Have we reached rock bottom?

Read the following article from Luisa D’Amato at the Waterloo Record, about how kids today are not allowed to fail in school anymore…

“‘No Zero’s’ Policy Does Kids A Disservice”
By: Luisa D’Amato
Waterloo Record

The Department of Political Correctness in the Ministry of Education has some great news for students in Grade 7 to 12 public schools who like to slack off.

Kids! Starting this fall, teachers can no longer deduct marks when you turn assignments in after the due date.

And if you never did the work, they can’t give you a zero!

Instead, you will be questioned as to why you didn’t get it done. You might get more time to do the assignment. You might never have to do that assignment, but instead be given an “alternative opportunity” to show that you know the material. Or you might not even have to do that. The teacher might look the other way, and just consider whether you have shown in other ways that you understand the course material.

Whatever, dude.

Parents, if you fear this is a sign of slipping standards in high school, a policy that won’t help our kids when they hit the “real world,” you’re not alone.

The educrats at the Waterloo Region District School Board, which is unrolling the province’s new policy, are way ahead of you.

In a question-and-answer paper that’s soon to be posted on the board’s website, the question is posed: “Aren’t we being too easy on kids if they don’t get marks deducted for late assignments? Doesn’t placing limits on lowest assigned marks or rarely assigning zeros indicate that educational standards are slipping?”

These are excellent questions. But the answers are verbal pretzels.

Far from being soft on students, we are told that the new policy is a “rigorous stance” that demands more from students than ever.

“When we give students a zero on an assignment, we are telling them that they can choose not to do the work … All students must complete the work. Students can no longer choose to fail by getting zeros. Giving students zero actually gives students an easy way out because they can choose to not do the work,” the document confidently assure us.

But of course students can choose not to do the work, as any parent with a stubborn teenager already knows.

Read on for a bit, and the document later concedes that fact. It says that “students who do not produce enough evidence of essential learning throughout the course (e.g. missed major assignment) may not earn the credit.”

Still, how is this new system fair to the students who actually show up for class, do their homework, and turn in their assignments on time? It’s not. Oh, wait. It is. “Fairness cannot be misunderstood as “sameness,” says the document. “Teachers must also act fairly by considering each student’s individual needs, learning styles and preferences, and individual circumstances.”

Is your head spinning yet?

I agree that teachers should focus as hard as they can on getting students to succeed, by offering extra help or having individual talks with them. And it’s certainly true that hard work isn’t the same thing as robust intellectual ability.

But what’s most corrosive about this new policy is that it pretends that good work habits and a respectful attitude to the requirements of your teacher or boss aren’t as important.

In fact, they are an essential survival skill for the “real world,” which is not far off when you’re in high school. University professors deduct marks for late assignments, and give a zero for a term paper that doesn’t get turned in. Employers fire you if you don’t show up.

These new rules are “a ridiculous policy sending the wrong message” says Malkin Dare of Waterloo, who is the president of the national advocacy group Society for Quality Education.

“It doesn’t teach them that hard work, promptness or responsible behaviour are important.”

She’s right. We live in a globalized economy, one that’s more competitive than ever before. In order to thrive in it, our young people need the clear message that excellent skills and diligent commitment to their work are mandatory. Pretending that both these things don’t matter is doing our kids a terrible disservice.

Every time I read crap like this, the elitist part of me thinks, “That’s IT!  I’m sending my kids to private school….”

But is private school any better?  How many parents, who pay $25,000 per year to send their kids to grade eleven, walk into the school and tell the teachers, “I didn’t pay $25K for my son to get 48% in math.  Give him a 70, or you’re losing my tuition.”

It happens all the time.

So what’s the right answer?

Public schools AND private schools are significantly flawed, but which one more so?

A member of my family is a high school teacher, and I’ve written about her on this blog before.

She has a student that got 14% in her class, and the resident socialist, who is called a “career counsellor,” asked her if it was possible to raise this kid’s grade to a 50% so he could pass.

What’s the point in that?

What are we teaching kids?

As the article above says – there’s no responsibility anymore.  No accountability, and no reason to work hard, at anything!

The high school system simply wants to pass kids on to University to make it “somebody else’s problem,” although they’d never admit that.

But then when kids get to university, and learn that they can’t skip class four out of five days, miss assignments and exams, and have some Ned Flanders raising their grades from 14% to 50%, they feel that they’re hard done by!

I searched long and hard online, but I can’t find the study that shows most university students believe they should PASS simply for showing up to class.   I think the statistic was something in the 60%’s.  If you find the survey, please post it in the comments!

When my family member refused to raise her student’s grade from a 14% to a 50%, she received phone calls from three other people at the school, all urging her to raise the mark, move the kid out of the school, and make it easier on “the system.”

She stood firm, whereas four other teachers, who had all previously given this kid a failing grade, raised his grade to passing.

The kid is now going to summer school to raise his 14% to a passing grade, and guess who the bad guy is?  My family member, who is only doing her job, and trying to lead by example.  She’s been accused of being “punitive,” but is it really punitive to fail somebody, who has failed?

I think it’s more punitive to baby today’s kids to a point of no return, only to have a new set of expectations for them when they become young adults.

Is it any surprise that today’s youth would rather occupy St. James Park in protest against an evil empire they can’t define, rather than actually, you know, get a job?

When I was in high school, all I did was work.

I came home every day, did homework for 4 hours, watched Melrose Place, Seinfeld, & Friends, and then went to bed.  I played a lot of sports, hung out with friends on weekends, but was committed to school, and my future.

Through coaching baseball the last seven years, I know that there are still a slew of kids like this.  I’m not saying that ALL kids have given up.  But the system is not only making it easier for kids to slack, off, but in a round-about way, is encouraging it!

Work ethic is not just in your blood – it’s a behaviour that is learned.

It’s going to be very difficult for teenagers who never did any work for 4-5 years, to suddenly commit themselves to working 60-70 hours per week in a tough economy once they hit “the real world.”

Solutions?

I don’t have any.  I never promised to.

I guess I leave that up to the powers-that-be, although if their recent educational proposals are any indication, it seems they have no clue what to do either…