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Children Perform Better When We Leave Them Alone


Do we really believe in young people? Do we give them enough space to reach their full potential? What are a disadvantaged youngster’s chances in life? Get to know the story of the students who were left alone because of the virus! How successfully did they study at home?

I have been teaching in Füzes Utcai Primary School in Tatabánya for almost a year. I have always considered teaching an exciting challenge, that is why I accepted this task of great responsibility. We had to switch to online education, that is digital courses, during the pandemic. It was a huge burden for the teachers and parents but especially for the children. Lots of students did not give any "sign of life" at the online platforms. We thought that we lost them and they will not return even when classroom-based education starts again.

However, in many cases the students’ results have improved – I am not talking about the average of their marks but the actual knowledge that they acquired on their own, without any direct help. Anyone who has worked in home office before knows that it requires an immense amount of self-control to get to work even when no one can see you. What can it be like for a child to sit down and write the homework, read, count, then take a photo and send it to the teacher, often surrounded with distractions, when there is no one anywhere near who could really help with the task.

We, teachers, were well aware of these difficulties as we have to face them day after day throughout the school year. We knew that the toughest time is the end of the month, before payday or family allowance payment; children bring to the school the tension from at home. Now, when providing breakfast and lunch to the kids may be a challenge each and every day, life is even more problematic.

We managed to solve the technical problems and distributed laptops, phones and tablets which the school got as offerings. At the end of the term we got them back without any damage. Yes. Often we lamented how easily these devices could disappear in a community where the price of such a second-hand gadget would feed a family for two or three days. It seems that the responsibility that the parents and children suddenly got overcame prejudices. Many understood what the work of a teacher is like...

The most fantastic thing, the reason of why I'm writing these lines, was the end-of-term exam. It was touching to see that the children who were not easy to teach in a classroom environment studied the materials on their own and demonstrated their knowledge. It was heartbreaking to see that they acquired knowledge to demonstrate. It was bitter and sweet at the same time. Sweet because the work that they had done was impressive. A dozen of highly disadvantaged kid performed so well that no one can have any doubt that they are useful and valuable members of society. An bitter because it showed that these children are good, they have always been, just education is not good enough to help them flourish. They perform better when we leave them alone than when we grade their performance according to the prescribed measurements.


The blog entry was written by Tamás András Szegedi.
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