This often appears when we
discuss grading practices, like the use of grades as punishment or giving
students zeros for any reason. I use an article by Doug Reeves, entitled The
Case Against Zero, to kick start our talk. It doesn’t take long before
it degenerates into anger and emotional discourse. For the majority, the bottom
line is that giving students zeros for cheating or for failing to complete work
is teaching them a valuable life lesson – in real life, this type of behavior
has consequences. Therefore, grading practices that make no sense and have no
educational value, are worth retaining because students who receive these
grades will be prepared for the “zero” grades in life.
Similarly, those that promote
the lecture method, or the “chalk and talk” pedagogy, claim that this is
readying their students for the auditorium-style classrooms of college. This university-type
auditory training, would be more effectively done if teachers taught a variety
of note-taking
skill sessions, which is a research-based strategy known to increase
achievement. Sitting and listening has no basis in the research on sound
educational learning tools.
Which brings me back to the
myth that the purpose of school is to prepare kids for life. The purpose of
school, in my opinion, is to promote learning – we need to teach our students
how to learn, to motivate them to want to learn, and to be facilitators of both
– not to condition them to accept failure, to live with damaged self-esteem, or
to be drained of their desire to be life-long learners.
As a high-school principal, I
often heard my traditional teachers state that they were not in the “self-esteem”
business; that they were in the education business – like the two were totally
disconnected. The research on confidence and self-esteem as being predictors of
student success is very positive. Intuitively, it makes sense that if a young
person arrives at school feeling like their learning is directly controlled by
their own hard work, and that they are indeed capable of doing it, the odds are
good that it will happen.
But how can this happen in
the way schools are currently structured – not easy, I am afraid. With our
current system of lock-step learning, progressing through grades, and departmentalized
subjects, it will not be an easy fix. Yet there is hope – the emphasis on
teaching strategies that have been demonstrated to increase achievement is one
way. We can no longer allow practices, like lecturing for long periods of time,
or grading practices that do not reflect achievement, to continue in use.
We also need to become aware
of ego-based practices – those customs that are rooted in our own need for
approval or for satisfying innate desires of which we are not even aware. But
that is a topic for another time.
