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And this makes your efforts to place value on work ethic even more difficult.
As a nation, given collective attitudes about and investment in education, we have the system that we deserve. Not to say that many don't strive for better, but in the big picture, what exists today has been created, not pre-ordained.
We have created our present system because we measure things like high school graduation rate. This causes schools to do what it takes to improve the graduation rate. They do this not by providing after school tutoring but by telling teachers they are not doing a good job if all of their students don't pass their class.
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Originally Posted by TabulaRasa
Natural consequences are important to learn. However, in order to allow natural consequences to take their course, it's imperative that you have an administration that will back that approach up. If you happen to teach under an administration that is bound and determined that "nobody fails," regardless of the lack of work completed/effort given to work, it's impossible to let natural consequences take their course, and nobody learns anything about personal accountability.
If you're measuring and comparing schools based on criteria such as graduation rate, how will this change?
What is gained by watering down the standards to graduate? Wouldn't it make more sense to have different types of high school diplomas that represent what a student actually accomplished? This would help to discourage schools from pushing everyone through.
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Originally Posted by ChicagoMT
Grades are not "natural" consequences, they are "artificial" consequences. A natural consequence is getting burned when you put your hand on a hot pan. A natural consequence would be more like wanting to write a letter to a friend, and then realizing you can't write well. This is a much better consequence than a failing grade because it actually teaches a real reason. These kind of consequences can be brought into the students' awareness by a good teacher during their course. If the student doesn't want to learn after they are shown good reasons to learn, punishing them further for not learning is like hitting them in the head and calling it a natural consequence.
Agree. And when they realize they can't write a letter they blame it on their poor public school education!
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Originally Posted by skoro
This guy wasn't teaching advanced students in AP or capstone courses. He was teaching lower level courses because the dept chair knew he was worthless and wouldn't give him any accelerated classes because he wouldn't teach anything.
No, the admin loved him because kids who otherwise had never gotten an A in their lives could automatically raise their GPA by being in his class and get credit for graduation. The admin was totally aware of the situation. They loved him because no students or parents ever complained. Everyone including the janitors were aware.
This is fairly common. Something else that is also fairly common is in order to keep grades high, teachers will allow students to answer test questions correctly to regain half credit for their missed answers. For example, a student gets a 66% on a test. If they write the correct answers to the questions they missed, they get half credit, which would raise the score from a 66% to a 83%.
I teach high school chemistry. I will teach my students one of two things. They will either learn some chemistry. Or they will learn that not working leads to failure. I am not the kind of teacher that will nag a student to death to do some work. If they are in high school I think they should be responsible for their own decisions. If you decide to play with your cell phone instead of listening, I say good for you. Let me know how you enjoy summer school.
I think one of the biggest problems with this generation is their easy lifestyle has made them incapable of doing things for themselves, including thinking. I think teaching them that if they don't make the right decisions, life is going to suck. They'll remember that a lot longer than they'll remember that carbon has 6 protons.
Is this a flawed philosophy to take with these kids? I know they are still kids and I should try to inspire them to be their best. And I do try to do that. I am motivation personified. But to the students that don't want anything to do with working, they need to learn that apathy will lead to hardship. Eventually mommy will let go of their hand and they'll be on their own.
I teach middle school math. My approach is pretty much the same. I am old, am a great teacher, but most of all, I don't care what mommy wants or thinks.
In our school we can give no lower than a 60 on a report card. Many times that is 40 points free credit. I too, round up from 68 or 69, but other than that too bad.
In reality, the first quarter is pretty easy, so most kids get an 80+. It only takes 2 80s and you CANT FLUNK, since they, with minimum 2 60's will average out to passing.
One thing for sure, I don't care about it any more. I teach the best I can. Stop teaching when they talk, and get through what I am permitted to.
I sleep well at night because I know I am doing a great job, and I work really hard at doing it.
Next year I am only giving quizzes and not counting homework so there will be make NO MAKE UP unless one is absent.
As a wise friend says. THey are gonna fail (in life, not necessarily school). It is better to fail early than at 28 0r 30.
One more rant. The issue you address is the incredible failure on the part of educational leadership in this country IRT drop out rates. Folks that should know better have confused correlation with causation. Yes there is correlation between drop out rates and suspension, but not causation, since both are determined by other, mostly non-PC related influences. As a result of this gross and negligent failure, administrators are loath to, if not forbidden from suspending kids, And, now classrooms abound with children that should be in some sort of suspension because they are incapable of functioning in a learning environment.
It is one of the most pathetic deals going on in teaching, a field rife with insane policies!
I had a conversation with a parent who's kid was failing. She asked me what could he do to fix that. I said at this point, end of the year, nothing. He should have tried in the first place. She said she didn't like to see her kid fail. I said, nobody likes to see that, but it may be the best thing that's ever happened to him. Better he learn now that slacking off leads to failure, rather then when he's wasting his money in college, or slacking off at a job that he'll end up losing. Lessons learned in high school are free, it gets expensive after that.
We are babying our children to death in this country. I saw a study comparing 10 year-olds in the USA with 10 year-olds in some third world country. In our country, 10 year-olds might as well still be in diapers with mommy wiping their butts. In the congo 10 year-olds are hunting, building huts, and preparing meals. Pathetic.
I had a conversation with a parent who's kid was failing. She asked me what could he do to fix that. I said at this point, end of the year, nothing. He should have tried in the first place. She said she didn't like to see her kid fail. I said, nobody likes to see that, but it may be the best thing that's ever happened to him. Better he learn now that slacking off leads to failure, rather then when he's wasting his money in college, or slacking off at a job that he'll end up losing. Lessons learned in high school are free, it gets expensive after that.
We are babying our children to death in this country. I saw a study comparing 10 year-olds in the USA with 10 year-olds in some third world country. In our country, 10 year-olds might as well still be in diapers with mommy wiping their butts. In the congo 10 year-olds are hunting, building huts, and preparing meals. Pathetic.
And in the Congo, those same kids have to flee their homes to avoid getting shot. They are scared for their lives on a daily basis. Many of the girls are raped. Many suffer from undernutrition. Many never get treatment for disease and live in horrible conditions.
And in the Congo, those same kids have to flee their homes to avoid getting shot. They are scared for their lives on a daily basis. Many of the girls are raped. Many suffer from undernutrition. Many never get treatment for disease and live in horrible conditions.
What? The point is not about the congo. In fact I don't even think the study involved the congo specifically, I just used that as an example.
The point is children are capable of much more than most parents believe and overprotective parents are ruining their children's chances of being well adjust human beings that can deal with life on their own.
I know too many 40 year olds that still live at home, with their spouse and children. All because mommy and daddy refused to cut the cord a long time ago.
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