Educators should find out what students want included in the curriculum and then offer it to them.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take.

American students spend most of their childhood and adolescence in the school system, and many dreed every minute of it. Children tend to count down the days until summer vacation and become morose when the time comes to go back to school. Education is, nonetheless, a critical part of the lives of developing individuals and what is covered during these formative years is of the utmost importance. This prompt suggests that children should have more authority over the information that makes it into their curriculum, and although this argument has some merit, I have to disagree for two main reasons.

There is no denying that there is a correlation between how well students do in school and their interest level in what they are studying. For instance, it is common for a master’s level GPA to be higher than an Undergraduate GPA, simply because the master’s student is studying something they are interested in and not hindered by the pre-requisites that undergraduate students are forced to take. If we deem test scores and GPA to be a quality judgment of performance, then it is clear that interest plays a role in success. We don’t just see this in higher level education, however, there are also examples found throughout elementary through high school settings as well. For instance, many American high schools have specific elective courses that student’s can select to take. This gives the student the authority to select classes that interest them and avoid classes that they do not care for. These classes are oftentimes where student’s find their career interests for their future.

Interest in education is simply not enough however, and we must consider the pragmatic issue with allowing student’s to dictate an educator’s curriculum. It is simply not realistic for teachers to change their lession plans or class discussion based soley off of the student’s interest. For example, if we pressure a teacher to change their circumulum each year, it will constantly be turbulent in the classroom and the tried-and-true tactics that teacher may have once relied on will now become obsolete. In addition to this, we must also consider the fact that something that may be totally captivating to one student may be the most mundane topic to another. This brings up the question of which student’s interest will be explored, and which will be tossed to the side? It is widely accepted that a teachers’ job does not end when student’s leave school. There is constant pressure to grade faster, prepare farther in advance, and keep up with the standards of the school. Adding another responsibility for educations would be cruel and would simply not benefit our students.

Additionally, it is imperative to consider the fact that student’s may not be the best judge of curriculum. Perhaps, in a history class, student’s may only want to study the peacefull and success portions of American’s past, and thus leaving these student’s unaware of the horrors of Civil War or the chaos that was The Holocaust. Educators go to school to learn how and what to teach their students. These people are the experts - not the typical 12 year old adolescent boy you find in a middle school class. If student’s are not learning the skills and lessons that we have been teaching in the past, it also changes the structure of all further education in their future. What standards would we hold student’s accountable to, if all students are learning different material. For example, what would be the appropriate measure to judge if a student is struggling or in need of assistance? Not holding student’s to the same expectations is simply not practical.

The issue of education and what we are teacher our nations use is a complicated thing. On one hand, we want our students to be interested and successful in what they are doing. On the other hand, however, we do not want to make educators lives more difficult or not student’s accountable for the same information. In the end, we must weigh structure over interest in this circumstance.