Homeroom: Teaching the Necessities by DeLauren

Homeroom: Teaching the Necessities by DeLauren - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

Most students who attend attend the k-12 school system used by most public schools, are familiar with the switching between different classes in order to be given the fullest value of being taught by every teacher. Of all the different classes, there is one class known as your homeroom, in which you are assigned to in order to give each student a designated go to location while the school requires you to be in one place at all times, or in order to locate you at some point throughout the day. You are more than likely going to spend more time in your homeroom class than any other class that you have. Though most students view that as more time being taken out of their day to socialize with friends in another class, I tend to see it as an opportunity to be taught important lessons that aren't explained to us thoroughly, though we are required to master them in later adult life.
Sadly, common sense is not a class offered in high school, but you have probably already imagined a few people you wish would enroll in it given the opportunity. This gives the homeroom teachers an excuse to teach common sense skills that aren't painfully obvious for most students to understand. Granted, most basic aspects of common sense should already be known at this point, such as thinking one step ahead of the game in order to achieve maximum potential in whatever task you partake in. No, what I am referring to is something that is a little more difficult to wrap our thoughts around, which is thinking about others when it comes to our work ethic. It was Lincoln who said in the Gettysburg Address, “It is rather for us, the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain.” (Lincoln 1). What he was trying to convey to the Union was that it was their duty to continue to fight for what so many had already given their lives for. This can be related to work ethic, in that we have the responsibility, when others rely on us to do so, to complete the task we have been assigned to. We owe others our complete devotion to whatever we chose to do, and this can be summed up in to two points. One, whether we like it or not, we signed up to take part in the activity that requires the work. Two, your partners signed up for the same thing, so for you to not put all of your effort into something that you know someone had cared deeply enough about to sign up for it, is one of the most conceited things to do in the work field, whether it be school or in real life.
Most students today do not realize this and therefore, do not learn this in time for when it's needed and tend not to succeed as well as others who came to terms with this. This is why it is important for this to be taught in school, and not wait for students to learn this on their own time. Homeroom is the best opportunity to learn this because of not only its time advantage, but because students would be learning this while being surrounded by peers who are learning this at the same time, and can help each other grow in this lesson that will be cherished for a lifetime. In conclusion, I would teach Homeroom, because it provides the most opportunity to teach the most important lessons that will be needed later on in life.