"Literacy is my 2nd hour class"

It was about the 50th time I heard a student say; “Why are we writing? This is science not literacy.” or “Why are we doing math, this is science?” They really did not understand. They did not see the connection between these different content areas and the skills they represent. Was it their fault? Were they just being lazy? In my opinion, the answer is no. It is our fault. We are just being lazy.

We have officially isolated our content areas into silos. It had become clear that students saw each of these as a separate entity, and not a set of skills that make you good at life. I decided to find out if this was true. The next day, I told my class that we were taking a pop quiz. I handed them each a quiz with eight questions on it. The following are some of the questions on the quiz:

What is science?
What is literacy?
What is math?
What is art?

Each of the questions asked the students to define the titles of courses which they took at school.

So, what were the most popular responses? As I expected, the students gave answers similar to these:

My 5th hour class
My 2nd hour class
My 1st hour class
My 7th hour class

Students do not see science as a way of thinking and problem solving in their everyday life. Students do not see literacy as a part of everyday life. Students do not see the connection between math and everyday life. We have officially brainwashed students into believing that these, extremely important life skills, are nothing but ours with in their day which they are forced to attend. They are separate entities to them.