As many of you saw in the FB group last week, one of the Patrons reached out with a concern about student engagement. As I thought through the issue and potential solutions, I realized that I (and perhaps my family) had compartmentalized school.
Let me explain.
Like many of you, the pandemic was rough on our family. It hit my children at very formative times (5th grade and freshman year) and impacted them in meaningful ways that continue to this day.
This, coupled with homeschooling/distance learning, created an environment in our house that was difficult at best and contentious at worst. My wife and I are both former teachers, and it makes me wonder how non-educators did it.
Needless to say, like many parents, we welcomed (with great exuberance) the return to in-person learning. And that's where I would like school to stay, at school. And I mean ALL of it.
It just might be me. I am entirely okay with you disagreeing with what I am about to share, but I am becoming a more prominent advocate of school staying in school.
The pandemic has undoubtedly impacted my perspective on this. Still, even twenty years ago, as a teacher, I was suspicious about the value of homework and practicing at home. If a child knows something, homework is redundant and a waste of time. If they don't know something, they are just reinforcing bad habits, unless they have a parent versed enough in the content to help teach and correct. Perhaps this works well in elementary school; my middle school son is already better at algebra and knows more about World War II than I do, so I am little help unless he wants to practice the drums, where I am a god!
As a parent and an educator, I think it best if school stays at school. I am okay with extra rehearsals, after-school practices, and before-school study sessions. I just want them to stay where they belong, at school. I want to separate school from home. Frankly, I think most schools would like home to stay at home.
It's called compartmentalization. Webster defines it as a "form of psychological defense mechanism in which thoughts and feelings that seem in conflict are kept separated from each other in the mind."
I understand that using the word takes a bit of liberty, but the fundamental concept is the same - to keep two different thoughts and feelings apart from one another.
I don't think my family is the only one feeling this way.
I am hearing lots of feedback from teachers that the kids are excellent when there, but once they leave the building, they don't practice, do homework, or otherwise engage in school/music-related activities.
Evidence suggests compartmentalization. Leave school at school, music in the music room, home at home. Again, my issue is not with the workload; it's with the work-life balance (school is a job).
Let me give an example.
For the last couple of weeks, I have volunteered in my youngest son's extra after-school rehearsals as they prepare for contest. (Can I say I love Carlos Aguerro, my son's band director?!) At home, I require my son to practice, and it is almost always a battle. My wife runs homework duty, which is also a battle because he is not a fan of academia.
For the past two weeks, he happily attended every extra rehearsal, practiced his part privately, and smiled the entire time. He has no problem putting in the extra time and effort.
Our issue is not time and effort; it's location.
Last week, my son arrived home just before 6 pm, ate some dinner, and had maybe 90 minutes before bed. He was at school and engaged for eight and a half hours (9 am to 5:30 pm), with no physical activity, and only thirty minutes for lunch (my son asked me to add, "We don't get paid either").
We ask students to practice and do homework in search of academic achievement, rigor, and a better future for our children, but the evidence suggests we might be doing it wrong.
The highest-performing school system in the world is in Finland, and no one in the western world is close. Keep in mind that Finnish schools do not have standardized tests, have schools that are like palaces, revere their faculty, end the school day at 1:30 pm, and do not assign homework. A recent interview with the Finnish Minister of Education said, "School is to be done at school, and kids are to be kids at home."
Compartmentalization.
I do not think of compartmentalization as a bad thing. We just need to be more efficient and more effective, something at which music teachers are uniquely adept.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the value of practice - but I always tried to structure it in compact and meaningful ways. Through it all, I always believed the key to the success of my students and ensembles depended on what happened within the walls of my rehearsal room, regardless of when it was.
My thoughts on this are evolving and changing and might be different if the pandemic had never happened. It did happen, though, and it changed me (us). This is how I think and feel right now.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts. Go to our FB group and share.
Have a great week.
You're pal Scott