This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It seems like nowadays all us kids hear from our parents is "Back in my day … " and "It was so much harder, and you have it easy."
Well, that might be true in some situations, but when it comes to school that is anything but true. As I have grown up, I have noticed that the care within teachers is less and less, resulting in the same for students.
I understand that teachers have been doing this for years and think they know what they're doing. Maybe they believe that if they do engage themselves in the lessons, the students won't do the same. But I firmly believe that when you have a teacher who is passionate about his/her job and proves it through lessons and lectures, it reflects in the students' grades and attitude about that class. Teachers need to start caring about their students and their welfare instead of just handing them the packet and giving them the green light. As a student myself, it's hard to become engaged and work hard in school if the teacher gives no attention to you or, even worse, no care about you or the effort you put forth.
If we want to pull ourselves out of our educational drought, we need to start by creating a group effort, starting with the teachers. Once that happens, I feel we will excel to the fullest. But until then, we may have accept the fact that America has some of the lowest scholastic scores in the world.
Jake Funes
South Jordan