Teachers and students can be equals.

I think it's possible to create a better learning environment when the teacher treats the students with the same level of respect that he or she does with his or colleagues or friends. Teachers and students can be equals. Of course, it all depends on whether or not the students are old enough and mature enough to handle equal treatment, but also mature enough to handle more responsibility on their part.

The reason I bring this up is because I see what I look at as unfair treatment in my school system. There are a few students (mostly seniors) who attend the local college part-time, are mature enough to attend college full-time, and are still treated like the freshman... exactly the same as the freshman. This creates a viscious cycle, because the few students who are more mature fall back to acting as immaturely as some of their peers, if this is how they're treated by the authority figures of the school, the teachers and administrators. There are no arguments that this isn't the way it happens, because I've seen it in action. So many of my peers this year got to school, thinking they'd receive not preferential treatment for being a senior, but a little more respect for being more mature. This did not happen.

I'm not asking that mature seniors be allowed to break all the rules and treat teachers as if they were their friends. Teachers shouldn't be on such an informal level, and seniors should still follow the rules to ensure school order. All I ask is that teachers and administrators treat us with a little more respect. It could just be little things like encouraging student discussion in class, allowing students to have their cell phones at lunch time, and even just treating us with a little decency. I was barked at by a teacher when I tried to go to the parking lot because I was told to have my pass to leave at lunch (for my class at the local college) in my car to show at the gate. She told me I was not allowed to go to my car to get my pass and show it to her, that I had to go through the process of getting a new one in the office. I fully understand that most students would not come back, but a student with the level of maturity to show her the pass should be treated with a little more respect.

Which leads me to my conclusion; students with this level of maturity would learn better if treated like an equal in class. My favorite class, the one I learn the most in, doesn't have the hardest or most work, or an extreme disciplinarian of a teacher. He wants to hear our opinions, he encourages interactive learning, and doesn't treat us like we are beneath him. I actually enjoy learning in that class and being in that class. He doesn't hammer us with work, but lets us focus on the details to better understand the broad picture with just a few assignments. He makes jokes during the lesson and talks to us almost as if we were his friends, but he knows where to draw the line.