I'm talking about the no-zero policy and the no-child-left-behind policy in regards to education. Please be aware that these are my opinions on this topic, and I welcome any kind of healthy discussion.
To start, a bit of background. The no-zero/no child left behind policy involves the grading of elementary and middle school children. In essence, no child in elementary school can fail - an F now just means that a teacher will do their best to make that child pass. This policy was brought to light with a recent article by the National Post regarding Lynden Dorval (a teacher fired for giving his students zeros) being hired by a seperate school to teach.
Now for the past two years I've worked for the Catholic School Board in northern Ontario, I worked in an elementary school that was listed as having the worst EQAO test scores in all of Ontario. My job was a tutor for the grade three's and six's that required more one-on-one attention to do well in the testing. This is where I first came upon a huge issue - grade six students who did literally no work all year, who graduated into the 7th grade. These students sat at their desk and blatantly refused to do a shred of work because they didn't feel like it -without parental consent (which was never given) these students were given a D and made their way up to the next step in the education ladder.
It makes me sick that that happens. I know that the blame falls divided - some people blaming the education system, specifically the teachers - others the parents. I'm going to come at this from my perspective - from working alongside the teachers in the classroom.
I think it's BS that teachers are being blamed for kids not doing well. Sometimes, the teacher/ student relationship for learning just isn't there - and I realize that. In my experience, it's not a teachers job to sit with one student for the entire day who refuses to do any work. In a class with twenty other students, spending countless hours with one student who just "doesn't feel like it" comes at the price of those 19 other students. This younger generation (for the most part- I realize that's a generalization) is so apathetic when it comes to learning. I remember being excited for school and if I didn't like an assignment I did it anyway - because that's what you did - or you failed. You didn't want to be the kid that gets held back a grade because it made you look like an idiot - especially if it was because you just chose not to do any work all year.
Now there's this ability for students to just choose not to do their work because they feel like it and they never have the consequence of failing. They go through the education system right up till high school with the assumption they can control what they do and don't want to do and they'll be rewarded with the next level of education. How is that alright? How is that ok? This is not equipping the future generation with the tools to know what's right and wrong. You don't get rewarded without first putting the work in and this is somethign that they'll never learn.
You can't hand a child and education when they've done nothing. That's not how the real world works. There's this assumption that it's detrimental for a child to be held back socially but the solution isn't throwing them into high school without ever having done anything! What is that child with the grade one reading level going to do in high school? All of a sudden find his/her inspiration to do well or drop out when he/she hits 18?
This education system doesn't build better kids - it gives children an out from putting any effort into school and it allows everyone to just blame the teacher for not doing enough. We're going to end up with a generation that expects to be rewarded without ever doing any work and that's terrifying.
This blogpost comes from the National Post article by Jen Gerson: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/09/19/lynden-dorval-captain-zero/
Now for the past two years I've worked for the Catholic School Board in northern Ontario, I worked in an elementary school that was listed as having the worst EQAO test scores in all of Ontario. My job was a tutor for the grade three's and six's that required more one-on-one attention to do well in the testing. This is where I first came upon a huge issue - grade six students who did literally no work all year, who graduated into the 7th grade. These students sat at their desk and blatantly refused to do a shred of work because they didn't feel like it -without parental consent (which was never given) these students were given a D and made their way up to the next step in the education ladder.
It makes me sick that that happens. I know that the blame falls divided - some people blaming the education system, specifically the teachers - others the parents. I'm going to come at this from my perspective - from working alongside the teachers in the classroom.
I think it's BS that teachers are being blamed for kids not doing well. Sometimes, the teacher/ student relationship for learning just isn't there - and I realize that. In my experience, it's not a teachers job to sit with one student for the entire day who refuses to do any work. In a class with twenty other students, spending countless hours with one student who just "doesn't feel like it" comes at the price of those 19 other students. This younger generation (for the most part- I realize that's a generalization) is so apathetic when it comes to learning. I remember being excited for school and if I didn't like an assignment I did it anyway - because that's what you did - or you failed. You didn't want to be the kid that gets held back a grade because it made you look like an idiot - especially if it was because you just chose not to do any work all year.
Now there's this ability for students to just choose not to do their work because they feel like it and they never have the consequence of failing. They go through the education system right up till high school with the assumption they can control what they do and don't want to do and they'll be rewarded with the next level of education. How is that alright? How is that ok? This is not equipping the future generation with the tools to know what's right and wrong. You don't get rewarded without first putting the work in and this is somethign that they'll never learn.
You can't hand a child and education when they've done nothing. That's not how the real world works. There's this assumption that it's detrimental for a child to be held back socially but the solution isn't throwing them into high school without ever having done anything! What is that child with the grade one reading level going to do in high school? All of a sudden find his/her inspiration to do well or drop out when he/she hits 18?
This education system doesn't build better kids - it gives children an out from putting any effort into school and it allows everyone to just blame the teacher for not doing enough. We're going to end up with a generation that expects to be rewarded without ever doing any work and that's terrifying.
This blogpost comes from the National Post article by Jen Gerson: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/09/19/lynden-dorval-captain-zero/
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