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I'd lean toward yes. Trophies should be for winners. Excellence should be recognized and those who excel in something should be recognized more than the average. Not everyone is good at everything.
some sorry excuses goin on for parenting out there.
K12 has become a failure machine.
we have dumbed down we have
fun leagued out
we have done a cop out.
reality is guna hit em like a truck on the way out the exit door
later when its over the great false teachers of our time will be remembered
as timothy leary and dr benjamin spock
pied pipers of america
so if you made good grades you probably didn't face the red pen of death. So may have different view as some of us who had their work look like red was the new blue.
Who the heck refers to "the red pen of death"? Your teachers? Did your parents? I never heard that before, ever.
And a red pen mark means another chance to improve. It's a way of showing the student that they didn't know the material as well as they thought they did. It's a way of showing the student that mistakes are noticed and that studying well is rewarded. Why should a bad student be on the same level as a good student? And in my classes, most of the students did well. So the weaker students can see that good grades are achievable. Doing A work should not be considered special or unique. Getting A's is what everyone should aim for.
And the homework wasn't all that tough. Doing homework was never stressful or difficult for me, and the only issues I had with it was doing homework cut into my playtime. But... my parents taught me the importance and value of doing well in school. In addition, I actually enjoyed learning. I enjoyed being taken to the public library (free) by my mom once a week. I'd borrow books of all topics and not because of my classes. So studying became my playtime and rather enjoyable. Learning should not be seem as drudgery.
And as an adult, I've always strived to be one of the best in what I do. Right now, one of my jobs is union, and I hate that merit is not valued by the union, just one's seniority at the job. And that's a lot of stupid BS imo.
I don't believe in promoting mediocrity. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. One's strengths should be noted, encouraged and appreciated.
And speaking of what really is painful during childhood, it's not getting red pen marks, it's not being accepted by your peers. Namecalling and bullying is commonplace, and hundreds of times worse than getting a test or homework back with red pen marks. And I wasn't a namecaller or a bully because my parents told me that it was wrong to behave that way.
Good parenting is the answer. Not coddling by the school system. Parents need to take the majority of the responsibility for raising their kids instead of counting on the schools to do it for them. Schools are not babysitters.
Who the heck refers to "the red pen of death"? Your teachers? Did your parents? I never heard that before, ever.
And a red pen mark means another chance to improve. It's a way of showing the student that they didn't know the material as well as they thought they did. It's a way of showing the student that mistakes are noticed and that studying well is rewarded. Why should a bad student be on the same level as a good student? And in my classes, most of the students did well. So the weaker students can see that good grades are achievable. Doing A work should not be considered special or unique. Getting A's is what everyone should aim for.
And the homework wasn't all that tough. Doing homework was never stressful or difficult for me, and the only issues I had with it was doing homework cut into my playtime. But... my parents taught me the importance and value of doing well in school. In addition, I actually enjoyed learning. I enjoyed being taken to the public library (free) by my mom once a week. I'd borrow books of all topics and not because of my classes. So studying became my playtime and rather enjoyable. Learning should not be seem as drudgery.
And as an adult, I've always strived to be one of the best in what I do. Right now, one of my jobs is union, and I hate that merit is not valued by the union, just one's seniority at the job. And that's a lot of stupid BS imo.
I don't believe in promoting mediocrity. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. One's strengths should be noted, encouraged and appreciated.
And speaking of what really is painful during childhood, it's not getting red pen marks, it's not being accepted by your peers. Namecalling and bullying is commonplace, and hundreds of times worse than getting a test or homework back with red pen marks. And I wasn't a namecaller or a bully because my parents told me that it was wrong to behave that way.
Good parenting is the answer. Not coddling by the school system. Parents need to take the majority of the responsibility for raising their kids instead of counting on the schools to do it for them. Schools are not babysitters.
Man, you bring up so many valid points.---let me just address one. some of us had to work before and after School. so we had to hurry to get School work done. I'm sure mine could have been better. sometimes it was wet from the rain. But I did the best I could with what I had. --but then to have some guy go to work on my papers with his red pen flashing, just made me feel like why bother. He would circle this, and underline that. In big bold slashes, like he was painting a picture. Never once did he say, this part is ok, or pretty good even. He just looked for a comma in the wrong place, and a word misspelled. Never committing in a positive way about what I was actually saying. Just the mechanics of how it was said. ---I ran into him at my 40 High School reunion, and he is a weak little man, who's only power in life was to bully People less than half his age. I nearly made him cry. but decided to let him off. So ya know what you can do with that red pen.
Who the heck refers to "the red pen of death"? Your teachers? Did your parents? I never heard that before, ever.
And a red pen mark means another chance to improve. It's a way of showing the student that they didn't know the material as well as they thought they did. It's a way of showing the student that mistakes are noticed and that studying well is rewarded. Why should a bad student be on the same level as a good student? And in my classes, most of the students did well. So the weaker students can see that good grades are achievable. Doing A work should not be considered special or unique. Getting A's is what everyone should aim for.
And the homework wasn't all that tough. Doing homework was never stressful or difficult for me, and the only issues I had with it was doing homework cut into my playtime. But... my parents taught me the importance and value of doing well in school. In addition, I actually enjoyed learning. I enjoyed being taken to the public library (free) by my mom once a week. I'd borrow books of all topics and not because of my classes. So studying became my playtime and rather enjoyable. Learning should not be seem as drudgery.
And as an adult, I've always strived to be one of the best in what I do. Right now, one of my jobs is union, and I hate that merit is not valued by the union, just one's seniority at the job. And that's a lot of stupid BS imo.
I don't believe in promoting mediocrity. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. One's strengths should be noted, encouraged and appreciated.
And speaking of what really is painful during childhood, it's not getting red pen marks, it's not being accepted by your peers. Namecalling and bullying is commonplace, and hundreds of times worse than getting a test or homework back with red pen marks. And I wasn't a namecaller or a bully because my parents told me that it was wrong to behave that way.
Good parenting is the answer. Not coddling by the school system. Parents need to take the majority of the responsibility for raising their kids instead of counting on the schools to do it for them. Schools are not babysitters.
You take the argument of :when I was a kid we left home in the morning and didn't show up until supper or dinner. No adult supervision, therefor, no discipline. .
But if I did anything wrong while I was out, I arrived at home to my mother waiting for me with a switch. She already knew about what I had done, she heard if from the neighbors. She knew all the neighbors, the neighbors all knew me, and they were my "adult supervision" while I was out. It sorta takes a village. And that, as our secretary of state pointed out, is what has collapsed in our society.
But if I did anything wrong while I was out, I arrived at home to my mother waiting for me with a switch. She already knew about what I had done, she heard if from the neighbors. She knew all the neighbors, the neighbors all knew me, and they were my "adult supervision" while I was out. It sorta takes a village. And that, as our secretary of state pointed out, is what has collapsed in our society.
I find this to be an argument of convenience. I'm truly not trying to be snarky here. It is convenient for people to claim on the one hand they weren't coddled as kids and were so independent and by four they were shooting elk with bows and arrows. You take a group of kids that go outside and runaround in a different side of town and they are called unsupervised and undisciplined. In that different side of town there are a hell of a lot of fictitious family.
This is not to say that I have not run into kids that are spoiled beyond belief. There are parents that will demand that grades be changed because they are so worried about getting into a good school. In fact, we have a school where you can see about 15 Corvettes that the kids were allowed to drive to school. Some of the girls carry handbags that would take my salary for possibly two months.
Now, there are villages out there. However, for the vast majority I would say that for the past 30 years Americans work longer hours and have less money and less recreational time. This translates to, what time is there for a village? Unless, of course, you have stayed in one place for your entire life or you have been there for 30 years.
The following is in general and not directed towards anyone:
Poor schools, my azz. It is a requirement for kids to go to school and the parents can be held responsible and face legal repercussions. There are schools that will toss kids out because they don't like them. Further, there are schools that intefere with family life. There are excellent teachers, don't get me wrong, but there are some knuckleheads out there as well.
The US kids do have a lot of freedom and many of them are mouthy beyond belief in comparison to other nationalities.
These discussions are just generational crap. The opposite end of : how can we blame the baby boomers for our problems and skip taking responsibility.
Now, there are villages out there. However, for the vast majority I would say that for the past 30 years Americans work longer hours and have less money and less recreational time. This translates to, what time is there for a village?
Why? Why do we work longer hours and have less to show for it? What motivates us to do that? What did we give up, in order to gain that lifestyle?
My "argument of convenience" was not a plea to somehow return to it, but an explanation of what made things different for children in a past that we somehow felt compelled to surrender.
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And I wasn't a namecaller or a bully because my parents told me that it was wrong to behave that way.
