Great Teahcers, Bad Students Essay, Research Paper

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Great Teachers, Bad Students

“I have a student in my second hour class who is an idiot .” Students probably have never heard their teachers complaining about them in the halls. In contrast, a person could roam Jefferson and hear conversations about how terrible teachers are from every corner of the school. “I got an F- on the final but it?s only because Mr. Doe* is a crappy teacher.” This a common attitude among students who fair poorly on a test. It is not bad teaching that causes a student to fail a class, it is bad learning. Laziness, foreign substance abuse, and truancy are a few characteristics of a bad learner.

The word “lazy” is frequently used to describe high school students who do not turn in their homework, study for tests and are constantly ill prepared for class. One form of laziness is the dreaded disease that only affects seniors, “Senioritis.” The symptoms include lack of motivation and falling grades. Yet the seniors who have the most severe case of “Senioritis” are the same ones who complain about poor teaching. Of course all lazy students are not seniors. There are students from every grade level who do not do their homework or study. Effort must be put forth by the student in order for learning and retention to occur.

Students who use illegal substances show the characteristics of a poor learner. The abuser may consistently forget homework assignments and do poorly on exams. Recovered drug user Bob* explains, “The pressure from your friends and society to use drugs is sometimes overwhelming. Once I started, everything went downhill, especially my grades.” Drugs soon consume the student?s life, leaving no time for studying or homework.

Truancy is obviously going to produce a poor learner. By not showing up at school there is no possible way he or she can get assignments or take tests. Even skipping only once or twice in a semester can be detrimental. “I skipped one day when we had a pop quiz. My teacher never let me make it up because he said I skipped,” said Susie* a junior at Jefferson. The teacher had every right to not let Susie make up the quiz that she missed because she skipped class. This is a classic example of a student who is a bad learner. Every day the teachers show up prepared to teach their classes. When students are consistently truant, bad grades are the result and no blame can be placed on the teacher. Students should be responsible by coming to class prepared.

There are many reasons why students consistently do poorly in school. Laziness, illegal substance abuse and truancy are only a few characteristics of bad learner. Students should take the responsibility that goes along with receiving a decent education. Instead of finding a scapegoat for their problems by blaming teachers, students should start putting the pressure on themselves.

*These names have been changed to protect the individual?s identity.