Teens say who makes grade

By AMANDA SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
tate governments have strict rules and guidelines for teachers.
In Ohio, teachers must have bachelor's -- and eventually, master's -- degrees. They must constantly continue their own education to renew their licenses. They, and the school districts they teach in, are under heavy pressure to raise their pupils' scores on state proficiency tests.
The students they teach don't care much about any of this.
Jeff Jordan, a junior at Hubbard High School, said he was concerned mostly about the level of difficulty of teachers' tests.
"I've taken some really hard tests, and I've taken some really easy tests. They shouldn't be too easy, but then, they shouldn't be impossible, either," Jordan said while at a recent Hubbard football game.
Band students: Jessica Forrester, a 17-year-old senior; Matt Wittenauer, a 16-year-old junior; and Laura Bayuk, a 17-year old senior, all attend Hubbard. These band students took time out from playing fight songs and cheers during the game to talk about what qualities they appreciated in their teachers.
"Teachers should have a passion for what they do," Forrester said. "When they do, it inspires their students to work harder.
"It's also good when your teacher really wants to be there, in the class. It's hard when the teacher just comes to school because it's their job to be there."
Bayuk agreed with Forrester, saying that a teacher's attitude reflects itself in the students they teach.
"Teachers should also be interested in their students," Bayuk said. "They should get involved with their class, ask the students questions and not just put notes on the board."
Wittenauer said that teachers who seem interested in what they do "make their students really want to learn. If the teachers aren't involved or interested, it's like it's wasting our time and theirs."
Others, too: Hubbard students aren't the only area teens with opinions on their teachers' styles. Other area students voiced concern over teachers who were too strict and teachers who didn't seem to like their students. Most teens agree, though, that the old days of a teacher's dictating hours of notes on end aren't effective any more.
Megan Skelley, a 16-year-old junior from Campbell, said she knows what type of teaching style works best for her.
"I learn better through hands-on experience in a relaxed atmosphere," she said while perusing racks of jeans at Old Navy in Eastwood Mall. "Their tests should be not too easy and not too hard," Skelley said.
Proficiency tests also top the lists of students' worries. Skelley said she thinks the time spent on preparing for proficiency exams could be better spent doing other, more useful, activities.
"I don't like having to study for proficiency tests. The teachers do a good job, but the tests are too hard," she said. "Besides, the tests are stupid and don't have anything to do with what you're learning."
Hands on: William Mack, an eighth-grader at Hayes middle high school in Youngstown, and Gregory Hall, a senior at The Rayen School, were also hanging out at the Eastwood Mall recently.
Mack also prefers hands-on experience to learning by rote. "Too much work gets on my nerves," he said.
Hall, who was with Mack, said that he doesn't like teachers who talk down to their students -- or teachers who seem to overly enjoy suspending their students.
"Teachers should talk to us more," Hall said. "They should help us and talk to us about what they teach."