After reading the article by John Dewey and talking about it a little in class about the difference between education and schooling...I wanted to know what others thought.

This subject is somewhat personal for me because I have a younger brother who does not enjoy school, failed a grade because he did not do his work but passed his EOG, my parents tried putting him in a charter school which was still unsuccessful, and now are attempting homeschooling. Its not that my brother is stupid, its that he truly does not enjoy school. So therefore is it the fact that he does not enjoy the "education" or does not enjoy the "schooling." If he went back to public school, he would be placed into his correct grade because he passed his EOGs.

I know that there are many people like this and many do not end up going to college and still become successful. I wonder, as a future teacher, how to meet the needs of these children and help them succeed and not overlook them...because more often than not they are not stupid...we as educators are not meeting their needs.

I honestly don't feel qualified to say anything about a specific situation, like your brother's, because I don't know him. If we take Dewey's approach, then we should start out with something very open-ended like, "What does your brother like doing?" And for the social question, "Who(m) does he like doing those interesting things with?"

I feel like we as educators really may not be meeting their needs. On the other hand it does go back to the higher power. We can't help children enjoy school anymore because of standardized tests and strict curriculums. This may be the root of all the problems!

I personally feel that not all students fit the mold of an intellectual in a school setting. Some people just do better with hands on jobs. Some students may just not excel in subject area versus hands on assignments such as carpentry, etc. I think everyone's made differently and in order to meet their needs, we as teachers will just have to put that much more effort into our working one on one with them.

Ashley, I also have a younger brother who has struggled with school, and I had similar thoughts during that discussion. He is very intelligent, and got through high school--just barely, and is now in college, but my whole family is worried that he won't be successful. The thing is... the reason he had trouble in high school was not because he did not understand the material. His test grades and scores on papers were actually quite high. What caused him problems was the homework--you know, 100 math problems from the book... that sort of thing. If it didn't interest him, he didn't do it. It is my theory that he didn't need to do it, because he already understood it. He didn't need the practise. However, this reflected badly in his end-of-semester grades, and so they kept putting him in lower level classes. He just found these boring. It was a terrible cycle that kept getting worse and worse for him. The one subject in which he did very well was photography. For once, the homework was actually interesting!

This makes me sad, because I feel like he could've gotten so much more out of our school system, if they had judged him by his actual knowledge, rather than his tolerance for the rules and busy-work. As a result, he is in a college that isn't very academically challenging, and I worry that he will have the same problems there.

i can identify with lillie and ashley. my little brother loves computers. but math, science, history... they don't interest him. and he doesn't do well in those classes. i feel like society has degraded hands-on jobs. i feel like societ has told us that knowing and understanding cars in a job for college drop-outs and losers. i feel like society tells us that farming isn't a job smart people do... but it is. we need people to fix our cars. we need fresh vegetables. we need someone to build houses. so, no, i don't think school is for everyone. and i stand firm on that belief because it hits so close to home.

I do not think school is for everyone, but having an education does make life easier, so today it is a good thing to have. However, some people just aren't into it and some people just are not made out to go to college. I have a friend from back home who really struggles at the community college he is at. He barely passed some classes in high school, but it wasn't like he was a goof off or slacker, he just couldn't get into it. Now I believe the only reason he is even in college is just to say he is. I know this for a fact because for the past year he lied about taking classes back home, and we all knew he was just working. The thing is, not one of us who are his friend would judge him for that. It is sad that in order to feel worth he had to do this. However, other jobs that don't require a degree are still very important and the world wouldn't function without them.

I definitely do not think the typical "school" is for everyone. Like someone mentioned earlier, everyone is made differently....so maybe we as teachers should be prepared to tend to those "differences." It is a difficult tasks that is easier said than done, but we must be prepared.

My younger sister, Brittany is an extremly intelligent individual. She performed well in highshool and was in the top 15 of our highschool. Because of her outstanding grades she is now a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill on a full academic schlorship. She will graduate from one of the best universities in the nation debt-free. It all sounds sooo good. Right?

Well, last year my sister shocked us all. She told my mom she didnt like school. In fact, she never did. She went because she felt as if she had no other choice, and decided that since she was there she may as well give it her all. Now, in her third year of college she had decided school is just not for her. She has considered taking a semester off or going down an entirely different path. She has lots of other talents. She is an outstanding writer and loves cosmotology. Maybe she'll opt to embark in one of those fields. Who knows.

I used this example to demonstrate a point. Even the most intelligent of people feel as if they are not necessarily cut out for school. They make good grades while they are there, but would prefer to do other things with their time. My sister is an example of this. I have often felt as if she is wasting her talent, her intelligence, her gifts, but in actuallity, who am I to make that judgement. It is her life. She has the right to make her own decisions and I, along with my family have grown to support her in this.

Wow. But what does this say about the institution of school itself when someone so good at it doesn't find it interesting or stimulating? Because I don't think you are saying that she doesn't like to learn, right?