Will Richardson posted an entry entitled
Dispatches from the Front Lines #346 recently telling a story of a student serving in-school suspension who texted a teacher for homework help. Maybe it's the mood I'm in but it really struck a chord with me.
OK, I have mixed feelings about this. First, I question the student's motive for texting. Was he really looking for help or was he trying to assert his independence (defiance) by telling the teacher that he was in in-school suspension? Granted I don't know the entire context and what the student did or didn't know about the policy of the suspension.
Let's assume his intentions were noble for the sake of argument. Kudos for trying to get the information he needed. BUT, should we applaud a student for this "creativity" in contacting his teacher even though it runs smack into the face of school rules and policies? Should the benefit of the doubt for students be revoked when they are suspended?
If the student was texting the teacher, who's to say that he wasn't texting other people? Obviously the person watching the students didn't see what was going on.
Now, I'm not going to debate the issue of in-school suspension because I have mixed thoughts on that as well. However, rules are rules (however harsh and un-student centered woo-woo that sounds) and where do we draw the line between academic initiative/problem solving and blatant breaking of the rules?
Why couldn't the student extend his/her problem solving skills by realizing that cell phones were banned and simply write down questions on a piece of paper and then handle it at a later, more appropriate time.
Yes, we should foster creative thinking and problem solving in our students. No, we shouldn't necessarily allow them to break school rules to achieve this. Society places parameters on human beings and we need to learn to think and work within the parameters placed upon us. THAT is a skill that many
millennials don't seem to grasp today. There's a right place and a right time and we, as educators, have a responsibility to teach students to do all these wonderful things..but within the context of acceptable behavior. The term consequences seems to be remiss throughout this discussion. Shouldn't that count? The student WAS suspended and it seems, from previous comments to Will's post, that we should just ignore the rules because the student showed some level of genius by circumventing the rules themselves.
I'm all for promoting and acknowledging the digital native and the ways they learn and acquire information. We do it here at my school in many transparent ways. However, I think it is important to honor and respect the rules laid forth. If one doesn't like the rules, then go about to change them in an appropriate manner, not by celebrating the sneakiness of a student.
