I just read an article on ajc.com that includes a letter written by a public school administrator. Here is a link if you want to read the whole thing, but the gist of it is that a young man has participated in a High School graduation ceremony, but has not actually graduated for the simple reason that he has not passed his exit exams. (He still needs to pass the Math, Science, and Social Studies tests.)
The letter writer goes to great lengths to point fingers at all of the adults that have failed this young man, including himself.
What strikes me about this letter is that is is based on the premise that if a child fails, it must be the school’s fault. While he does acknowledge that the child bears part of the blame, it is overwhelmed by the failings of all of the adults involved in this.
My thoughts on the matter:
1. If a student is able to pass all of his classes and then fail a majority of his exit exams, then something is wrong, either with the classes or with the exams.
One of the changes that I have seen in schools since I graduated back in 1988 is an increased emphasis on the results of standardized tests. However, a bigger change is the way in which teachers assign grades.
When I was in school, there were very few kids that made all A’s. When I became a teacher, that had changed considerably. The reason is not that kids are doing better work in the classroom. Rather, the change has been the way too many teachers scale their grades.
I remember when I was teaching in a public school, and the question came up, “If you have an average level student who does average level work over the course of a grading period, what kind of grade should he or she get?” The textbook answer to this question is somewhere between a C and a C+.
However, when I asked the question over the lunch table one day, the almost unanimous answer was “B.” I remember thinking that if this was the case, then a student could get their name in the paper for the "A &B Honor Roll" with all B-'s, that meant that kids were getting their names in the paper for doing below average work. I realized that, at least to a degree, the complaints about grade inflation were justified.
I don’t really blame the teachers for this, at least not completely. Every teacher has had parents complain about low grades on tests and report cards, and after a while it is simply easier to adjust your grading scale, and let the whole matter drop.
Nor do I blame the administrators. While I was blessed to work for a principal that I knew would back me up, I know of others that were not so fortunate. (For a very lengthy example, click here.) However, these administrators ultimately answer to the school board, who are elected by these same angry parents.
The problem is not the teachers, nor was it the administrators. The problem is the parents who have somehow come to the conclusion that what appears on a test or report card is the responsibility of the teacher, and not the student. How many parents have told teachers, “My kid worked really hard this term and therefore they deserve an A!”
Funny thing is, every parent out there just knows that their kid works really, really hard, causes no problems in the classroom, and diligently does their homework every single night.
If we are going to “fix” the education system in this country, we need to start with parents that expect their kids to earn good grades by learning the material and actually doing well on tests and assignments.
As long as the teacher has given all of the material out that will be tested on, as long as they grade the tests and assignments the same for every student, as long as the requirements for the class in question are made clear, as long as the teacher has been competent in teaching the material to the students, then the parents have no room for complaints.
(By the way, if the vast majority of the kids in the class passed the test, then the teacher was probably not incompetent in teaching the material.)
2. This 18 year old kid (I am assuming his age) has already had three (3) kids!
Here is another problem: out of wedlock births. A few years ago, when my wife and I were in the hospital for the birth of one of our children, we were paid a visit from the woman who handled all of the birth certificate paperwork. She said something that has stuck out in my mind all these years. She said, “You two are married? Great! Most of the applications I have sitting on my desk are from single mothers.” (Emphasis mine.)
This kid has not even graduated from High School, and he is a father, not once, not twice, but three times! What really makes my blood boil is that the letter writer attaches no special significance to this.
(I will let you insert your own joke here about how we know what this kid was doing when he should have been studying.)
The fact that this young man is still in school tells me that he is probably not working, which means that he is not supporting these kids, at least not yet.
The fact that he is sitting down to dinner with his mother along with his (I am assuming) current girlfriend, tells me that there is a level of acceptance (though not necessarily endorsement) of having children out of wedlock.
I’m not sure what to make of the fact that his girlfriend got with him despite the existence of two other girls who were left high and dry.
This kind of ties into my next thought:
3. The writer seems to imply that the coach is partially at fault for luring him away from a supportive school environment into one that was less supportive for the sole purpose of winning a championship in a sport.
Another thing that has changed over the years concerns High School and College sports. There has always been what has seemed to many to be an overemphasis on the sports programs in our schools.
To a degree, this concern has been justified: kids are on occasion passed along to make sure that they are eligible for the next season, with no regard for the long term consequences for that student.
However, people need to remember that the bulk of the money for these sports programs come not from school budgets, but from ticket sales. I remember when I was in High School and hearing that the teachers had been asked to cut back on the copies that they made on the school copiers. Meanwhile, we were hearing the sounds of a new press box being constructed next to the football field.
I commented to my English teacher on the irony, and she acknowledged the inconsistency, but pointed out that the money was coming from two different places. Based on what I later learned, I reasoned that the money was coming form the several hundred people who paid $5 every week to attend football games every fall.
Given that the bulk of the money for sports programs come from ticket sales, a certain degree of marketing is to be expected. The issue that I take with how we view sports programs these days is not the emphasis that they are given, but rather how they are emphasized.
Sports programs definitely have a role in our schools. At the college level, it allows at least some students the chance to go to school without racking up a heavy load of debt from student loans, plus at many of your bigger schools where the Athletic department makes a major profit, it allows all of the students, not just the athletes, to attend a quality school for less money than they would have otherwise expected to pay.
The problem is the current emphasis on winning to the exclusion of all else.
Sports programs are supposed to be all about character development: playing as part of a team, taking responsibility for your actions, and so forth. My father played on the football team when he was in school and I know his High School coach had a tremendous impact on his development as a person.
Thinking back to the original letter, I can’t help but wondering what, if anything, did that coach do when this student got one girl pregnant, then another, and yet then another. At what point did the coach call this young man into his office and explain just how badly he was messing up? Why, after baby number 2, was he not kicked off the team as an example to the rest of the guys?
Again, you can’t completely blame the coach: too many parents just want a state championship, and nothing else matters. Communities in general and parents in particular need to stop worrying about win - loss records, and more about what kind of impact the program in question is having on their son or daughter in terms of character development.
4. This article left me asking the question, “ At what point do we start holding the students and the parents responsible for doing their part in school?”
Looking at this letter, the writer goes on and on about how the system has failed this student. To a degree, there may be some truth to that. However, it is even more true that this student and his parents have let the system down. (By the way, where was the kid’s father in all of this?)
If we are going to have the educational system that this country needs, then we need to start in the homes:
Parents have the obligation to instill a sense that getting an education is important.
- You do this by making sure that your son or daughter is at school on time everyday that they are not sick and not pulling them out of school just to take a vacation.
- You can do this by making sure that they do their homework everyday.
- You can do this by communicating with the teacher when concerns come up.
- You can do this by expecting your son or daughter to follow the rules in school, even the ones that you think might be unreasonable.
Students have an obligation to do their best in every class.
- You can do this by making your classwork a priority every single day.
- You can do this by letting the teacher know when you are having problems.
- You can do this by preparing for test and turning in assignments on time, every time.
(I know some of my former teachers are aware of the irony me writing this.)
Until students and parents (believe it or not, teenagers listen to their parents more than they are given credit for) start pulling their weight and holding up their responsibilities, all of the school reform on the planet will not make a bit of difference.
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