(no subject)

[rm]

via kalichan
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/education/01education.html

This type of shit makes me spitting mad and is happening on all levels of education. A student who rarely attends class, misses examinations and hands in few homework assignments isn't "marginal". Marginal involves students who either never show up and do well, or diligent students with legitimate obstacles or unique situations that fall on the border. Certainly, no one should get 45 points for showing up to A SINGLE CLASS ALL SEMESTER.

High graduation rates are completely meaningless if they are not indicative of attainment.

College education for all is a meaningless goal if college is teaching people what they should have learnt in high school, or, dare I say it earlier.

I am a hardass and a half about education, despite the fact I was something of a fuckup at various points in school.

A BA used to mean something. It didn't mean enough when I got mine in 1994, and now it too often seems to mean little more than you paid money, did some marginal time and can handle comprehension of a story in The Daily News, which is, for the record, written at a third grade reading level -- sadly, I'd be happy if most college students could write that cogently. I have taught college senior journalism majors who could not properly use quotation marks or make sure their sentences generally contained both subjects and verbs.

This stuff INFURIATES me.

And don't even get me started on the view that arts education isn't necessary or useful, that kids from poorer backgrounds don't need or aren't capable of succeeding at foreign languages or other components of a traditional education, or that athletic education doesn't also have the capacity to enhance the mind. I think it's CRAP, and if I were less selfish or a day had forty hours in it, I would teach and fight the good fight of being the most hated teacher ever if it would make a damn difference. Sadly, I'd probably get fed the fuck up and take my ball and go home like the dude in the article too.

Comments

Re: What About Self-Esteem?

[rm.livejournal.com]

I know you're joking and yet I'm still apoplectic.

Self-esteem comes from conquering obstacles and, at times, receiving recognition for such. Man, I'd be a total waste of carbon without my own experience of stuff that sucked.

Re: What About Self-Esteem?

[lawnrrd]

One thing that I sincerely admire about you is how you can maintain your outrage in a world full of outrageousness. I haven't had the energy for that for a very long time, and I let things pass sometimes when I'd probably do better not to.

Re: What About Self-Esteem?

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

I read something interesting recently, I wish I could remember where I'd seen it or at least remember the details better. It talked about a group of kids being given a relatively easy test and afterwards half the kids were praised for how smart they were and half the kids were praised for how hard they'd worked. The results made sense because "being smart" is something that is more or less out of your control, which can either make you think you're bulletproof or completely anxious or some bizarre combination of the two.

Re: What About Self-Esteem?

[rm.livejournal.com]

I saw that too and also can't remember where, but yes! yes! yes! So many of the people I know who are younger than me (and had more of a "self-esteem" education than I did) who are blindingly smart insist they are idiots and have lots of anxiety about it. It's awful. I have various issues, but I've never thought myself a fool.

Re: What About Self-Esteem?

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit older than you and definitely got out before "self-esteem" education was in vogue, but I'm still kind of in that category. My god, but people did like to talk about how smart I was. But the results of my work - if it was good it was what was expected. I could never "do" something praiseworthy I could only "be" something praiseworthy, so it trained me early on that "doing" was a zero sum game.

Gah, I'm having a hard time figuring out a way to explain it without sounding like one of those entitlement brats myself.

Re: What About Self-Esteem?

[graene.livejournal.com]

Oh, or my experience of being told they would be proud of me if I did my best, but whatever I did was never my best, because the teacher said I was smarter than my grades (with an A average yet!). So, yeah, I'm smart when I bother to use it, but mostly I'm lazy that way because effort got more criticism than not bothering.