Learning vs. Choice

Choices...

As the Month of September shakes off the green of summer, students return to school with a breath of optimism. The Back to School season is an enjoyable time of the year for most families. In my view, this time of year symbolically represents the coming of age. This is the time of year where parents drop off their kids into another chapter of youth, into another season of development. For most students and their families, its a season that is cheerful and optimistic because its a chance to make new impressions, a chance to rebuild old impressions and more importantly its an opportunity for students to refine their ability to make choices. 

Today, students and families have a lot of choices about where they attend school, what instructor they have, or what class to take online. In particular, high school students have an array of choices throughout the school day. Each time a high school student walks into a class they are met with a streaming river of (smartphone) choices and thoughts. Choices such as: Should I find out what a classmate did over the weekend, Let's check my face book feed, Should I take a pic of the teacher's awful looking tie, Let me check my Clash of Clangs upgrades, should I ask for a bathroom pass, when is lunch, Who is Khloe Kardashian dating now? What are we doing ? 

In short, we are all met with small intrinsic choices every moment we are awake. In 2015, almost 23% of Michigan students in the public school system were enrolled in a charter or crossed district lines. This excludes private and homeschooling. As students develop in the state of Michigan, families are making a lot of choices and some students are attending a lot of different schools (online too) each year. In my experience, students and their families are making their decisions based on a lot of different reasons. Social environment, safety, convenience, athletics, reputation, and class offerings. I've also experienced students making choices based on level of difficulty or perception of difficulty. 

With the majority of public schools offering online classes, traditional public schools have choices within choices. If a teacher is disliked (just or unjust), take the class online. If the class seems like it might be too difficult, take it online. All of these choices are the reality of the political & school climate in the state and the families that make their choices are well within their rights to make whatever choice they see fit. 

In the end, this era of choice is here to stay, but there are consequences with of these choices. Just as my 5 year old son said to me the other day while working on an online Kindergarten website "I didn't like the math part - I quit." His choice was clear, I walked away for a moment, so that was his indicator of "choice". Choices are great, but seeing a choice through is everlasting and when students see the choice through until graduation that builds a community. Lets make decent choices this school year and work through the bad choices as a class, because in the classroom is where communities are built.