Whatever Happened to Failing?

When I was growing up, grades were important.  Not just due to bragging rights or the ability to get into college, but because they honestly marked our progress in the various disciplines in school.

Nowadays, grades don't seem as important.  Parents seem capable of affecting grades by yelling at teachers or complaining to the principal or petitioning the school board.  It all hinges on the false idea that "a leads to be which leads to c", in this case meaning "my child needs to show good grades to get into a top university in order to have a successful life."  There are numerous flaws with that progression, not the least of which is that a number of these students are overwhelmed in college because they haven't learned the lessons of school, or they leave college with enough school loans on their back to choke a horse.  In addition, a degree doesn't guarantee material success.  (See: graduates working at McDonalds.)

But there is something else troubling me these days; it is almost impossible for a student to get held back.

Looking back at my school years, the biggest embarrassment was the idea that we could get held back a year, and our classmates would move on the the next grade level while we had to repeat the same one over again.  Talk about your motivational tool.  And yet, holding the student back was sometimes the best option. If a student couldn't handle the work in 6th grade, what chance would he have in 7th grade?  He would fall farther and farther behind, as if he was a drowning man being thrown an anchor.

Today, in speaking with teachers and aides, the idea of holding a child back and not advancing them to the next level is virtually impossible.  Generally, teachers are badly underpaid, and don't want to have to deal with a "problem child" for another year, so they make them someone else's problem.  Even if the teacher thinks holding a child back is the best option, the principal knows that it would raise too many difficulties with the parents or the district superintendent or with the school board.  So the child moves on, and usually struggles mightily with ever more difficult work.

Who can be blamed for this?  Perhaps we should start with a society that thinks that any kind of negative treatment is harmful for the child.  This is the kind of attitude that says we shouldn't keep scores in games so there isn't a winner or loser?  When I was young, that kind of thinking would have been seen as idiotic.  There is a winner and a loser in every game!  That's why you play the game!

Let's also blame parents and their "not my child" attitude.  Every other child may misbehave, but "not my child."  Other children may have learning problems, but "not my child."  Punish other children for misbehaving, but "not my child."  Why not your child?  Why not any child who needs to learn a lesson?

Finally, to school officials and district members: let the teachers teach!  Stop trying to press them all into a cookie-cutter style that focuses on how to make the kids test well.  Let them teach so that students actually learn!  Some of my best memories are of teachers who were a little bit different; those who did things their own way.  I learned more from them than from other teachers, largely because they were motivated and passed that enthusiasm on to me.  Let teachers be individuals who enjoy their jobs.  (Pay them better, too, will you?  I've seen what they get charged for insurance and such compared to what they get paid.  It's a joke.  There are teachers out there who are so deeply in debt with student loans that they can't even live an above-poverty-level life.)

Hold kids back when necessary.  Make sure they have the tools they need to move forward.  Make sure that when they reach high school that they can read at that level.  Otherwise, by not failing them when necessary, you are virtually assuring them failure in their adult lives, which is a much longer period of time than a single year of elementary school.