Published: March 15, 2006

Who's Responsible?

In a viewpoint article "Seen and Heard" in the March 2006 issue of Teacher , education researcher and former teacher Antonia Lewandowski wrote that today's students need to have a better understanding of their own responsibility for their educations. Mary Downing, a language arts teacher at Learning Community Charter School in Jersey City, New Jersey, read the article and shared it with her 8th grade class just as they were preparing for the state’s standardized exams. After some classroom discussion, she asked the students to write down their thoughts about the divisions of responsibility in schools. The students' comments are excerpted below.

I believe that, as students, our education is as much in our hands, if not more in our hands, as it is in the teachers. But there is too much out there to combat education and work, be it poverty, music, television, video games, friends, trends or any number of other things. There is not enough influence from teachers and educators. Most of the obstacles can also contribute positively to learning, but you have to use them in that manner.

Perhaps because of these things, teachers end up playing disciplinarian more than teacher. Some teachers can't keep the class under control, and they end up jumping and screaming. Others have the ability to keep the class under control, but often at the cost of learning. There are some days when I come out of class with only noise and yelling in...