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Austin Stoutenburg

English 111

Lucia Elden

11-13-2018

Academic Issues

It’s common for students to get discouraged in the classroom. When trying to

grasp a concept that appears simple to others, but the hardest thing for them can take a

toll on someone's drive to succeed in school. It can be mentally and physically draining.

When listening to their teacher preach an idea or subject it is easy to interpret in many

different ways, other than the correct version in which the teacher expects. This can

cause students to feel lost and hopeless which can directly impact their outlook on

school and turn their favorite subject into their worst nightmare. All students learn in

different ways, while some teachers only teach in one way. If teachers tried to connect

with their students and vice versa then that would ultimately create common ground for

the best learning experience for the student. But it's not a simple thing, it's in reality

quite complicated as some teachers don't take the time to explain material in various

manners and some students don’t take the initiative to adapt to learn in a way that's

unfamiliar.
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One of the main misconceptions is that just listening to the teacher is learning.

Some students can listen to a teacher but not understand the message behind his or

her words. In high school most teachers don't have the patience to try teaching in a

different manner to certain student to ensure they can fully grasp the material

presented. They try to jam as much information into the students as they can and judge

them based on how they retain the information, just as their teaching skills are judged

based how well their students perform on standardized test. It's more important to them

to fill their heads with material before attempting to see if the students understand it first.

An example of this is a fourth grader that knows the capital of Michigan is Lansing but

doesn't know what a capital is. This style of teaching was identified by Paolo Freire, a

Brazilian philosopher and educator, who is well known for his influential words in his

article “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”, where he introduces the banking concept. In the

article he states, ” His task is to “fill ”(71) the students with the contents of his

narration-contents which are detached from reality, disconnected from totality that

engendered them and could give them significance. Words are emptied of their

concreteness and become a hollow, alienated, and alienating verbosity”(70). In this

article Freire goes into detail about the banking concept, and the effects it has on

teachers and students. It defers teachers and students away from connecting and the

main importance of education, the students full understanding of it. In college it is

different, professors will take the time out of their day to ensure their students

understand his/her class. Professors in college have open office hours that they

encourage students to go to if they are struggling along with that most professors
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provide their students with resources that they can use outside the classroom to help

them study or learn the material better. They also make sure students are aware of the

many opportunities that the university or community college provides for their students

such as tutors, writing centers, math centers, etc, which can make a major difference for

students struggling in a classroom which requires them to think critically.

When in a classroom that requires more critical thinking, using analysis and

evaluation to form a judgment along with more freedom, some struggle. Many new

college students have a tough time adapting to the newly found freedom when entering

college. They aren't forced to go to school for seven hours, they don't have their parents

or guardian having access to their grades and academic progress, they don't have

anyone that knows or even cares to make sure they get up for class everyday. When

combined with a teacher that requires more critical thinking out of them to receive the

same grade they had previously gotten in highschool or the grade they wished to

achieve in college it can be mind boggling, as well as discourage them from their goals

of academic success. Freire would agree with that as in his sought after article he

states “The “fear of freedom” which afflicts the oppressed,a fear which may equally well

lead them to desire the role of oppressor or bind them to the role of oppressed”(74).

Once students are taught in a way for long enough it becomes all they know, creating a

comfort zone for them, making it hard to step outside of that zone to understand in a

different manner. In the academic article written by David L Rodgers The biological

basis of learning: Neuro Education through simulation he says “ Much of the structure,

timing,and methodology of today’s education system – from elementary schooling to

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adult learning – are built for the convenience of teaching rather than for the

enhancement of learning”(1). This is what shocks many students when they are

presented with content that is not taught to them in the same method that everything

else has for so many previous years. When entering college as a first year student there

is many barriers that they have to break to get into the flow of adult learning, at the

college level not every professor is gonna teach the same, students can't expect that

just showing up to class and listening to the professor talk is gonna provide them with all

the answers they need, some will expect more critical thinking out of their students than

others, and for them to put in more time outside the classroom to understand the

material and achieve the grade they desire. This opens many up to a whole new world

of education, resulting in students needing to put more time and effort into their school

work outside the classroom.

Students have to care too, they don't expect handouts likes in high school, they

can't expect to just show up to class listen to the professor and understand as many did

in high school. They have to put in time and effort outside the classroom by doing their

own research and taking advantage of their professors office hours. Mike Rose a

professor at UCLA wrote an article “The Politics Of Remediation” he talks about James

a college student struggling in an english class because he “lacked experience” in

writing in the form that the teacher expected. James said “I should have gotten better

than a C-, I think I deserve way higher than that”(37). James tried very hard writing his

paper and believed he fully understood what was expected of him. But he

misinterpreted what the professor wanted. His ways of understanding and learning
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didn't quite match with the teaching methods of the professor. It took an outside source,

a tutor to show him in a different way than the teacher did for him to understand the

assignment, While other students got the message from the professor clean and clear

when presented to them. This is a great example that not everyone learns the same so

for some they need to take the initiative to reach out for extra help, Or to adapt to new

ways learning. This helped James who was so used to the banking concept as Freire

introduced, that it was the only way he knew how to learn and understand the material.

It takes different methods to reach the core of a students mind as everyone

learns in their own way, what makes sense to them. Students in college have to be

adaptive, they have to take initiative outside of the classroom; they have to be willing to

listen to their peers; as sometimes listening to the professors words won't fully teach

you the concept. This can be made easier on students when professors encourage

“talk” amongst classmates. Sometimes you won't understand what the professor means

behind his lectures or words, but seeing how your peers take and retain the information

can be crucial. Barry Alford wrote a very moving article about the importance of

students having a voice in the classroom Freirean voices, Student choices​. I​ n this article

he said “ encouraging talk is a way to make connections that moves the students writing

from an assignment to a thoughtful essay”(115). Many students can relate to can relate

to feeling lost in a quiet classroom where the only voice they hear is the teachers,

listening to others and the way their brain perceives the information can be the

breakthrough a lot of students need to fully grasp a concept. Alford also states “it can

energize an entire class, and it changes the students from passive spectators to active
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participants”(116). This statement speaks loudly to many students that struggle to feel

comfortable in a classroom in which they struggle in. For example I am a student in

Lucia Elden’s ENG 111 class at Mid Michigan Community College I struggled to to

understand analysis and synthesizing. It wasn't that I was incapable of learning the

concept or that the professor wasn't good at teaching it, because almost every other

student in her class understood it very well. I would listen to Ms. Elden explain it in the

same way time and time again but couldn't grasp it, leading me to feel lost and dread

coming to her class. It wasn't until I seen my classmates interact and speak about their

understanding of the concept that I started to get it. Barry Alford would agree that

hearing my peers voices was the turning point for me. In his article Freirean Voices,

Student Choices he states, “particularly students inexperienced in negotiating these

problems, need to hear themselves and their fellow students think out loud”(115). That

quote describes me and i'm sure many others perfectly. After reading my peers papers

and seeing the correct way others learned to synthesize and analyze; that I gained

confidence in my own understanding of it. Listening to feedback from my classmates

helped me learn more than what I had from Mrs. Elden. This just goes to show that

everyone learns in their own way and there's many other ways than the traditional

methods used to open up a students mind to new material allowing academic growth.

Just listening to the teacher preach isn't always learning this is where many

students get discouraged. Sometimes learning from others in the classroom can be

more beneficial, students just have to push their pride aside and listen with an open

mind, as Freire said “knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves
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knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing”(72). Everyone has

their own view upon things and sometimes hearing from their peers can be the breaking

point to fully grasping the material that they needed. everyone learns in their own way

and until they find theirs they will always be a “passive spectator,” instead, of an “active

participant,” as Barry Alford would say. Many students like to blame their professor

when they are struggling in college simply because they haven't transitioned into an

adult learner yet, it's easier to blame others when struggling than take responsibility for

their own failure or success. In addition they are so used to the banking concept and the

way they have been taught before college. When presented with material in a different

manner it causes confusion and distress. If all teachers taught the same, If all students

learned in the same way; If all students adapted to the teaching styles of their professor;

If all teachers cared to reach out and help students struggling like Ms. Elden did in my

case, then this academic issue would cease to exist, sad to say though that there will

always be students who struggle to adapt, will always be teachers too busy to lend a

helping hand, will always be different learning styles and teaching styles per each

individual.
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Works Cited
Alford, Barry. "Freirean Voices, Student Choices." Pedagogy, vol. 2 no. 1, Duke
University Press 2002 pp. 115-117
Freire, Paolo. “Pedagogy of the oppressed” 1993, pp. 70-86
Rose, Mike. “The Politics of Remediation” Conversations In Context, Knowledge, and
College Writing. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998, pp.
32-48
Rodgers, David. “ The Biological Basis of Learning: neuro education through
simulation” ​Penn State Hershey Medical Center. 2015 pp.1-2