I believe the biggest problem for modern teaching is the sense that school should be "fair" to the students. We treat our students as if the world were "fair" when the exact opposite is true. Now, I agree that there should be fairness, but my definition is different than what is used.
To be fair is to use the same criteria to judge students by the same standards. That way students must sink or swim, and the effort to learn is put on student shoulders at least as much as the teacher's. Once they leave school they will have learned to be successful - or simply never get better. At that point those who really need the help should be treated differently.
Currently, "fair" means making sure no one fails. What happens is that those who need to learn discipline and self-motivation instead learn how to work the system. Now learning how to work the system can be a good lesson. However, that is all they end up learning. In the end, everyone needs help and creates a financial burden because so many don't know what it takes to actually work a real job.
Once they leave the confines of the protective scholastic environment they can't cope. The work site becomes a training ground where employers have to take on the role of educators. That creates an equality where few people can actually do the job well. The modern "educated" can't find well paying jobs, and economic production declines.
All this feeds into the idea that we MUST be fairer, rather than more competitive like reality. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy that politicians and interest groups are glad to see grow. They keep their jobs and ambitions. The students just keep getting dumber and less qualified.
This is in response to
THERE ARE NONE SO BLIND AS THOSE WHO WILL NOT SEE about affirmative action and reports on students born in the summer.
To be fair is to use the same criteria to judge students by the same standards. That way students must sink or swim, and the effort to learn is put on student shoulders at least as much as the teacher's. Once they leave school they will have learned to be successful - or simply never get better. At that point those who really need the help should be treated differently.
Currently, "fair" means making sure no one fails. What happens is that those who need to learn discipline and self-motivation instead learn how to work the system. Now learning how to work the system can be a good lesson. However, that is all they end up learning. In the end, everyone needs help and creates a financial burden because so many don't know what it takes to actually work a real job.
Once they leave the confines of the protective scholastic environment they can't cope. The work site becomes a training ground where employers have to take on the role of educators. That creates an equality where few people can actually do the job well. The modern "educated" can't find well paying jobs, and economic production declines.
All this feeds into the idea that we MUST be fairer, rather than more competitive like reality. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy that politicians and interest groups are glad to see grow. They keep their jobs and ambitions. The students just keep getting dumber and less qualified.
This is in response to
THERE ARE NONE SO BLIND AS THOSE WHO WILL NOT SEE about affirmative action and reports on students born in the summer.
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