As young adults, we all want and appreciate when our peers treat us our age. From my own experiences, certain teachers act as if the entire class is incompetent when they teach. As a high school student, I don’t want elementary expectations and treatment, just like if I was in elementary school, it would be unfair to get the same treatment as a high school student. 

As we grow older, our learning styles progress and most become more and more independent. I, for one, have always cherished my independence in the classroom because no one is going to hold my hand and be there for every issue and assignment throughout life. High school students should get more freedom in their schedules and how the classes are broken up. When we go to college, we have to learn something completely new, and, on top of that, be in a completely different environment. College does have a little bit more freedom due to the fact that the kids have to pay to go and they chose/want to be there, yet, college and high school students are so close in age that letting us choose our teachers or what time of day we have certain classes would allow us to enjoy coming to school more. I know the scheduling process would be more complex but hopefully, even if we could just choose our teachers for our required classes, it could also prevent as many schedule changes because students know exactly what they are doing and when. I also know that some students will abuse their freedoms and try to get out of as many classes as possible, but that is always going to be a problem wherever you are in life.

There are many teachers “treating us like children because they want to have a higher power over us,” Jamie Younger, FMHS Sophomore adds. 

Some teachers seem as though they don’t want to be here teaching kids, I have even heard some teachers say (from different schools) that they hate kids and teaching was a last resort job. Adults should act in the best interest of the generation below them, Jamie Younger also wants adults to know that they should “want us to be adults because they value our growth into human beings.” If we are pressured by our peers and mentors around us to be adults, we should be treated with more respect. 

In the article, “Teachers: How To Strengthen High School Student Engagement”, The Editorial Team from resilienteducator.com states “Very few high school students will be naturally engaged in learning without any help from the teacher. When teachers realize that strengthening student engagement is their job, they can start to get the job done.” 

Kids get bored when things are easy, yet they quit trying as soon as it gets hard. The best way to keep kids in school and allow them to enjoy it as much as possible is to give them their own educational freedom and make them feel smart and included. If you are a teacher, take a minute and reflect. The best teachers are those who can be funny, even if they are strict about schoolwork, they interact with their students. All we need is someone caring for us and keeping us in line as we live through these four years.

FMHS has a population of around 1300 students, most are just trying to graduate. Some people enjoy the school environment a little more than others but for the most part, we all feel like we should have the same respect as teachers should get. Many students don’t give the same respect that they do receive so it makes it hard for their teachers to continue to treat everyone with the respect they deserve. While I realize balancing everything in your life is difficult and never gets easier, if we all can respect each other and treat each other our ages, life would be that much easier.