Mike’s Corner: No Substitute for Hard Work March 17, 2021

Students often ask what it takes to be successful in secondary education. They are so busy with trying to balance life with school that they lose a certain amount of perspective. 

The only tools students need are an extra-ordinary work ethic, dedication to their chosen craft and a never say die will. Students are faced with the challenges of not only school and home life, but currently we are going through a pandemic, the first of its kind, that many people, not only students are experiencing for the first time in their history. There has been major health crisis in the past, but nothing that these students and many of the administration have never faced. There has been some bad flu seasons and tragic events, but nothing like this. These students deserve a certain amount of praise for just coming back to school. 

Combine the efforts of the pandemic and pair that with the amount of social injustice taking place around the country, it is easy to understand some of the stress these young students have to endure on a daily basis. As educators we need to able to step back, do analysis, and sympathize as well as empathize with the students. We do not know the path they are on at home or in the society as a whole, to recognize there are issues bigger than the school and education becomes a must for us. 

Hard work the students perform in this day cannot be measured by academics alone. There are some serious consequences going on that really pull students all over the place and many get caught up in those circumstances and education becomes secondary. By taking the time to try to understand may take the edge of and provide some relief to some. We cannot fully understand any situation, because we are going through this one day at a time, just like our students, just like society as a whole.