I’ll start the post with a hypothetical situation here: you have two classes that you can take. You can either take 1) a challenging course with a tough teacher and risk earning a lower grade (say, a C or a B) but learning a lot, or 2) take an easy course with a babysitter teacher who gives everyone an A but you learn nothing.
Which would you take? In college, we definitely get that choice, and we all know students who decided one way or the other. I know that I would choose the first choice. But what about earlier on in my education? I didn’t really choose — my parents chose to live in a school district with a strong academic program, and encouraged me to take tough classes. In other words, I don’t hold my high school students responsible for their decision here…I believe that a child’s commitment to education is strongly influenced by the family’s values.
In other words, I would like to direct my wrath to parents here. I am very worried that too many parents value their children’s learning too little and their grades too much…to the point that I know that these parents would look at the options above and pick #2 without hesitation.
My evidence comes in the form of recent parent conferences (not with me, with other science teachers). After talking for a while, we discover that these children are failing because they do not have the study skills to succeed. We uncover the reality that they never did anything in previous years. They played cards all day, they just got a review the day before a test, and they got an A.
And then we try to help these parents see the problem here. You knew that your child was learning nothing, but you did not complain then. And here you are now, complaining to us that grades are falling!
Now I do not want to completely blame parents here, because I think teachers have the responsibility to report progress and grades authentically and honestly (I’m sure I will be posting about grade inflation here soon…RAMPANT…that’s all I will say for now).
But at the same time, what’s the goal of education? I sympathize with the obsession about numbers — I know that college admissions are intense. But numbers cannot hide a person in the long run…high school will be impossible without a middle school foundation, college will be impossible without a high school foundation, real-life work will be impossible without possessing basic skills.
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January 17, 2007 at 11:27 pm
cvalh
I DO blame the parents, but that’s because my two worst students (and I mean that in the most “loving-est” way) were former home-schoolers. It’s true that they don’t know how to study, because they used to skate by, and it’s also true that they were basically allowed to just disregard the subjects their parents didn’t like (“I didn’t do much grammar, and I’m OK, so why should so-and-so do much grammar?” or, “I taught him basic phonetic spelling – shouldn’t the rest have come naturally?” and finally, “I don’t much like math, so I don’t help her out much to see if she really understands it”).
I, too, hold my students accountable, and expect them to live up to certain standards. One of the aforementioned is already saying, “I think I’m gonna go back to homeschooling next year. This is just… HARD!”
January 18, 2007 at 11:44 am
Rebekah
I think one of the problems I noticed in college, and in high school for that matter, is that HARD is something people avoid like the plauge. Being challenged leads to being wrong and there is no value in being wrong. Learning from one’s mistakes seems to be seriously out of vouge, because trial and error means you must make errors. There is no room for you to make any mistakes if you are going to be partner in a law firm by the time you are 25, married by 28, retired at 50. You must be perfect in everything you do, because there is no going back. According to the New York Times last week, New York City will start introducing “play workers” to help guide children on playgrounds in their fantasy play. Because goodness knows, we can’t have kids making up games that don’t “benifit” them in some way. Play time must be learning time, because or my 4 year old will never get into Harvard! http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/weekinreview/14carey.html
In the same way, I feel like people are less and less willing to TRY new things, or continue working on things that are hard. If it is hard, drop the class, transfer schools, get a note from your doctor that says you have ADD and need more time. There was quite a backlash at Emory last year against the General Education Requirements and one editorial in the student newspaper said something to the effect of, “if I already know what I want to do, why should I have to take a class in something that I’m not interested in, or good at. It will only lower my GPA and make it harder to get into grad school.” Clearly, the answer of, “Learning is good for you, heck, even fun,” had never been considered by this student, and neither was, “skating by on easy classes that you know you are good at will only make grad school harder.” General Education Requirements were put in place to make sure every student is challenged in some way, pushed outside their comfort zone and maybe, just maybe, taught something they didn’t already know. Giving people to opt out would defeat the entire point. Also, GERs have helped many people realize that their first choice of majors may have been a mistake, and allow them to (gasp) change their minds.
The thing is, one day, something difficult, a challenging situation or an unexpected bump in the road is going to arise, and these people, who will no longer be kids then, will be in trouble. I personally believe that if you spend your formative years avoiding all the hard stuff, like calculus or balancing work and school, you will not be equipped to deal with it when the going really gets tough. Like when your marriage is on the rocks. Or when your company starts downsizing and your job is on the line. Or (God forbid) a parent or child falls ill, or is handicapped and needs special attention. There is no grade inflation, no appeal process and no essay portion that will help you boost your life grade from “failed,” to “close enough.”
Out here in the “real” world, there is no one to hold accountable but myself. Sure, I could complain that my teachers should have taught better, my parents parented better, or even my boss communicate/manage better. But if I don’t pay my rent on time, or sleep through my alarm, or crumble under the tiniest bit of pressure, it is all on me. So, I am really glad I took calculus in college, when I could have skated by with Game Theory, and I am really glad I worked my ass off for that C+. I’m glad I took a job that challenges me on an hourly basis and forces me to learn new things, on the fly. Becuase something tells me, I’m only helping prepare myself for the harder life challenges yet to come.
January 18, 2007 at 10:43 pm
srmencken
I can honestly say that there is a tremendous amount of grade inflation that takes place- in fact, it is, to a certain extent, an actual policy at certain institutions with which I have had (and continue to have) employment experience. A Wall Street Journal article recently shed some light on why parents put so high a premium on grades- college is, for better of for worse (the article argued for worse) the gateway to success. A college degree is the end goal of all primary and secondary education. Without good grades, you can’t get into college. If you can’t get into college, you can’t get a decent job. Ergo poor grades = no good jobs.
Of course, this is a flawed analysis. Neither Steve Jobs nor Bill Gates graduated from college, and both are counted among the wealthiest (and for that matter, the most intelligent and accomplished) men in the country. But for some messed up reason, anyone lacking a college degree carries a sort of stigma when it comes to employment. Why should parents actually care what their children learn as long as they get that important piece of paper? Failing out of Harvard is going to produce fewer job leads than graduating magna cum laude from the state college back home.
To comment on Rebekah’s musings on Gen Ed Requirements: Although I certainly see the value of a broad-spectrum, liberal education, I so no reason why someone paying thousands of dollars for a diploma should be forced to take classes in which they are not interested. If I shell out $40k a year to get a degree in sociology, then I am entitled to a vigorous study of that particular field; there’s no good reason for me to take 4 physical education courses along the way. That’s what high school is for.
January 19, 2007 at 11:32 am
Rebekah
But you and SciTeacher just pointed out that high school isn’t about getting a well-rounded education- it is about getting good grades for the minimum amount of work in order to get into college. I don’t know about you, but gym class in my high school included showing up, changing clothes, running a lap around the gym, then playing basketball or touch football. While PE in college sounds silly, I ended up learning Tai Chi, basic martial arts and tennis, and my roommate learned how to scuba dive, all interesting things we might not have done had the requirement not been there.
I think there is an entire different discussion about the concept of paying for education and the current mindset of students as “consumers.” How often did we hear in school, “I’m paying $40,000 a year, I should get XYZ.” Or, “I’m not paying $40,000 a year to have to do XYZ.” Because people are paying so much for their education at private institutions, there is the idea that the education should be exactaly what they want, only what they want and nothing more. In reality, if you shelled out $40k a year to a private liberal arts institution with the intent to get a degree in sociology, you also signed up for the liberal arts concept, which includes taking classes outside of sociology. I’m not saying that one should be forced to take Macroeconomics or Evolution of Slugs and Mollusks if you aren’t interested in them; I am saying that one should understand that places like Emory and Harvard are set up to PUSH people- push them through a vigorous study of their major yes, but also to push them outside of their major, to new and interesting fields of study, in order to expand their minds. And it is HARD. It seems to me that the next thing people ought to say is, “I’m not paying $40k a year to work- someone should do all this studying for me for that amount of money.”