Teens Fight for Optional In-Class Presentations

 

MIMI CABALLERO LYLLI DUONG Staff Writers

In almost every school subject, there is at least one time when a student has to get up and present in front of the class. Teachers require that the students in the class present in order to see if the student learned the material, to have them teach the class, or to assess their speaking and listening skills. Many students dread presenting in front of their own classmates, but presenting is still required. There are many benefits to presenting in the front of a class. It can provide life skills for the students. Presenting allows practice for a student’s future career. Group presentations, for example, can teach students how to work together. This is a skill that could help greatly a field such as engineering, where a group of people with their own set of skills work together to create a product.

Another life skill is being able to present in front of an audience. Many people in their future job need to present in front of a group. Salespeople have to speak to clients and teachers have to present to their classes every day. There are students, however, who may feel embarrassed or terrified of speaking in front of their class. While it is true that students with diagnosed conditions such as anxiety can often get documentation and accommodations to allow them to present after class, for most other students with a fear of public speaking, presentations can be a terrifying or even traumatic experience. Some have even been reported having panic attacks when trying presenting or before or after a presentation.

Before mental health was even a hot topic in the media, teachers and students had commonly thought of anxiety as just a feeling of being scared or as something people could just get over. Teachers today have luckily learned to be more aware and sensitive when it comes to these topics. In classrooms throughout the country, teachers and peers of mentally challenged students have become more cautious of their words, but an element of bullying still exists which pressures such students to have intense phobias of speaking in front of their classmates. Although public speaking comes quite easily to some students, these cases seem to be causing outrage in certain parts of the United States of America. Teens in some areas have come together to try to bring about change in schools regarding the element of public speaking that is required for some classes by many teachers. The students feel that anyone who states that they wish to not present should not be penalized for choosing not to do so. As a compromise, teachers throughout the United States could try to not push students too hard if they have a legitimate excuse. In such cases, teachers should be able to provide an alternative assignment that still tests the students’ skills.