Over the summer, the State of Texas amended some laws and introduced new ones regarding the school system. This greatly affected those who teach and are taught at these schools. Forcing them to try and adapt as best as they can around these rules. All these changes present their own struggles that the students and teachers have to overcome, though.
The most notable new change is the policy prohibiting electronic devices during school hours. This has significantly impacted the return to school in both a negative and positive way. While it is successful in getting students to be more actively sociable and attentive, it has also created a huge recoil for students. Cell phones are a constant presence in most of their lives, so having this suddenly taken away from them for the majority of the day makes adjusting to school after a long summer even tougher than usual.
“I don’t mind having no phones in school, it’s great,” Astronomy teacher Justin Smith said. “But we’ve pretty much been following that policy for a long time.”
Some other impactful new changes include the late buses being back, allowing students who stay after school and have no ride back to be able to easily leave, which is a net positive. On the other hand, the change regarding the law that students must be called by their birth names by both teachers and the yearbook may not be so popular. Students who no longer identify by their birth name are likely to find frustration in this as they no longer want to be known by a name they intentionally left behind.
”I worry about that [rule], because students at this age are at a critical age of self-discovery,” Smith said. “And I don’t want to harm a student in their age of self-discovery, however that may be. The life of a student is more important than what I call them, and if I call them something that puts their life in jeopardy, that seriously concerns me.”
There was a rule that was brought into question, but never actually implemented. This was the Ten Commandments being required to be hung in all school classrooms. Despite it never going through, the fact that it was considered is worrying for the future of schools. The rule would’ve further limited what students are allowed to think because it would pressure them into believing that the Ten Commandments is something they have to know.
“When we focus on a rule besides education, education suffers,” Smith said. “I understand people have opinions on how education should run, but the reality is that the authority, at least, licensed by the State of Texas, on how to educate is in the classroom. So I’m never in favor of the state coming in and telling me and my students how we should do education.”
This year is not the only hard one for students and teachers to adjust to; every year is difficult in some way. They all come with their own distinct struggles and changes that cause teachers and students alike to falter at the beginning of most school years. No matter how lenient the changes themselves are, or how ready the teachers and students are for the school year itself, there will always be some who simply cannot take it. All they can do is try and adapt their thinking pattern around these new changes and school life as a whole.
“Educators, or at least, good educators, are pretty good at adapting on the fly,” Smith said. “I’ve done pretty good so far in the classroom. I think the teachers here are doing a really good job.”
