I’ve been asking students, how community and school leaders can show them that schools and education are the path to their dreams, aspirations, and goals,
Students don’t get sufficient sleep. After school, homework, jobs (to supplement family income), and chores, they are left with no time and energy.
Yet now is when they can engage their passions: hobbies, friends, or learning about their interests. They spend time on YouTube, social media, or doing what really engages their minds. Before they know it, it is very late and they are short of time to get adequate sleep.
Bright students are telling us how to fix the gap. They are asking that the curriculum match their passion. That the teachers connect the energy consuming class time to their interests. This will amplify rather than drain energy.
The students are bright and they are making another suggestion. Bring in role models who connect to our passions. Keep bringing more examples and repeat the motivational stories and talks. We know that life is a challenge. We expect to rise and fall, succeed and fail, and learn to keep going forward.
Bring us role models and motivational speakers who have gone through the learning and found their success.
Redirecting schools, reshaping curricula, and finding time to include role models in big schools and school systems is not easy. Lots of gears have to turn to make even small changes.
Yet, we have to ask, what is a higher priority than forging a strong future for our children?
We must advance and link curriculum to passion to engage the students.