In some languages, such as Portuguese and Croatian, the term ‘zoo’ has a somewhat classier phrase: “Garden of Animals”. At least, when I think of a garden, I imagine beauty growing from dirt and weeds.

In my teaching career thus far, I have noted that I come from a background of academic level study, as do my colleagues. We took the same level of classes, studied similar material, and all had — at some point at least — a desire to succeed in school motivated not by necessity but academic goals and dreams. Dead Poet’s Society.

At times, we were as dirty and weedy like any teenager. But, when it came to school, we knew we had to clean up eventually.

I have also noticed that the majority — yes, majority — of high school students have very little in common with the teachers who are given their charge.

There are more “open” or “general” level courses than “Academic” or “University”. Always in the “A/U” stream, we never noticed this huge distinction. In my first year of teaching, I was shocked at the level of indifference I encountered. Instead of one or two “bad” students in a class, I’d have the opposite. Three good students and the rest jumping out the window.

Many a class degenerated into that classy Garden. And sometimes, in these open level courses, I’d have a whole bunch of boys — yes, boys — that would like nothing more than to hop around the room like monkeys. Often, they did just that, wearing me down with classroom management instead of academic challenges.

Engage these students with project-challenge-based-inquiry-learning and unless the project is getting a large ball into a suspended net, they will do everything to avoid whatever you throw at them.

These students haven’t gone away. Allowed to be responsible for themselves, they revert back to Garden inhabitants. In this post, there are a number of stereotypes implied and I’m just touching the tip of the political incorrect iceberg. But when I step back and just observe, I have to admit that it looks grim. School is mostly like Welcome Back Kotter without the charm.

These kids are alright, though, and really excel with relationships and respond to a caring attitude. They’re good people outside the classroom. And in the right situation, they show respect, intellect, and social awareness. But they are not “students” in the sense most people would describe.

The school system as we know it in North America appears set up to reward the academics. It is taught by them, consulted by them, ruled by them, principal-ed by them, disciplined by them, and designed for their teenage peers.

The classrooms are set up for them — desk, chair, Smart Board. But what of the majority of students who couldn’t care less? Don’t like to read and never will? Are not keen to write articles?

The standardized tests don’t assess an ability to perform artistically, design a web graphic, or shoot a hoop. Math and Science are compulsory yet shop isn’t. Why?

English — the study of language as an art, as in Shakespeare — must be taken 4 years in a row. Oddly, in our district keyboarding class no longer exists. I bet typing might serve more often than quoting the Bard.

I sometimes wonder about these decisions and the one-size-fits-all universality of our education system in general. I wonder at the kids roaming the halls, skipping classes, jumping in the Garden. These we keep until they can’t be kept any longer, and instead of standing on their feet well into a career, they become 20+ year old apprentices. By my count, that is at least 4-5 years too long to start. In the meantime, many lose ambition, turning to destructive behavior not as entertainment but habit and lifestyle.

If someone asked for a perfect recipe for potential disaster, you could do worse than suggest putting all young-adults (as teens were once known) of all skills and attitudes into one building and treat them all like motivated academics who could be taught to love, say, debates.

Strange, this.