Recently, on a current affairs television program here in Melbourne, there was a story exploring the concept of children not receiving traditional school report cards and not being graded (marked) on their schoolwork at all. The key message of the program was that evaluating our kids and actually scoring them on their work and exams might set them up for some kind of long-term emotional pain or short-term social judgment and ridicule from their peers. Apparently the traditional concept of report cards might do some kind of damage and it might be in our kid's interest to protect them from any form of assessment or evaluation.
Clearly, turning up to school is enough. What a great idea. This way nobody will get upset. Fantastic.
We wouldn't want children to compare report cards and we wouldn't want anyone to do better or worse than anyone else, would we? Ideally, everyone will get about the same mark, no one will fail, no one will get upset, all the parents will be happy, no kids will have to deal with any pressure, no waves will be made, and then we'll all go home and sing nice, warm, fuzzy songs around the fire and drink hot milk. Then we'll put our pajamas on and dad will read amazing stories to us - ones where we are the heroes.
Give me a bucket.
What a great preparation for the realities of life beyond school this kind of learning environment would be. What are we teaching our kids when the message is that not studying, not paying attention in class, not completing homework and not being a responsible, diligent student has no real downside?
Back in the dark ages when I was at school, my teachers employed this wacky notion of telling us whether or not our school work was great, good, bad or otherwise. They even gave us grades. When my report cards were bad, my folks got mad at me - not the teacher. Crazy, I know. Surprisingly I didn't die from this or suffer any irreparable damage. Sometimes kids even failed a subject. Interestingly, none of them died as a result of that failure. Some of them even went away, studied, worked harder, passed the next semester, developed some new skills, and learned a lot from the experience!
Is it just me? Has it dawned on anyone else that the rampant overprotection of our kids (and not just in a school setting) doesn't really help them at all? It's not always an advantage, but often, a significant disadvantage. I'm not a kid-ologist, but I do own a kid's gym and I do observe lots of parents in action. It seems to me that some parents are so paranoid and overprotective that they end up creating the very thing they don't want: kids who can't cope, can't adapt, and don't fit in.
Article comments
1 - diana hartman
I am pleased to tell you this article is being featured in the Culture Focus today, March 29th.
Diana Hartman
Culture Editor
2 - 3lr0d
US educational theory began moving in that direction in the late 60's.
Its obviously worked out very well...
3 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Kudos! Great job! Hear hear!
I felt I had to be over-protective of my kids in the States because I never knew when depraved perv would drive off with them into the sunset and a milk carton. That kind of shit does not really happen here. You can't go too far without a roadblock and a fellow in uniform demanding ID. As much as this appears to diminish one's personal liberties, it has its advantages.
A month or two after we arrived in this country, our sons started to become very self-reliant children because they had to deal with a culture that mom and dad could not help them with. They negotiated the rat's maze of Israeli culture (well, what passes for culture) themselves and with the help of fast friends they made, children of other immigrant parents. In addition, in spite of the terror threats and blowing up buses, we insisted that the boys ride buses, both to school and with us. One result was this article about my younger son's reactions to terror here. Another has been the emergence of two very independent, self-reliant, young men upon whom we can rely.
And yes, they get grades, and my wife and I both discuss those grades with our sons.
4 - Sergio G. Spinola
It is hard to believe that in our days and time such bizarre ideas on education can find a pulpit.
The all point of education is exactely that: EDUCATION.
Education is the preparation anyone is entitled today to get from school to have an independent, autonomous and as frutitful as possible, life.
As many ill prepared would be educators do today, Mr. Craig confuse education with discipline and on that base rebuilds an old theory on education wich has been proved wrong for a century, at least.
Kind regards
Sergio G. Spinola