For many students, school is a social
environment. It’s where they see their friends, make plans for the weekend, and
catch up on all the latest gossip. For some, they are so busy with extracurricular
activities and family functions that school is the only place to visit with
friends. Ask almost any student what his or her favorite part of school is, and
if “hanging out with my friends” isn’t mentioned explicitly, I can almost
guarantee that he or she will name a social subject such as lunch or recess. While
the social nature might be a reality of schools today, a big question comes to
mind: should it be?
In class this week, a question was
posed in class:
What is/should be the social function
of school? Should it even HAVE such a function?
I believe that the social aspect of
school is an integral function of it, as long as some limitations are in place.
Without the social aspect of school, students wouldn’t grow in their
communication and collaboration skills. They would miss out on the lifelong
lessons of making friends, getting along with people you don’t like, and
sticking up for yourself when gossip ensues.
While eliminating the social function
of schools might seem like it would lead to a more academic setting, it would
be nearly impossible to implement. How would you stop kids from talking to
their friends in the hallways and making plans together for after school?
Trying to eliminate the social function would simply create resentment and a
further want, by the students, for social interaction.
Instead, I believe schools should
embrace the social setting they cultivate and use it to their advantage. It can
be great for learning the essential communication skills and a great lesson for
how poor communication and social skills can backfire. Furthermore, group work
and collaboration, while sometimes including unnecessary gossip talk, is a
great way for students to expand their knowledge and learn from their peers. A
non-social environment may be sought after by some school administrators, but I
believe they need to accept its existence and realize it’s here to stay.
Hey Morgan,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that schools need to embrace the social needs of students. In Shari's class, my philosophical writing always end up with me concluding that first and foremost I want to create a community in my classroom and from within that community, really meaningful learning can happen.
The CPR's we have been doing I think are serving that purpose. Students aren't just students, they are people with lives both in and out of school that they want to communicate. I think that cutting out all space for social interaction would, like you said, "create resentment". Just because the activity is social doesn't mean it is not also academic and beneficial. They can learn from each others' experiences, build relationships, learn to work together and even practice a new skill.
As Anne told us in class, students won't remember what you taught them but how nice they perceived you to be. I think if there is a community in the classroom that encourages learning and feels safe, there will be a lot to be benefited.
Claire
Hi Morgan,
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you about school being a social domain. I think that, as you say, it would be practically impossible to strip the social element from the school experience. That said, I wonder where a teacher draws the line. Does she let her students speak to each other in class as they work? Can they send text messages if they do so politely and still pay attention? Do students raise their hands to participate? Is it ok for kids to write notes? These questions are hard for me to answer because I want to create a comfortable and even social environment, but not at the expense of a good class...
You frame your response in a very interesting way, Morgan, and you elicit some equally interesting responses. Dewey, I think, talks about a "social" function as it relates to our roles in society but, of course, your definition of "social" is of much greater importance to young people, and it is frames a similarly complicated question for teachers. It can be very hard for us to accept the fact that, for all the care we put into our lessons and for all the importance of Mathematics or Chemistry or what have you, that the seven minutes between classes are the most important minutes of the day for most kids. I also appreciate your suggestion that we as teachers need to tackle issues related to "poor communication and social skills," for example, even if they aren't about math, per se. I agree with you that this is crucial stuff, and I would also suggest that "teaching" about these issues, whether formally or informally, is challenging...traps abound (think of the awkwardness of that video that we looked at). How to go about this, and deciding when dealing with such issues is, at least for at a given moment, more important that mathematics, is one of the most important kinds of decisions we make as teachers, and such decisions say a lot about the kind of teachers we are.
ReplyDeleteHumans are social creatures. We crave the social interaction with others and will seek it out no matter what. To try to eliminate that from a classroom/school setting would be detrimental to a students development. Being able to interact with one another, whether it be during passing time in the hallway, or during a group project, is a very important aspect to a student's learning and development. As a student grows and progresses into college or the workforce, they are going to be expected to participate and communicate with one another. That being said, there is a fine line between letting the class full of students socially interact to complete a task and letting them gossip about one another. The key is finding what works for that particular class which makes the social aspect conducive to learning.
ReplyDelete