The Other Half of the Equation

There are two sides of education.  Sitting stage left is Team Instruction consisting of teachers and administrators.  I've done many pieces on this team, and will do many, many more.  But what about those sitting stage right?  That would be Team Learning: parents and children.  It's high time we discuss Team Learning, for they are just as responsible for our current mess as Team Instruction.

Team Learning may, in fact, be more responsible for the current mess, because in the end we are talking about their failures.  When students don't learn, teachers get fired and schools are put under new management.  The students themselves (and their parents, during the ages when students are too young to understand their actions) face no consequences, and yet they are the ones who are not getting their jobs done.

You might say, "Wait a minute, what about grades?  Grades reflect a student's success or lack thereof.  Too many F's mean repeating a grade."  I would respond, "That may have been true in 1944, but not any more.  Teachers are under tremendous pressure to not give F's.  In many schools failing grades have been outlawed altogether.  But that's another post."

You might say, "What about being held back a grade?  In my day students who failed 1st grade had to repeat it."  I would respond, "Again, maybe that happened in 1944, but it's now 2014.  Social promotion rules the roost.  Psychologists tell us that repeating a grade is devastating to self-esteem, and so it too has been outlawed by nearly every school."

You might say, "What about all these standardized test I keep hearing about?  Surely they don't count for something?"  I would respond, "Despite being the ones having to actually sit there and take the damn things, students are in no way effected by standardized tests.  They have no incentive to do well on them.  Absolutely none."

You might say, "What about their parents?  Surely a student's parents can demand they do well in school and dole out genuine consequences for failure."  I would respond, "Aye, there's the rub!"

To be continued...