I had a seventy-five-point assignment due on last month, composed of three parts: completing the FAFSA, completing a scholarship, and registering to vote. The FAFSA was simple, and I’m currently working on the scholarship. My only issue was that I’m unable to register. I’m not yet eighteen.
The laws in my state, for registering, are relatively simple: You have to be eighteen at the time of the election (which is in November, obviously), and you have to be registered for at least a month. However, every place I’ve gone to has told me that I’m incapable of registering because I’m not eighteen at this very moment. My birthday isn’t until the very beginning of October, and there are primary elections before then.
Here’s my thing: she’s an English teacher, not a Government/History/Economics teacher. Any one of those three I could see assigning something like that, for extra credit, not as a real assignment. I don’t understand why she would give out homework that has nothing to do with her class, whatsoever. Teachers in my school district tend to do that, though, and I’m sick of it. I don’t want to write a poem in science class to submit in a contest, I don’t want to write a biography in Phys-Ed, and I don’t want to be required to register to vote in my Advanced-Placement English class. Simple.
If you’re hired to teach a specific class, please teach it, and it alone. Yes, there’s writing in most every class, and Math and Science are intertwined, the English language takes words from others… But if I were to go into, say, Chorus class and learn about the Pythagorean Theorem, I’m going to have a problem.
I guess the bottom line here is that a lot of the teachers I know need to take into account that we’re still technically kids. While a lot of us don’t have full-time jobs or taxes and such, we also don’t have the same freedom as adults.
Yeah, there was an alternate assignment for those who did not wish to register: 250 word essay on why the writer believes that it isn't important to vote. Kind of prejudiced, in my opinion.
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Yeah, there was an alternate assignment for those who did not wish to register: 250 word essay on why the writer believes that it isn't important to vote.
what? They just assume because you're not old enough, you don't think voting is important? That's kind of horrible.
And assigning filling out the FAFSA or apply for a scholrship as a grade, rather than encouraging students to do it and following through by making sure they did? That's kind of like cheating. ;-) What about the kids who aren't continuing education right away after they graduate? The FAFSA, and scholarships, really aren't needed then; there are better things to focus one's time on--like actual classwork.
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Yeah, the essay was really annoying. The frustrating part was, most of us brought one into class (because we couldn't register), and the teacher said that she'd just exempted us from the assignment.
Yeah, kind of a ridiculous thing, in my opinion.
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However...
They may not be needed, but getting the help filling them out now IS important so that when the time comes, the student has had some experience. Post-Graduate planning is an important part of any high school experience, and perhaps it isn't the teacher's decision to teach it in reading/writing class (although there are some specific skills learned in those areas). So relax... it's not like you are doing pointless work. You are learning, even if you don't know it. But the harder you try to learn, the more you will learn. Anyway, chances are your teacher didn't choose to make that a requirement, but rather it was a mandate from higher up.
I'm a believer in crossing content areas, but I don't have time to address that issue right now.
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"All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else."
-Buddha
I agree that learning to fill out a FAFSA should be taught, whether or not everyone is planning on actually using that info right away.
I just think it's a little ridiculous to make it an actual graded assignment to fill it out and submit it, or to apply for a scholarship.
I can understand the teacher taking a day or two to print out actual FAFSA forms to give to students and going over how to fill them out, or showing students how to find financial aid resources online or through the guidance councelor's office, etc.
I can even see an English teacher taking actual scholarsip essay questions, and having students answer them, for a grade, to critique and promote writing skills.
I just don't see the point in telling everyone they need to actually apply for something, and it's for a grade. But, you're right. It is probably not the teacher's choice to make it a requirement.
I'm a believer in crossing content areas, but I don't have time to address that issue right now.
When you do have time, you should blog it. I have no problems with crossing content areas. Things like writing should be addressed in a science class because, if one continues with science, writing skills are going to be important. That's just a single example; I'm fairly certain there are plenty more.
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I have no problem with crossing subjects - to a degree. As long as it's related to what we're learning in class, I have no problem with it. But we were in the poetry unit, and all of our poetry was about the outdoors and death. Yeah. As for her regular English classes? They were working on their research papers.
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depending on the era of poetry which you are reading, much of poetry is about outdoors and death...
Crossing content areas - yes, perhaps I should blog about that very thing. I'm sorry that your English class is frustrating for you. But I'm sure that there is an agenda there that even your teacher can't control. I suggest that, if it's really as bad as you make it out to be, perhaps you discuss it with your teacher. She may be as frustrated as you are. Just be gentle in how you approach it... Teachers are sensitive creatures. It's a hard job.
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"All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else."
-Buddha
Teachers in my school district tend to do that, though, and I’m sick of it. I don’t want to write a poem in science class to submit in a contest, I don’t want to write a biography in Phys-Ed,
It's not just your district, it's more of a nation-wide movement (ie - not mandatory, and not all districts participate, but many are choosing to do so) known as "Writing across the curriculum." It's based on the idea that students aren't able to write as well as they should, and instead of raising the bar in English classes, they decide to add writing assignments to other courses (in some cases, detracting from the value of those courses, in my opinion).
I had to deal with it, too, and ended up nearly failing Chemistry because I refused to write a poem we were supposed to write (poetry had become very personal to me, and as one who's rather artistic, a poem about molecules just wouldn't cut it and I'd never feel anything I wrote, if I could even think of anything, would be satisfactory to submit). In some cases, the assignments made sense, though. Like for Phys-Ed, we had to write about an unusual sport or something like that and it wasn't done on class time. The Chemistry one wouldn't have been as bad if it wasn't a poem and dealt more with, say, technical writing or something.
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Have you talked to the teacher about your situation? She should be considerate and understanding seeing as how it is our government that is preventing you from completing the assignment. If you had no sympathy from her, speak with the principal, and I am sure the issue would be resolved.
And as for the complaining about telling the teacher to stick to her own cirriculum, take a step back and think. Many teachers would never take the time to help students have a chance to do these things. She is going beyond a textbook and actually presenting you and your fellow classmates with real world situations and ways to accomplish them.
If a teacher simply teaches straight from the book, students complain. One day, when you have a better understanding of how much these things have helped you in the long run, you will be appreciative of the things these teachers assigned.