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To try to go back on topic: I wonder how many of the underperforming schools are that way because the students don't feel the need to rise to a challenge when a 70-something will land them on honor roll?
I have a friend who complained at a school board meeting b/c her son was on the honor roll despite the fact that he has Down Syndrome and really struggles academically. She was upset b/c her academically gifted daughter who earns straight A's was also on the honor roll. She said that being on the honor roll didn't really mean anything to the kids who worked hard for good grades because so many low-performing kids were on it.
I have a friend who complained at a school board meeting b/c her son was on the honor roll despite the fact that he has Down Syndrome and really struggles academically. She was upset b/c her academically gifted daughter who earns straight A's was also on the honor roll. She said that being on the honor roll didn't really mean anything to the kids who worked hard for good grades because so many low-performing kids were on it.
I've seen this happen all over the place, not just in VT. My mother works at the private Catholic elementary school I attended in an upper middle class suburb of New Haven, CT. My class (left there in 93) was the last class to have honor roll down to the 3rd grade level, after us it was 5th or 6th grade and up. I was a substitute teacher there for a while after I had finished college and couldn't find a job. I discovered the idiot teachers they had in the junior high grade levels were putting people on the honor roll that didn't deserve to be there (kids getting C's). They used to give out awards for the highest performer in each class for the 8th graders just before they graduated. My mother complained that they were giving out multiple awards because it made the other kids feel bad that they didn't get one. Then they started not giving out letter grades to the younger classes. The justification is that it helps the self-esteem of the underperformers. When I was in high school at a private Catholic high school (because the public high school didn't separate out honors classes), the public high school in my upper middle class suburb decided to do away with class ranks. The justification was that it promoted too much competition between the students.
These issues are not a VT thing. They're everywhere. It's only worse now that NCLB was passed without additional funding for the schools. Unfortunately, the reality is that some children will be left behind if they're all tossed into the same school with the same guidelines. People learn in different ways. Special needs children need to be taught differently than children who learn quickly. In many cases, 2 children of the same agemay be 2 grade levels apart in their learning abilities. That's reality. They should not be taught together. When that happens, the lower one is forced to keep up and the higher one isn't able to use their ability. Your friend's son with Down Syndrome should probably be at a different school or in a different program than the daughter. Those 2 children should absolutely not be compared side by side, but that's what's happening.
My only complaint is that teachers spend too much time dealing with behavioral issues and there aren't enough programs for gifted students. Most of the money, time and energy seems to be focused on special ed imo.
I have the same complaints. Our school is over 50% special ed. After many years, I had to take our kids out because they simply weren't learning anything. When the teachers weren't dumbing everything down, they were busy dealing with constant, apparently unsolvable behavior issues.
Most of the bright kids in our school left years ago. The staff doesn't seem to care; there's a feeling that we're just hard to please. They don't understand that when children are desperately unhappy in a school and their needs are not being met on any level that a parent has to act.
My daughters school used to give student of the month awards that went to the same one or two low self esteem students each month. Last spring they had a school wide assembly where they declared everyone a student of the month except one 3rd grade boy who apparently didn't deserve it.
My daughters school used to give student of the month awards that went to the same one or two low self esteem students each month. Last spring they had a school wide assembly where they declared everyone a student of the month except one 3rd grade boy who apparently didn't deserve it.
Our school tries to boost self esteem through all types of pyschological mumbo-jumbo. One day at their "community meeting" they had a laughter therapist come and teach them how to laugh to expell negative feelings.
Last week my oldest kid came home from school with a homework survey. It had questions such as "Do you sometimes have trouble getting your anger out?" And, "How can your teachers and problem solvers (guidence counselors) help you to express your anger in a positive way?"
The school also has its own version of a rubber room. I kid you not. It's a mostly empty room where out of control kids can go until they regain self control. The little brats are allowed to write cuss words on the walls. I peaked in once when I was doing some volunteer work at the school and the walls are filled with things like, "I hate f**ing school" and "My life sucks" and "Mrs so and so is a b**ch."
They actually pay a "problem solver" to stand outside the room and make sure the kids don't escape. Earlier this year a kid still managed to escape and made it all the way to the high school campus (about a quarter mile away) before someone caught up with him. Another time a kid ran into the woods behind the school and they had to call the police to find him.
Yep, touchy feely crap is a big thing here...our school has a big chunk of the week dedicated to 'anti-bullying' which is probably okay in theory but in the real world...?
Reminds me of the rules of school..don't hit anyone. Okay, sure. Stand there as you are being beat up and say, "Hey man, in Psychobabble 101 we were taught hitting is bad, 'kay?"
There needs to be a balance. I don't know if kids are prepared for the real world in any school.
My daughters school used to give student of the month awards that went to the same one or two low self esteem students each month. Last spring they had a school wide assembly where they declared everyone a student of the month except one 3rd grade boy who apparently didn't deserve it.
We have those kinds of phony give-away awards at our school, too. All of the kids know that they are meaningless. The real way to build self-esteem is to have the kids actually earn it through genuine accomplishment.
I've noticed a definitely different attitude up here vs. northern VA (where I grew up). The messaging up here with the VT natives I know seems to revolve around finding a life partner/happy life despite lack of formal education (college seen as optional or even excessive), whereas my messaging as a young person was that formal education (especially post-secondary) was the path to finding happiness & a suitable life partner.
Gypsy, when/where are you headed out? I'm back to VA in August.
I've noticed a definitely different attitude up here vs. northern VA (where I grew up). The messaging up here with the VT natives I know seems to revolve around finding a life partner/happy life despite lack of formal education (college seen as optional or even excessive), whereas my messaging as a young person was that formal education (especially post-secondary) was the path to finding happiness & a suitable life partner.
Gypsy, when/where are you headed out? I'm back to VA in August.
College is unnecessary for a good portion of the population. I say this as a college-educated employee of a college. High schools should be teaching life skills, allowing those who wish to take college prep classes. Is it worth spending $100-200k for 4 years of college if you have no direction in your life? That's what most students go into college with. That's a whole lot of debt as well, and to do what? Make $40k a year spending the rest of your life paying off that debt? I'm paying off that debt now and I have a degree that I'm not using. Sure, my degree got me a job, but you don't need a degree to be able to do most jobs. If you decide later on that you're unhappy or you want to do something else, you go back to school. College as we know it needs to change.
But this is all a topic for another conversation. The point is, you don't need college to find a life partner and be happy.
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I kid you not. It's a mostly empty room where out of control kids can go until they regain self control. The little brats are allowed to write cuss words on the walls. I peaked in once when I was doing some volunteer work at the school and the walls are filled with things like, "I hate f**ing school" and "My life sucks" and "Mrs so and so is a b**ch."
