Amazing Assemblies: Article Analysis
In response to the article in The Advertiser (4/2) on Amazing Assemblies,
I would have to disagree with Ms Rankine’s comments on how whole school assemblies have a positive effect on the pupils that attend. Firstly, it seems to drone on forever! This makes students very uninterested. As well as the drabness, they also miss out on a lot of class time. They have these whole school assemblies about twice every term and they go for about two lessons!! So students are potentially missing out on 16 lessons of schoolwork, every year! That is two whole days of school they miss out on every year! Do they really want students missing out on that amount of schoolwork?
Another reason on this topic is how much pressure is placed on to those unfortunate
enough to have to read at one of these events. At home, the student practises to make sure that they don’t stuff up in front of a huge gathering! That’s time when they should be doing homework, not stressing out whether or not they might have a hiccup while they are reading in front of the whole school. I think putting this amount of stress on students is very harsh, surely the students don’t have to do the majority of the speaking? teachers are more calm when it comes to speaking in front of quite an audience. What is the point of building up all of this stress on the students?
Organizers at such events perhaps could try new techniques to engage a student audience, but chances are that these students still won’t learn. It is unrealistic to think that one or two assemblies in the span of one term out of a school year will affect how all students act in the long term. And increasing the frequency — having assembly after assembly after assembly — risks becoming tedious and borderline intolerable.
Issues like bullying can’t be hacked away with a blunt weapon like whole school wide assemblies; they must be treated with care, patience and a precision the school has yet to discover.
Some may say that if even a single student is affected, the effort was worth it. This could be true, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t search for a more effective, long-term solution. The actions of just one student somewhere at school is probably not enough to make a significant difference given the negativity spread by 10 others due to the same assembly. At this point, the assemblies almost do more harm than good given how much they are mocked.
All in all, I strongly believe that whole school assemblies have a negative effect on a student’s schooling, well-being and their enthusiasm as a result of the events.
I would have to disagree with Ms Rankine’s comments on how whole school assemblies have a positive effect on the pupils that attend. Firstly, it seems to drone on forever! This makes students very uninterested. As well as the drabness, they also miss out on a lot of class time. They have these whole school assemblies about twice every term and they go for about two lessons!! So students are potentially missing out on 16 lessons of schoolwork, every year! That is two whole days of school they miss out on every year! Do they really want students missing out on that amount of schoolwork?
Another reason on this topic is how much pressure is placed on to those unfortunate
enough to have to read at one of these events. At home, the student practises to make sure that they don’t stuff up in front of a huge gathering! That’s time when they should be doing homework, not stressing out whether or not they might have a hiccup while they are reading in front of the whole school. I think putting this amount of stress on students is very harsh, surely the students don’t have to do the majority of the speaking? teachers are more calm when it comes to speaking in front of quite an audience. What is the point of building up all of this stress on the students?
Organizers at such events perhaps could try new techniques to engage a student audience, but chances are that these students still won’t learn. It is unrealistic to think that one or two assemblies in the span of one term out of a school year will affect how all students act in the long term. And increasing the frequency — having assembly after assembly after assembly — risks becoming tedious and borderline intolerable.
Issues like bullying can’t be hacked away with a blunt weapon like whole school wide assemblies; they must be treated with care, patience and a precision the school has yet to discover.
Some may say that if even a single student is affected, the effort was worth it. This could be true, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t search for a more effective, long-term solution. The actions of just one student somewhere at school is probably not enough to make a significant difference given the negativity spread by 10 others due to the same assembly. At this point, the assemblies almost do more harm than good given how much they are mocked.
All in all, I strongly believe that whole school assemblies have a negative effect on a student’s schooling, well-being and their enthusiasm as a result of the events.