Also of concern were the teenagers' negative views about specific academic subjects such as history, science, and literature. The few teenagers who said that they had enjoyed a specific course attributed their interest to the skills of a particular teacher rather than to the intrinsic appeal of the subject. African-American students were much more likely than their white counterparts to say that studying American history, world history, biology, chemistry, and advanced mathematics is extremely important. Three-fourths of those surveyed said that students shouldn't be allowed to graduate unless they had mastered English. A similar proportion said they should only be promoted to the next grade if they had learned the material.
Teenagers share their teachers' concerns about the lack of respect and civility in public schools.
But students in focus groups also complained about teachers treating them with disrespect. Some come in and yell at you and talk to you like you're four years old, and they don't give you any respect. Christopher Cross, president of the Council for Basic Education, a group based in Washington, D.C., that promotes higher standards, says the report's findings seem to confirm what educators in Maryland found when they interviewed high school students about the state's plans to make students pass a tough test to graduate. Merrill Vargo, executive director of the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative in San Francisco, says the findings show that there is an enormous constituency for change. They say important things here.