"What school do we have?"
Hello everyone,
some time ago, I mentioned a Sociology essay this thread is named after which I had to write in 2009, regarding the school I attended. In the chat thread, I said I might translate it to English so you can check it out... well, here it is.
The movie mentioned several times is Entre les murs: Entre les murs (2008) - IMDb
I included some footnotes for stuff you might not understand at first. Enjoy the read!
Expose the coincidental and divergent problematics about the movie's situation and your own education.
Racism. In the middle of an improvised football game during recess, an insult goes out to Carl, a student who was from the Caribbean but "felt" French. The other students do not share this vision.
In our school: there are similar "rubbings" sometimes, but fortunately nothing serious ever happens.
There is a student being mocked by the others due to his different clothing. He argues he doesn't wish to be "just another person".
In our school: this problem doesn't exist in this manner. There might be some joking, but mostly none of the students cares about how you dress. And neither does the staff... even if you wear clothes not allowed by the rules. (For example: football team t-shirts, caps, etc.)
In the middle of a debate there's an argument. Souleymane (who had problems integrating - didn't pay attention in class, didn't bring his school stuff, etc.) ends up insulting everyone present, and hits a girl with his pack as he proceeds to remove himself from the classroom without authorization. The fact the professor had previously described the representative of that class as "ordinary" (it is possible that the meaning of the French word originally used has been lost in translation) due to having revealed what was said in a private meeting doesn't help the situation, and ends up playing against him in the Disciplinary Council. Souleymane ends up being expelled, even after the staff becoming aware of the rumor that should he be expelled, his father would send him back to Mali, his hometown. However, they promise to do everything within their reach to make him enter a different school.
In our school: for starters, the class lacks a representative, so a similar leak of information cannot exist. The closest thing to Souleymane's case was that in a couple of occasions, some students who had no interest on the subjects being imparted were asked to retire from the classroom.
Now, insults coming from the staff... it so happens that yesterday, me and my friends were in the library writing up an essay, and one of them had the idea of using the computer there located to easily find information on the Internet. When the afternoon shift librarian arrived, describing the events that took place as an exchange of strong words would be being rather relaxed (actual quotes: "can't you read you idiot, that PC says 'do not touch', I already know one of you fucked up all the files I had there yesterday", "I'm going to report you to the management, no, the Ministry of Education").[1] Although apart from that sad incident, professors always treat us with respect, even if it is not given back.
[1] I remember this as if it had happened yesterday. Another exchange between the librarian and my friend:
- "What's your name?"
- "I have no reason to tell you."
- "WHAT'S YOUR FULL NAME!?"
- "I have no reason to tell you."
__________________________________________________
What school do we have? (Weaknesses and strengths)
Weaknesses:
- One is "tied" to a fixed system and students get used to it so much that any attempt to innovate, qualify other aspects, etc., ends up unfinished.
- Despite many teachers insisting that concept[2] has a "weight" on your mark, in most cases you're only graded for answering correctly in a exam, and not for working in class, being a good partner, doing your homework, etc.
- There have been teachers whom when the previous one retires, take the subject "from here" with a new syllabus which notoriously assumes the complete knowledge of topics new to us.
- As well as projects which "stay there", or are mostly a patch to avoid the real problem. (Example: "a TV in each classroom" in 2008, when the student council was complaining about the lack of heating)
[2] At the beginning of my very first year, we were educated on this idea of a "concept mark", which covers the less technical aspects of school life - hard work, good will and that sort of stuff - and ends up as another grade that is averaged with test results and such to determine your final mark. It was a concept (pun not intended) often mentioned, yet rarely actually taking place.
Strengths:
- The library. A quiet place where we can go studying and/or doing our work without the distractions caused by our classmates' high voice tones.
- The previous subject program[3]. Some argue that it is a disadvantage, as it supposedly allows students who do not have any interest on subject X to "drag" it since year one in the worst cases. My more positive view makes it an opportunity for those who were unable to pass it on December or March, or simply failed, be this due to lack of studying, preparation, or excessive demands.
- The 6-megabit high-speed Internet connection. I remember that in my first year there were issues since they only had 1 meg, and given the amount of people using it to download games or music, it became impossible to fetch information for essays, for example.
[3] Secondary schools in Argentina follow this scheme:
The school year is divided in three trimesters. Marks go from 1 to 10. The passing mark here was 6, but in the more "elite" schools it can be 7. To pass a subject, the sum of all trimester grades must be 18 or above, AND the third one must be above 6. If you don't pass either of those checks, you fail, and have to redo an exam for the trimester(s) you failed on December. If you failed all of them, you have to study the entire contents of that particular subject and have everything checked on one go, on March.
Now, if at this point you still haven't passed or didn't show up to the exams, the subject becomes a "Previous" one, and can continue to be tested once for each of the following years, during the winter holidays. I don't know for how long you may drag one like this, but it is at least two years - one of my third-year friends still hadn't passed Art from our first year.
Was my choice correct? (This school, career[4])
The school: to give a 100% correct answer, I should have attended every school in existence. Nonetheless, I feel it was the right choice.
Career: definitely correct. Informatics is what I want to do, it is what I like and I have a natural interest for it.
It is a shame that on the other side, most students in my class have only chosen it because their friends did, and not because they thought it was the right option. This is aggravated by the marks received, generally good in all subjects, except those related to... informatics.
[4] "Career" is how we call the focus your studies take during the fourth and fifth years. We had informatics, law, accounting, and "bachiller común" which is an all-round education.
Which are the underlying problems?
- Vandalism. The most recent one was the fourth time a homemade bomb was thrown in the students' bathroom during class hours, and no farther than some weeks ago, someone proceeded to the total discharging of the fire extinguisher on the second floor, which costs approximately 100 peso to have recharged. Beyond economic matters, this implies a big security risk, since should a fire take place in the school building, that would be one extinguisher less we can count on to stop its advancement.
- The fact there are people who send a scholarship request "to see what happens" and end up accepted, while those who really need it due to economic reasons are rejected.
- The empty accusations by teachers that students who interrupt the normal flow of the class have received an infraction, while this is not actually true. Another case of "stayed there", to see it that way.
- The existence of students who talk about topics not related to those being imparted by the teachers during class hours. This is aggravated by the fact they're offered to retire from the classroom to avoid bothering their classmates, and it is then that they promise not to repeat their behavior, while reality is they will resume it as soon as the teacher focuses on continuing the class.
Which essential propositions do I consider possible/necessary/urgent/structural?
- Improving the school lab and educating students on respecting it to begin with, which as it is demonstrated by the tables written from top to bottom with "liquid paper", does not currently happen. Taps which do not work, and hence prevent the full enjoyment of the Physics and Chemistry classes therein given, are also a problem.
- The "informatization" of classrooms. It has happened more than once that it was impossible for us to descend to the only computer room in the school since "another course was already there". The placement of a computer on each classroom wouldn't solve the problem on its entirety, but would give us the opportunity to go through everything learned in the subjects Informatics, Workshop[5], and Space of Action/Reflection, instead of "retaining" everything that was taught during the two months on which we had no access to the aforementioned computer room, and seeing what happens when the professor is to assign a mark to the students, most of whom barely have practical experience with the imparted subjects.
[5] This subject's full name was "professional practice workshop" and we learned programming and computer history on it. I had absolutely no bloody idea of why it was called like that.
Problems with our classroom:
- No one seems to remember about it due to the fact it's also the Music room[6]? Lack of a representative.
- The existence of two pianos is given, yet there is no heating.
- To avoid giving a completely negative description, it is worth remarking that the walls aren't written on, in comparison to other rooms in the school.
[6] Music-related classes took place in the same room during different shifts.
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Originally Posted by slikrapid
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