After taking a step back and really thinking about what happens in our classrooms, I believe some of Ifemelu’s ideas are spot on. Participation is pushed a lot throughout all levels of schooling. In elementary and middle school when teachers asked questions students were more inclined to volunteer and share their opinions. This is until they get to the pre teen years when students believe their too good for school and being smart isn’t “cool”. This is when participation is down and teachers have a much more difficult time pulling the kids to speak up. They move to other options; instead of asking general questions to a classroom of people, they specifically point out individuals to answer the question. When you move to later high school and all of college, students are again encouraged to participate in not just answering questions but in discussions where your publicly share your own ideas. It is not as bad where professors must pull out the teeth of students to get them to participate, but students feel obligated to share some sort of ideas, even if they have not fully thought them through or have no relevance to producing a solution to a problem. I have the same question as Ifemelu, is the participation in America real as compared to other countries?
If I came from another country just as Ifemelu, I can imagine myself being as frustrated as her with how our classrooms work in college. Participation is mandatory as a way for professors to give out extra points, not as a way to help students understand the material better. Participation is only helpful for those students who need to discuss problems, but for others who understand right away, participation is just a mandatory thing that takes up needed class time. An example is my Women’s Study course. Participation is a large part of our grade and we have discussions for most of our classes. I personally find it difficult to participate in that class due to every other student always wanting to share their ideas and the fact that I cannot comprehend and formulate cohesive ideas as quickly as I can. I just hope that not participating as much as other students will not bring my grade down. I’m very curious to see how classrooms work in other countries and how they compare to the classroom situations of America. Maybe America are the ones doing something wrong is this aspect.