I grew up in Iraq until I was 12 years old and the prime difference I encountered when I arrived at America was the schools. American students are responsible to show up to school and do their school work, but in my home country, Iraq, the students had so many more responsibilities than only being a student. I remember cleaning our own mess, dusting and wiping the seats, sweeping and mopping the floors, and keeping the playground clean. The schools required the first through twelfth graders to keep the school clean. I always saw myself different from all the other students when I came to America because even though they were same as my age, I was already taught to be responsible to maintain my school clean.
If we want our children to learn to be responsible, the best way to do so, in my opinion, is to start giving them responsibilities at their own school. Creating a system where students will be responsible to clean their classroom by the end of the day will teach them to appreciate what they have more and they will respect their school and everything in it. I remember in my home country we would pick up any trash we found on the floors and we would keep the school as clean as possible because we knew that we were responsible for maintaining it clean. When I attended the American school, I saw some students throwing trash on the floors for no reason and this is because they were not made responsible to clean anything up. If the American education system requires the students to maintain the school clean, the students will be more responsible and will be more prepared for life and its responsibilities as they grow older.
Not only does requiring students to keep schools clean teach them to be responsible, it also teaches them to be respectful. Human beings are so unique and we appreciate and respect what we have, especially when we must work for it. When a student goes to school knowing that he/she is responsible to take care of its cleanliness, he/she will respect it and appreciate everything in it. Students will appreciate the education that they are acquiring more and will feel like they are being awarded with education for preserving their school. Just like a job, you work hard and you get rewarded for it. I always felt like the least I could do was take care of my school for all the benefits that it was providing for me for free. Today, I can say that I learned to be responsible and respectful for everything around me because of how I was required to be responsible at such a young age. This taught me that if I want something, I must work for it and therefore, the American education system should apply this method as well.
Yes, there are schools around the world that require the students to keep the school clean. My country Iraq does, and so does Japan. This method will make the students responsible and will make them feel like school is their second home because they know they must take care of it. I am not saying to fire all the janitors and make the students do all the harder work. The idea here is to give them durable responsibilities to teach them to love and respect the school, and to make school their home. “School is not just for leaning from a book, it’s about learning how to become a member of society and taking responsibilities for oneself.” says Michael Auslin, a former English teacher in Japan.
Reference
Phillips, O. April 4, 2015. Without Janitors, Students Are in Charge of Keeping School Shipshape. NPR. Retrieved April 1, 2017 from www.npr.org
