Professionally, Unprofessional?

Throughout the existence of The Columbus School, the community and the staff have always worried and worked towards having all the programs and completing them as exclusive and professional as they can. Nonetheless, could they really be named professional programs? Throughout the years, TCS has been hosting COSMUN in their Envigado facilities, and through the eyes of the participants, the United Nations program has always been a complete success. However, every single year there’s always a small, but still a percentage of students who really aren’t interested in any of those areas nor programs and are simply forgotten. TCS authorities, should come up with a specific and consistent plan to ensure that your ride to school wasn´t a waste of time.

We had a lot of free time, all Thursday evening I went to classes to watch Netflix, so on Friday I just came to (take) an exam and simply (went) back home,” irritably expressed TCS Junior Manuela Gómez. The major problem in this situation is that per class there were about four to five students, because the rest of them where skipping class or involved in this event. Basically the teachers couldn’t or just didn’t find the motivation to teach a class to such a petite group. Some of them even told us we could leave to watch the committees or wonder around in the areas as we pleased. Here is where I ask myself, if COSMUN and all the programs the school sponsors are treated and lead professionally. “You just saw students laying around the school or roaming around the committees. I don’t believe this looks professional at all, because you have all this people working so hard, like guys in suits, girls in dresses and then you see children from the same school in their uniforms sitting around in the cafeteria doing absolutely nothing,” said Sofia Niño, president of the LEGAL committee and TCS Junior. Maybe COSMUN in the eye of the jurisdiction is an event in which everything comes out perfectly, but in the eye of the rest of us especially the non-COSMUN students and the teachers visualize a complete disaster. Spotting and watching common students walking out and in of class whenever they grant themselves the permission, to buy a pancake or simply just to walk through all the school, sends a massive message of unprofessionality. It contradicts everything the school once wanted to obtain and to show to the rest of the community. How come the COSMUN students are busting their life in those classrooms to be the best of the best and everyone else who is not in COSMUN is roaming and being mediocre. It is simply the fact that the directives in TCS haven’t been able to manage the creation of a plan in which everyone (COSMUN and non-COSMUN) is involved, but at the same time separated to work and obtain each specific objective.

“Last year, COSMUN was during Cultural Week,” expressed Emily Butterworth, Freshman and Junior English teacher. “They tried to do that again this year, but the timing didn´t work out to make it happen,” she said. ¨It seems each year we face a new challenge.¨ As Butterworth pictures it, through consecutive years TCS workforce tries to come up with a plan, that constantly fails. As a community, we aren’t as special and unique as the school wants to believe we are, starting by the fact that a model of the UN can be found in the majority of the schools around Medellín and the whole wide world. For instance, Marymount school of Medellín has an advantage over us because they have a UN in which every single one is included in their own area. What I mean is that Marymount already has a program for non-COSMUN students in which they don’t waste time if they come to school. This school principally makes a statistic on how the percentage of students who entered many MOSMUN and the percentage who did not. This gives them a clear image on how many students will they be counting with in the classrooms. If the percentage is lower than 10%  the school will grant those days for the students wellness and rest. If it surpasses the 10% the directives with the help of each teacher they create a class with more than specific objectives, they create a class based on what each group needs. This way everyone has work to do and nobody will be forgotten.

Thus of the forgetfulness of the school directives to the common students during COSMUN craziness; a lot of days and work have been missed and wasted. However it is clear that a crucial element is missing in the creation of this past plans. TCS authorities, should come up with a specific and effective plan to abilitate the possibility of not turning your ride to school a waste of time.