Over 50.4 million kids around the United States attended Public Schools in the fall of 2016. 3,718 of those students were enrolled in Hastings Public School system as of September of 2016. With the recent events in the media, I asked Hastings High students and teachers what public schools meant to them.
“I love going to a public school because we are able to express ourselves more. Hastings High offers a ton of different clubs and groups that you don’t normally see at a private school,” sophomore Alyvia Krueger said, “Another thing I love is that there is every type of person with every type of background and opinion.’
It is obvious that Hastings High school students are happy and proud to be going to a public school.
“You are given a good education by people who care about you, and get great experiences and relationships out of it too,” freshman Meredith Brandt said.
Many teachers love that they teach at a public school for varying different reasons.
“I think it’s the best place for me to try and make the society I live in a better place,” World History teacher, Randy Schultz, said, “The diversity of the students I get to work with and the opportunity to hopefully make a lasting contribution to the lives of my students and our society.”
English Teacher Carla Hedstrom has similar thoughts.
“I love teaching in a public school because the school is such a reflection of the community itself. I can teach all sorts of students:rich, poor, athletic, musical, mechanical, mathematical, lazy, motivated, smart, and sometimes challenged,” Hedstrom said, “Teaching to all sorts of children has made me into a better teacher because my teaching tools have had to expand and change as my students have changed. And that’s a good thing.”
If anything, public education has the power to change students and teachers in ways that they cannot expect. Both students and teachers can all agree with the Hastings Public Schools tagline, “Assuring the essential. Expanding the possible.”
