Nothing

' "Meaning." She nodded, as if to herself. "None of you has taught us any."
                                           From Nothing, by Janne Teller

I have just finished a very thought provoking young adult novel entitled Nothing, written by Janne Teller. Basically, it is Lord of the Flies with an existential twist.

In the book, a 7th grade student decides that "Nothing matters. I have known that for a very long time. So nothing is worth doing. I just realized that."

I truly think many of our students feel this way about school and the assignments we are giving them.

Sometimes, I feel that way about school and the assignments I am giving them.

I became a teacher because I love kids and want to help them. But I am having a bit of an existential crisis myself these days. Why should all students have to learn how to write a narrative? Why should all kids have to study Shakespeare? Why should all kids have to learn Geometry?

Don't tell me because it improves the mind. I had that one thrown at me when I was in high school and pretty much refused to learn Geometry. Have I missed not understanding Geometry? Not at all. (Well, maybe a little bit, just when I am playing pool.)

I hate to keep harping on the Common Core Standards, but I will.  We are going the wrong way with this thing. Education needs to be more individualized, not more standardized. By the time a kid gets to high school, we should be trying to plug into the student's interests, not shoving a square peg into a round hole.

Have you ever tried to shove a square peg into a round hole? It is just frustrating for the shover, and square peg's edges get all chewed up. Nothing worthwhile is ever accomplished.

Until we make education mean something, the kids aren't going to learn. Until we make our assignments meaningful, a lot of kids aren't going to do them.

And all we end up with is a bunch of nothing.