VOICES
By Bill Haslim, Pablo Garcia, Jeff Strukel, and Greg Merrill
Morse High School
O'Farrell Community School
Among the responses from students, teachers, and parents, we found some commonalities and trends. These are summarized below:
Reflecting back on this project students shared a varitety of concerns and ideas. One of the responses expressed the value of school and how it has provided an opportunity of meeting and interacting with new people. School has provided them with an opportunity to learn social skills. They learn how to begin and nurture relationships with peers and adults. School is a powerful influence on the building, and sometimes the breaking of student's egos. Some examples included the experiences with discipline problems and poor relationships with teachers and other students. Through our research students seem to be concerned with the relationships with their teachers. Students also expressed several things that they would like to see in schools. Probably the major concern for students was a safe and secure school. Also a concern was a friendly working relationship with their teachers. Finally students desire curriculum that is interesting and relevant to their lives. Most of the interviewees generally felt that teachers want what is best for them, such as education that is valuable and helpful in life. They also shared that they saw safety as an important issue that their parents want for them. Overall students responses were very similiar. They shared the ideas of safety, relationships, and the future.
Teachers expressed a sense of satisfaction from seeing their students succeed and grow and shared frustrations with all the logistical duties outside of actually teaching. Their views of an ideal school commonly included small class sizes and more time and freedom to focus on teaching as they see fit. The frustration was expressed that the current system of teaching in which teachers find themselves is like that of a factory assembly line. Teachers generally feel that ideal teaching is personal in its approach, that the content of curriculum should be shaped by the interest of students, and that their ideal strategies are not necessarily those dictated by administrative expectations. One teacher in particular (from O'Farrell), noted that the perfect school would allow the teachers to have input in the curriculum development and the way the school is run. Basically, this is in accordance with the original charter of O'Farrell Community School. However, this same teacher noted that O'Farrell has gotten away from that original design and have gotten more towards the "traditional" style of school. That is, a few leaders who ultimately make the decisions as a principle would do. He also noted that the challenge of everybody having input is that it is hard to come to a consensus decision. There are "too many chiefs and not enough indians".
The positive school experiences that parents shared were very similar to those of the students. The single most common concern among parents and community members is that of safety. In addition to being safe, their ideal schools were almost unanimously ones that were also caring of children and sufficiently equipped with books and computers. There was also a concern that teachers be prepared to work with students of different ethnic backgrounds. Community members expressed that they wanted students to walk away with skills; skills to empower their future. They wanted their children to be enlightened to the relationships between school and work , and the skills to succeed in their future. Parents suggested new teachers coming into the profession to try to get to know the community they will be working in. Get to know the area, the demographics, culture, and faces of the students they will encounter through teaching. Parents also suggested that teachers alert parents of their students progress, achievements, and warn them of possible problems with their educational experiences.