advice, a balance between information and trust. We need presence-people, not just textbook people. Someone who can see beyond the desk, understand what's troubling us, have the strength to recognize when something isn't working. We may seem distracted or uncaring, but in reality, we are searching. And if we don't find real support at the desk and at the blackboard, we risk looking elsewhere. Sometimes in silence, sometimes in abandonment.
The psychological training of those who form us should be about empathy and the ability to shape not just minds but also characters. Because yes, we need role models. Even if we don't always say it out loud.
M: I want stronger measures and more initiatives to fight gender inequality and misogyny.
A: I want schools that protect ethnic, religious and sexual minorities. I want sex education, political education and financial education.
M: I also want to learn about things like mental and emotional health, first aid, nutrition, and ethical or moral issues.
A: I want activities that focus on promoting European values, that explain history correctly so that we learn from it and don't repeat mistakes, that explain more than the classic billboards we draw on 9th of May with the slogan “United in Diversity”.
M: I want school to give me the chance to become a voice, not a whisper.
A: I want school not to keep me trapped in the past.
