Morey 1

Rachel Morey

Professor Jackie Justice

English 111

22 November 2019

The Big Issue

It is hard to put into words the way school makes us feel. From kindergarten and on we

are slowly stripped of our identities in school classrooms, one grade at a time. To be more

specific, for me it is hard to become interested in a topic or a class when I can not be myself.

Teachers have taught us ever so slowly to sit down, shut up, and learn. But it is hard to learn

when every question I have about the topic gets shut down in a very embarrassing manner,

making me feel stupid and weak compared to my teacher, and even my classmates. Without even

realizing it, I stopped liking school, I stopped liking challenging classes. But school is suppose to

be challenging and I am there to learn. Why do I feel dumb for not knowing something? The

point of school is to teach me what I do not know. This issue is not just a problem for me, it is

also a problem for many other students, who have amazing minds and amazing personalities but

are too afraid to show their true selves. If we do not work through this issue, we may not be

successful in school. And the pattern will continue throughout the years.

Having the habit of mind that we can not be ourselves in the classroom stems from a very

important factor, and that is having a relationship with our teacher. Developing a habit of mind

that we can not be ourselves in class can mean many things. It can mean being afraid to answer

questions or even ask questions. This can cause a disconnection between learning the

information and only memorizing to pass. When students do not understand the class, we

become uninterested and it becomes a class where instead of being passionate or getting involved
 Morey 2

about topics, we sit and remember information for tests and to pass, we do not do it because we

want too. Having a positive relationship with a teacher can help draw the student into learning

and promote or fuel their desire to learn. Paulo Freire displays, “Education thus becomes an act

of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor”(Freire).

This is saying that today, the teacher talks and the students try to memorize information with no

real bond. The student is likely to trust his/her teacher more, show more engagement in learning,

behave better in class and achieve at higher levels academically if there was a relationship. This

is what Barry Alford was trying to get across when he said in his article “Frierian Voices,

Student Choices”. He says, “Listening to my students, sometimes longer than I would like, by

giving them free rein in classroom discussion helps make them owners of the classroom and the

conversation” (Alford). Both of these educators are connecting empowering the student, by

showing him/her that their teacher cares and is listening to his/her ideas. By giving that student a

little bit of power and praise, it really does open them up and get them excited to learn more.

Students in classrooms tend to fall into a shyness during class. Along with the loss of a

teacher/ student bond, there is also another huge reason students fail to express themselves in the

classroom. They worry about what other students will think. This begins at a very young age,

starting with bullying in elementary. College is full of new students and people who have this

same mindset, and this can cause awkwardness or a want to fit in and make friends. Jack

Mezirow explains in his article “Transformative Learning: Theory to Practice” how students do

and say certain things that they believe will help them “fit in”. Mezirow says “But in

contemporary societies we must learn to make our own interpretations rather than act on the

purposes, beliefs, judgements, and feelings of others” (Mezirow). He then goes on to explain

how this is part of transformative learning and it actually affects how students learn in the
 Morey 3

classroom. Alford understood this idea when he said, “For many of my students, first year

composition is the first opportunity they have ever had to hear their voice as part of a community

of voices” (Alford). He is explaining that in his college class, a student voice and his/her ideas

really matter. And although he wants to hear their ideas, other students might not be so kind.

Most students answer in class the way they feel will attract less attention to themselves, to avoid

judgement. This is what Mezirow was explaining with his idea of students acting to serve others

beliefs or views to fit in, and in this case, in a classroom.

Every student in the classroom has a completely different mindset and career choice set

in place for themselves. We go through elementary school hearing to follow our dreams of

becoming amazing things like president, an astronaut, or a veterinarian. But as we get older we

are set more “realistic” goals in life like an accountant, a mechanic, or a store owner. And these

dreams and goals we once had are stripped away. Mike Rowe said it best in his video, “Don’t

Follow Your Passion”. He says “You all have been given some terrible advice, and that advice is

this: follow your passion” (Rowe 0:24). He then goes on to explain that telling kids they can be

anything they want, without knowing what they want to be, is unrealistic because passion and

ability are seperate. Taking away a students dream, that they are working very hard on, takes

away a that students drive to work hard. Students are losing a part of themselves when told their

dreams are unrealistic when really, anything is possible with hard work. A student's entire reason

for being in college is stemmed from what they want to do and be, so when a teacher is telling

them they can not do it, they lose that part of themselves and lose interest in school altogether,

and show up to pass not to learn or achieve their goals. They lose all control of their “college

plan”. Teachers need to listen to their students and their dreams. Paulo Freire explains this well

when he said “The first step is to listen… students are all too accustomed to being inundated
 Morey 4

with “teacher talk” which is used to control the classroom and guide, or stifle their thoughts”

(Frire). He is saying teachers need to hear what the students want to learn regarding their career,

or even how they should learn about it. Controlling the classroom and guiding what is taught in

the classroom solely off of what the teacher believes, instead of showing the student attention

towards what they need to learn is where Mike Rowe's idea of the anti follow your dreams comes

from. Students want to be empowered in the classroom and shown that their ideas and dreams

and personal learning strategies are taken seriously. By listening in the classroom, it can help the

student whose dream is to become president, work a little harder to get to that dream.

Students not being able to express themselves in the classroom doe not just take a toll on

their life academically but also mentally. When a student is not able to express themselves

through school and classes because of being shy, it can take a toll on their mental state. Being

aware of a student and their views on topics and who they are as a person and in the classroom is

much more important than teaching a general education process to every student, the same way.

David Foster Wallace said in “This is Water”, “It is about the real value of a real education,

which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness”

(Wallace). He is explaining how learning is not always statistics and factual information. It is

sometimes breaking a stigma or learning about someone and their background. Being aware of

the student and who they are if the first step to opening them up to learn. Alford explains the

importance of getting to know your students and how they learn when he said, “For many of my

students, first year composition is the first opportunity they have ever had to hear their voice as

part of a community of voices” (Alford). He explains why this is beneficial in his classroom

because it allows the students to open up and feel important, engaged, and themselves.
 Morey 5

I am learning to be more open with myself in the classroom, not only for me but for my

teachers and other students who may not be there yet. Overcoming this obstacle in college is

hard, especially when it is new and unfamiliar to you. I hope that with practice we as a college,

faculty and students, can work through shyness and a feeling of awkwardness in schools.

Learning is the most important part of our world, and when teachers are not listening to how we

learn and even why we want to learn, it creates reasons why we might have trouble doing such

things. I hope this issue is solved soon throughout schools. It takes more than one to start this

chain reaction.

Work Cited

● Alford
 Morey 6

● Foster Wallace, David. “This Is Water by David Foster Wallace (Full Transcript and

Audio).” Farnam Street, 22 Oct. 2019, fs.blog/2012/04/david-foster-wallace-this-is-

water/.

● Freire. Banking Concept of Education.

● Mezirow

● Rowe, Mike. “Don't Follow Your Passion.” YouTube, YouTube,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVEuPmVAb8o&feature=youtu.be.