TEACHERS FACE CHALLENGES, BUT EXCITEMENT AND REWARD REMAINS

Education is sometimes expected to be like a factory. Teachers are assigned children and we are expected to produce young women and men. Like our society, it is getting more complex by the year.

Each child is an individual with abilities, weaknesses and special needs. Fortunately, teachers are being trained to recognize and identify many differences so that they may adapt learning styles, learning materials and offer encouragement as needed. Unfortunately, new individual traits or students are being identified: alcohol syndrome, crack babies and HIV-positive. What does the future hold and how will we teachers be able to cope?

The majority of our students are as perfect as possible -- most of the time. At the Junior High level every day is exciting...in one way or another. Ages 13-15 are the "Grow-up" years and often they blossom almost before our eyes as beautiful and handsome, responsible youths. Unfortunately, there are a "few" who truly cannot concentrate due to mental inability, behavior disorders, alcohol and/or chemical interference or outside pressures from classmates or from home.

Identification of these differences makes teaching more difficult because often there is nothing we can do about it. The child has already been born with some of these irregularities and there is often no reversal. Due to this fact, we educator must accept the child as is and must instill in that student the desire to become the very best she/he can be.

We must challenge them to make life an adventure! We must encourage them to do their best and we must not act too surprised when they go beyond what we envisioned. In education we have daily encounters with future mechanics, artists, politicians (even Presidents?). ballerinas, lawyers, doctors, rock stars, and yes, maybe even future teachers. That's exciting.

What is the future of education?

More counselors are needed for children to understand and cope with their individuality. Schools of the future may run year-round and may even be open 24-hours a day. They may offer morning, afternoon or night classes according to the individual's physical time cycle or their job cycle. Computers will be used more for daily word-processing and for world-wide communication. Imagine learning Spanish by having a computer pal! That would be fun! International exchange students will become common-place and education will be international. Students may go to China to study their history and culture one semester and to another country the next semester. Now that would be World History!

Hopefully, we will see new schools with the proper equipment to effectively challenge pupils and make them excited about learning. Future citizens will need the ability to adapt and the enthusiasm and willingness to learn and to cope with new knowledge and technology. Vocational training will come to the forefront beginning about sixth grade for some. Adults will become students again and again to re-tool, re-train and re-think in order to be job-ready in tomorrow's ever-changing job market.

Education is sometimes expected to be like a factory; however, unlike a factory, the materials we have to work with are not controlled and each product is not just alike. Unlike a factory, sometimes, just sometimes, the result is beyond our wildest expectation. Now, isn't that wonderful!

Mary Hart teaches at Central Junior High School.