Chapter 11

I find the opening of this chapter pretty interesting. The fact the teachers are taught in emotions or how to deal with a depressed or suicidal student. When a teacher is confronted with something like this they have to decide whether or not to take action. Not taking action could mean a tragedy, taking action would mean getting involved in something they may feel unequipped to handle. But I think any teacher could handle something like this if only they remember to view their students as equals and not children, even if they are. Children still feel the same emotions as adults do, they are just as complex and oftentimes a lot messier because they don't have the experience to know when to let go and move on. They don't have the experience of healing. Teachers do though, whether or not they want to talk about it. I think teacher also need to keep in mind that the classroom isn't just a two way mirror. Teachers can learn from their students as often as they learn from their teacher. If they avoid creating lessons and assignments around personal experience I think they are really shortening the classroom experience. I took creative writing my junior year of high school, and it wasn't the first time I was able to speak about personal things, but it was close. That class changed my life, my teacher wasn't afraid of the nitty-gritty details of a teenagers life and so we got to express freely. Pretending that school is this emotionless academic place causes so many problems. It's a building filled with likely thousands of kids! Of course there are emotions, of course there is drama, of course there is depression. Ignoring doesn't make it go away. I say the best way to get schools to be more expressive is to have writing workshops. All students know in primary eduction is to write 'academically'. We are taught research papers with MLA and book reports and blah blah blah. It's awful. Most people don't ever develop their writing voice. I think it should perhaps be a thing at an early age. People write their essays and never want to pick up a pencil again. Writing should be used in schools as a tool of coping and understanding oneself. No one really even has to read it! Just giving them the opportunity to share the parts of life they have experienced. And yeah, sometimes it's suicidal, which is really awful, but it's always better to be proactive.