Chloe Sain-Thomason Book Report: “Doing School” How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students After studying a group of tenth and eleventh graders at their high school for over half of a year, Denise Clark Pope claims that “[t]oday’s students are stressed out, materialistic, and miseducated.” Pope is a former high school English teacher who, through her years of experience and general curiosity, noticed a gap in research regarding the educational experiences of adolescents in schools. I believe that Pope had this realization due to her pragmatic philosophy that education should be about life and growth. She believes schools should prioritize teaching students’ practical topics and skills that will make them better people through application to their individual lives. Throughout the book, Pope pays close attention to five of the “best and brightest” students experiences’ at the wealthy, reputable and successful Faircrest High School. She wanted to know what student’s classroom experiences entailed and the nature of their intellectual engagement. Seeking, ultimately, to discover what makes each of these students successful, considered exemplary by their teachers and administrators, and how their success is influenced by the way they “do school”. Kevin, Eve, Teresa, Michelle, and Roberto are Faircrest’s “best and brightest” according to the school’s counselors, teachers and administration. Each of these students have created an individual plan to be successful and maintain their success in high school; success meaning acceptance into their college of choice. While all of their methods are quite different, Pope identified several similarities displayed amongst the students being observed. One of the most conflicting themes displayed in this book was the battle between student’s efforts in the classroom and their transcripts. Maintaining a certain GPA is the focal point of many of these student’s high school careers. Grades are what is perceived to ultimately decide each student's fate. Students like Eve would Chloe Sain-Thomason Book Report: “Doing School” How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students over-exasperate themselves to ensure they’d be getting all A’s on their report card by doing all of the available assigned work and the extra credit offered, often having to multitask to do so. Eve would work on homework from history class in language arts or would use her previously mentioned alliance with the school’s staff to get out of going to certain classes or assemblies to make time to do more homework. Students that practiced over-achieving to make grades usually found themselves overwhelmed, anxious and too stressed. One tactic, which served to be incredibly useful, was creating relationships with staff who were both present and relevant in the school or community. These alliances develop proved when students, like Kevin and Eve, consciously win favor over their teachers and administrators by dressing nicely and regularly engaging in conversation to build their reputation. In turn, these students are granted special permissions and are able to get away with poor behavior, like aggressively kicking holes in the locker room, in Kevin’s case. In general, the support provided through alliances with staff proved to be useful for every student involved in this book. Having someone to advocate for them, defend them when in trouble, or allow special permissions in the classroom are all examples of benefits associated with creating alliances with school staff. As a student who has never tried too terribly hard to get exemplary grades, I found increasing my approval amongst the staff of my high school several years ago was equally as rewarding for me as it was for the students in the book. Although sometimes it requires “pulling wool” over the eyes of teachers and administrators, having a strong relationship Chloe Sain-Thomason Book Report: “Doing School” How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students with those who are influential in deciding your fate is practically a necessity when it comes to “doing school.” While some students use finessing teachers and over-achieving to make grades, others would use more dangerous tactics. I believe cheating was far more common than Pope expected. Almost every student involved in the book admitted to cheating in some capacity. Cheating, for these students, didn’t always mean writing down answers on their hands before class or peering at a neighbor’s exam during the test. Cheating for “the best and brightest” students at Faircrest High consisted of copying their peer’s homework when they didn’t do theirs, altering records like test scores or attendance points, “winging it” on presentations, or lying to cut class for extensions on big tests and projects. Because these students participated in non-traditional cheating practices, teachers and staff were completely oblivious to the fact that their students were finding ways to play the system. To satisfy the standards for college admission, the students at Faircrest found that they must also participate in extracurricular activities or community service. For students with an overwhelming schedule, like Kevin and Michelle the extracurricular activities were their priority. Michelle had thoughts of dropping out before her theater teacher took her under her wing and Kevin seems to dislike everything about school besides his pen pal community service project. Eve had so many notable community service projects and was involved in so many activities that she chose to omit several from her college applications as to not appear overwhelmed or uncommitted. Students, like Teresa and Roberto, found themselves unable to participate in as many Chloe Sain-Thomason Book Report: “Doing School” How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students extracurricular activities because of their obligation to provide for themselves or their families financially. No matter what each student was involved in, each experienced a struggle in finding time between balancing school work, a social life and developing a strong resume. Four of the five students admit to experiencing severe anxiety or mental breakdowns in the time Pope spent with them. Three of the five students also admit to being in poor health most of the school year, whether that be from severe lack of sleep or the inability to shake off a cold for an entire term. Being a student, I understand the pressure to not take time off for an illness, and the struggle of managing time. I relate to these students; time management is not an easy skill to master and it’s not easy to recognize when to stop getting involved. When it comes to compromising their health, these students needed someone to tell them it is okay to be a part time teenager and a part time student. Fifteen and sixteen year olds shouldn’t be addicted to caffeine, developing severe anxiety or compromising their core values for the sake of grades or for the purpose of continuing their education. In reading this book and reflecting on my high school experience, I feel as if not much has changed. This book was published in the early 2000’s meaning these students were likely in school during the 1990’s. While today’s students are using cell phones in class over pagers, I believe a great amount of these themes are still present and pressing issues in our education system. When I was in high school, as a student, I was well aware that students who wanted to pursue a higher education were playin’ teachers and staff, doing the most in all of their classes, cheating to make grades, and over-involving themselves in extracurricular activities. The staff however, always seemed fairly oblivious to the fact that their “best” students were struggling and Chloe Sain-Thomason Book Report: “Doing School” How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students suffering. Studies like this contribute towards making schools like mine and Faircrest better schools, by shedding light on the reality of the student-world. By putting more attention on student’s needs and personal goals, schools would be defeating the purpose in participating in stress-creating, value compromising and poor health practices. This book is a call to action to reform our education system. Pope says, “I believe we need a new vision of what it means to be successful in school and what it means to be successful in America.” To me, this means it is well overdue time to start focusing on more than just the success of a school as a whole but the success of students individually.
