Students Matter More Than Teachers

I read the following story on the O.C. Register website and had a moment of nostalgia. Long time ago while in graduate school, I worked as a substitute teacher in various school districts. I remember teachers would leave me a lesson plan or a video. The students were happy when I played the video at schools outside of Irvine Unified Schools and would boo me when I pop in the video at an Irvine school. I remember a day when a 10th grade students at University High School in Irvine challenged me when the lesson plan did not include their vocabulary words needed for doing well on the SAT. At other schools students would challenge me when I would try to follow the lesson plan. The following is an interview done by the Register with an University High School Alumni.

Swetha Kambhampati graduated two years ago from University High, one of the county's highest-achieving schools. As a junior, Kambhampati was one of the first students in the country to score a perfect 2,400 on the new SAT.
"Growing up, I wouldn't say there was pressure for me to do well," said Kambhampati, now 19. "It was more of an expectation from myself and my parents."
"I think that the notion of doing well in school is something you grow up with. You can't just wake up one day and say, 'I think I want to go to MIT or an Ivy League school,' " she said. "If you don't start preparing for it from Day 1, then it's not going to happen."
Kambhampati spent much of her free time during high school preparing for college admissions tests and studying her coursework. During the summer before her junior year, she enrolled in an SAT prep class and attended other summer classes to get ahead.
"I didn't feel like I was doing anything beyond what every other student at University High was doing," she said.
She now attends the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Looking back on her high school years, Kambhampati said she doesn't regret the attitude she had toward her education.
"I don't think I missed out on anything in high school," she said. "The hard work I did then helped me to get into MIT, so it was all worth it."

It seems that Fullerton has a High School on steroids too. The name of the school is Troy High School. The following is an excerpt from the interview with a student at Troy High School in Fullerton.

Byron Lee, a senior at Troy, is trying to keep as he wakes up early every morning to get to school by 7 a.m.
At lunch he's busy with the Interact Club, planning weekend community service projects.
After school he goes to study in the science lab and to orchestra practice, where he plays contrabass.
By the time he gets home, it's often 6 p.m., and he's still got hours of homework ahead.
"I just come home and immediately go take a nap. I'm so ready to sleep by then," he said. "I eat dinner, then try to take another nap so I can focus on homework. So if I'm in bed by 2 a.m. … it's a good night."
When Lee gets too tired, he thinks about his future and how all his hard work might pay off. He wants a career in biomedicine, not just because it pays well, but because it will give him the chance to use his talents to help others.
He also counts on Patuwo – his best friend – and other students to help keep him motivated.
"It is very competitive at schools like ours," Lee said. "But it's the competition that has made me keep working to be better.
"Right now, it might feel like, 'Argh, Troy,' " he said, shaking his fist in mock frustration. "But I think next year I'll be looking back and saying, 'Thank you, Troy."

Based on my personal experience, the 1966 Cole Report and this article, I will climb out on a limb and make the following statement: Students' attitude toward learning matter more than teachers' teaching skills.