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A "Do-Nothing" Attitude
I don't know about you, but when I was in school (which wasn't ALL that long ago) it was never acceptable to not do one's homework. I never remember kids not turning in assignments. I don't remember complaining about having homework on a Friday. Homework was just part of life; part of the learning experience.
Sometime, between 10 years ago and now, that has changed. A teacher can never expect that her students will do an assignment because it was assigned. If the students do not want to do it, then they will not, and who cares about a zero anyway?
Every assignment I assign as a teacher has a purpose--usually a dual purpose--to teach new concepts and review old ones. I give a lot of review work. It isn't that the kids cannot remember the material, rather it is the fact that maybe if I give three different reviews at some point maybe everyone will have done at least one of them! I kinda feel sorry for the kids who diligently do every assignment; generally these kids are bored in class because of the ignorance and dreadful laziness of their peers.
I read an article last week about how this current generation is not prepared for the workforce. They are not hardworkers, and they just aren't cutting it. Whose fault is this? If you blame the educators, I ask you to think quite seriously about the pressure that the government has put on us. We are required to make sure every student learns in spite of economic situations, learning deficiencies, intrinsic motivation, family background, etc. We are encouraged to not give zeros; if a kid is willing to make up the work, then maybe he will learn the material for the state tests and at least he will have learned it at some point. Excellence is not required anymore because education is now the land of second-chances. I allow students to correct mistakes for full credit; I allow students to re-take tests for full credit. You must think that I have really high grades in my classes. Haha! I could count the A's on one hand (out of approximately 125 students), and that includes my Pre-AP class which has only ONE A! However, I digress. . . . Do we blame the parents for the lazy attitudes of their children? Possibly. Do we blame the media?
Sometime, between 10 years ago and now, that has changed. A teacher can never expect that her students will do an assignment because it was assigned. If the students do not want to do it, then they will not, and who cares about a zero anyway?
Every assignment I assign as a teacher has a purpose--usually a dual purpose--to teach new concepts and review old ones. I give a lot of review work. It isn't that the kids cannot remember the material, rather it is the fact that maybe if I give three different reviews at some point maybe everyone will have done at least one of them! I kinda feel sorry for the kids who diligently do every assignment; generally these kids are bored in class because of the ignorance and dreadful laziness of their peers.
I read an article last week about how this current generation is not prepared for the workforce. They are not hardworkers, and they just aren't cutting it. Whose fault is this? If you blame the educators, I ask you to think quite seriously about the pressure that the government has put on us. We are required to make sure every student learns in spite of economic situations, learning deficiencies, intrinsic motivation, family background, etc. We are encouraged to not give zeros; if a kid is willing to make up the work, then maybe he will learn the material for the state tests and at least he will have learned it at some point. Excellence is not required anymore because education is now the land of second-chances. I allow students to correct mistakes for full credit; I allow students to re-take tests for full credit. You must think that I have really high grades in my classes. Haha! I could count the A's on one hand (out of approximately 125 students), and that includes my Pre-AP class which has only ONE A! However, I digress. . . . Do we blame the parents for the lazy attitudes of their children? Possibly. Do we blame the media?
I suppose we could all point fingers all day. The point is that we have a problem. How do we--educators, parents, and the community--fix this problem?
posted by Becky Davis | 6:30 PM
2 Comments:
I don't know. I mean, on the one hand, some of this is probably more normal than you (or I) experienced in high school. You were on the honors track with honors classmates; I was in a small college-prep school with equally obsessive-compulsive classmates. This is as foreign to me as it is to you (I mean, hello, we could form our own online valedictorians' club). But probably, even 10 years ago, this scenario was happening more than we think.
But that doesn't address the issue at hand. And it's an issue that is hitting higher education as well, though differently. The question is this: Do you raise your standards to the level where they should be, believing that students can and should earn their grades, with a willingness to accept the fact that some will achieve and others will not? (This would be my personal inclination, but government regulations appear to frown upon it.) Or do you make everything "mangageable" to the degree that slackers can get by with being slackers and high-achievers get bored and frustrated and then become, themselves, slackers?
I don't know. It's not a cookie-cutter answer. And I think you're right in pointing out that it's not just the teacher's problem to fix. I think, also, that one of the key underlying issues is that we (educators, the government, whomever) are afraid to let people feel bad about themselves. Fifty years ago, if Johnny made an F on his Algebra test, he was punished by his parents and forced to get his grade up. Now, we are afraid that Johnny will feel bad about his F. And because of this, we give him chance after chance to fix it (I believe the term you used tonight was "enabling") until he figures out that he doesn't have to do anything right the first time, and certainly doesn't have to try hard unless he feels like it, and if he doesn't want to do anything at all, he can probably get by. In short, Johnny learns that he doesn't have to live with the consequences of his actions.
I'm not saying you're doing the wrong thing in your classroom; I think you are handling it the best way you can in order to (a) help your students to actually learn something and (b) follow government regulations. It's just a sucky situation overall.
Dang it! I had typed out this brilliant response and then I hit some wrong keys and puff!... it disappeared. I'll try to summarize.
Its the parents' fault that their children are like this. Many parents today don't make their child do anything (let them be kids), don't discipline them (it could damage their self-esteem), don't expect them to be respectful (kids today!), and don't require them to complete things they've started or committed to! (I have personal examples of that, but I can't share them online.) I actually have 12 year old students who think it is perfectly acceptable to argue with me in front of the entire class. Why do they think this? Because their parents have taught them (through example) that this is ok. I do have a few parents who want to take an interest in their child's education, but when it comes down to it, they are too busy at work to have a short phone conversation with me about their child.
When I was in school, if you forgot to do your homework, too bad; if you failed a test, you failed it. No extra credit, no make-up work, no doing corrections for partial (or full) credit, no taking the test over and keeping the highest grade. You didn't study--you got the grade you earned--the grade you DESERVED! Standards of education have been lowered so much since then. Students today EXPECT to be given grace, and it starts (at least at my school) in the elementary grades. Students are coddled and spoon-fed and basically treated like babies. If it truly takes a village to raise a child (family, teachers, and community) then we are teaching today's children nothing about responsibility, committment, or excellence. If I, as a teacher, actually expect my students to be responsible, bring their materials to class, follow the rules, and study for a test, then I, in the opinion of many parents and even some administrators, am expecting too much. Mrs. Breland is so mean! :)
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