Rethinking Education (ch 10) Reflection

The last chapter of Rethinking Education went through and summed up all the ideas that the previous chapters had touched on and added a few more.  The most interesting thing I read in this chapter was the idea of letting students choose whether or not they wanted to enter the work force or go to high school after completing middle school.  I know it said that the students would have to be evaluated to make sure that they had learned the necessary skills to do this while in middle school, but I don’t think at the age of thirteen or fourteen kids should be deciding whether or not to continue school.  I know when I was in eighth grade I would have been happy to have not gone to high school and started working somewhere.  Who doesn’t want a little money in their pocket or money to put away so they can get a car when they are sixteen?  I think if students don’t go to high school after middle school they will be less likely to go back to high school at all.  In the world we live in today, it is increasingly harder to find a good paying job without at least an Associate’s Degree.  The book is suggesting that students don’t even need to get a high school degree, but to use technology and learn while working.  While I agree with the idea of lifelong learning, I think it should start after high school when kids are more mature and better able to make decisions that will impact the rest of their lives.  I think if this would come about and students were given this choice that the students that decide to go into the work force should have to take classes online to work toward their diploma.  I don’t think it would be a good idea to let them completely off the hook because unless highly motivated, most won’t re-enter high school or make an effort on their own to take classes online.  Most students lose interest in school because it’s not interesting enough, but if teachers incorporate more technology into their teaching students will stay more engaged.  Students who are engaged and enjoy learning will want to continue to go to school and won’t want to go work and then maybe come back to school later.  As a potential teacher at the middle school level, I want to prepare my students for life after middle school.  I know that as high school students some kids will get a part-time job and I want to prepare them for that job by teaching them the skills they will need to function in the real world.  I also want to instill in them the importance of education and how it can help them get farther in the world.  Without an education, it will be harder to get a good job or the job they may want.  I will answer questions for my students, help them decide what they may want to do after high school, and prepare them for whatever path they decide to go down.