There are so many amazing teachers at South that do their jobs beautifully, giving students the tools they need in order to succeed in high school and the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, there are also educators who have slipped through the cracks. They get away with lazy teaching and non-educational lessons.

Last month my history teacher played a movie that summed up what we had learned the past few weeks. It was more than helpful, but I couldn’t help but think about other times I’d watched movies in school. Some teachers successfully use movies or documentaries as bridges from one event or subject to another, saving class time.

Other teachers slip movies in for their students to watch because they haven’t made a complete lesson plan or because they simply don’t want to teach. This isn’t the only strategy that I’ve noticed teachers using that, let’s face it, wastes student’s time. There’s nothing worse than sitting day after day in a classroom that is consistently unengaging and only slows you down.

Having slow classes, where it seems like the teacher rarely puts in effort to help students learn, is detrimental to our education. As a visual learner, a paragraph in a textbook isn’t going to imprint itself into my mind as easily as something interactive, like an activity about the current subject.

While this applies to my learning style other students may prefer a lecture from the teacher, slides to take notes from, projects to create, or even enjoy the consistent use of textbooks. No matter the circumstances, one of the many jobs of a teacher is to vary their lesson plans to help different students.

There are teachers at South that successfully create diverse lessons to help each of their students learn. There are also teachers that seem indifferent to their students and their responsibilities.

Just because one student has trouble learning from a teacher it doesn’t mean that they’re a bad teacher. Some teachers are bad for certain students because their teaching style doesn’t work for that person individually. However, other teachers are bad for all students because they clearly don’t put effort into their job. An endless parade of videos, taking notes on the textbook, and copying down the definitions of vocab words while the teacher hangs out at their desk isn’t going to work for any kind of learner. Classes should not be the same every day. A list of chapters to take notes on is not a lesson plan.

There are classes that we love and classes that we could simply do without. In a classroom there will always be something unlikable, whether it’s a student or the lack of windows, but when it’s the teacher that’s creating a difficult environment then what are the students supposed to do? For most, it’s intimidating to approach a teacher with a complaint, which is why some resort to their counselors in hopes of a class change.

Unfortunately there isn’t much that a counselor can do for a student when the teacher is the only problem. “If it’s something unmanageable and you feel you or your parent can’t deal with it then you may need to talk to an administrator about that and see if they can make a change.” Said Don Dilla, one of South’s counselors.

With a few previous students that Dilla has worked with in this situation the only thing that he’s been able to do is give them this advice, “It’s just like a job, when you don’t get along with a coworker or boss do you just quit?…You can’t just change a class because you don’t like a teacher or don’t like the students.” And although this is a valid point, the situation is a little different. If, in the future, we did encounter a boss or coworker that we don’t get along with, it would be much easier to set our differences aside because our bosses won’t be responsible for our futures. Our teachers are.

If you’re taking a class that is supposed to help you advance in the real world and the teacher doesn’t do their job than what’s the point?

Dilla also brought up the point that many students have found refuge in teachers from past years. Eleventh grader, Elena Dooley has a teacher that she thinks makes learning difficult. In Dooley’s opinion “she moves so fast everyday, and keeps moving on to new lessons.” Dooley has  noticed the other students getting lost in the fast paced classroom as well. “I still go to my old teacher.” This teacher doesn’t even teach the level that Dooley is currently in for her subject. This teacher should not have to pick up slack for others.

How can we as students benefit from our high school years if we have to struggle through classes with teachers that aren’t doing their jobs? Long hours of homework, preparing for extremely important tests, attending classes off campus, and maintaining grades suitable for your dream college are enough without having to factor in teachers who don’t teach. We should have a voice when it comes to this sort of problem. If a bad teacher gets in our way, is there anything we can do? It shouldn’t take parents meeting with an administrator, if there is a teacher that stands in our way we should be able to do something about it.

It seems as if everyone at South tolerates teachers who are not doing their jobs or putting effort into helping us learn. South needs to provide students with clear paths to discuss these problems, or this pattern will never be broken. We should be given the tools to have a role in our education.