Underestimating teens

I know a lot about teenagers. They are often self-centered, but that's because of their brain's development. They want to be treated as adults unless they feel unfairly treated, and then they prefer their parents intervene. They want good grades but don't want to work too hard. Their social lives rule them. However, they truly hate when an adult bullshits them.

One of the saddest parts of this entire school board debacle is to see students, people who feel invincible, struggle to convey their message to the board. Instead of getting attention, they are dismissed, called "pawns," and told they don't understand what is going on. No one likes being treated with condescension, but it is particularly difficult for teens. As the board continues to treat them dismissively, our teens are increasingly riled by this behavior.

Today, for example, the board president visited our school to answer student questions. However when my students came to class, they were more frustrated than before the meeting. Out of all students who attended this meeting, only four questions were asked, and they felt as though their questions were not answered. One student was irate by the seemingly inattentiveness of the board president, while others were unhappy with the circuitous and meaningless answers both board members gave them. Why bother to attend these meetings if the true idea is the importance of our 'pawns.' Adults who don't work with teens seemingly don't understand they hate bullshit. Those same adults underestimate teens' capacity to grasp complex problems and critically think about them. However, if our district continues to move toward limiting subject matter and testing more, soon no one will have to worry about grasping complex problems or thinking critically.

Our board president stated that he doesn't think teens are tested enough, and he advocates MORE standardized testing rather than less. This is the problem with politics in education; more testing does nothing for students and though politicians of his ilk seem to believe teachers will magically have more time for teaching with more standardized tests, any educator knows this isn't true.

The sheer stupidity and condescension exhibited by our board of education and our superintendent make me angry. Even more, our students are angry, and they too pay taxes. Soon, they too will be able to vote. And with any luck, they will research backgrounds of politicians and understand the ramifications of amendments and bills, and be smart voters.