From:
Tom Krause
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE AVERAGE STUDENT?
I am
constantly telling stressed out students to try to keep things in
perspective. I make these statements as a way of easing the minds of many
of my students who feel like they are falling behind expectations placed on
them by society today. Mandated statewide testing, college entrance exams
and other increasing demands for higher and higher grade point averages have
raised the level of stress placed of many of our average students.
When I was in
school a "C" grade meant average or normal. A "C" letter grade of some kind
was the most common grade given. Now if a student gets a "C" letter grade
it is almost looked on as below average. It seems to me that nowadays if
you took all the grades given at progress report time in most high schools
the least grade given would be a "C". All I seem to hear about are A's,
B's, D's and F's. Just like the disappearing middle class, the place for
the average student seems to be fading away in today's educational setting.
The question is why? Are students different now than 30 years ago or has
something else changed?
GRADE
INFLATION DUE TO EXPECTATIONS Too much focus on state test scores and
college entrance standards and not enough focus on the true level of the
students.
Students
mature at different rates due to age, sex, heredity, etc. I once taught
elementary physical education. One of the body movement skills I would
teach was skipping. I noticed that in 1st grade almost all the girls could
skip correctly while many boys had trouble switching legs while they
skipped. The next year when I taught skipping more boys were able to do it
correctly. By their third grade year almost all the boys could skip
correctly just like the girls. I learned that the reason boys had trouble
in first grade and the girls didn't was a matter of maturation rate. Some
boys simply weren't ready to skip in the first grade. The solution to their
skipping problems was just a matter of time.
Raising
standards on students is a good thing only if they are raised based on where
students actually are in their stage of development. Goals should be set on
a realistic past. A sports team that only loses a couple games during a
season can realistically set a goal for an undefeated season the next year.
For a team that has lost all their games during the previous season the same
goal of an undefeated season the next year is unrealistic.
Because I
struggled with advanced math in high school, I waited till my senior year in
high school to take Geometry. Had I taken it as a sophomore I don't think I
would have passed it. Looking back I can see were the extra two years of
maturity I gained by my senior year help me overcome the obstacles I faced
in that subject.
Students who
struggle in basic math should be realistic about which math classes they
take next in order to progress in learning math. For the student to take a
math class that may be too advanced for their abilities just because it will
meet a college eligibility standard may lead to frustration and failure.
Students with
low grades have admitted to me that in some of their classes the material is
simply too hard for them. When I asked them why they enrolled in that class
their response is because it is a requirement to get into college. Education
should not be in the business of promoting frustration. Education should
have learning as its ultimate objective.
ACCELERATION
OF THE CURRICULUM - passing up the fundamentals by lack of repetition of the
basics.
In 5th grade
I played for a basketball coach who spent 90% of practice time drilling
fundamental skills. At the time we didn't understand. While he made us
work on fundamentals such as left-hand lay-ups or dribbling with out eyes
up, all we wanted to do was scrimmage. He would tell us that practice was
not for play - practice was his classroom. Adding to our frustration was
that when we would play a game we would lose to teams who didn't seem to be
concerned about all this fundamental stuff.
His response
after every game was, "Don't worry boys. You keep working on the
fundamentals and by the time you get to high school you will run right by
those teams." Our coach was right. I high school our game was so much
better because of fundamentals we had learned. The solid foundation of being
able to dribble with either hand with out eyes up so we could see the floor
allowed us to play the game at a much higher level. Other teams who
scrimmaged all the time and skipped over the fundamentals had basically the
same game they had in 5th grade.
Learning
fundamentals take time and repetition. Sometimes repetition may seem boring
but it is what leads to solid execution. A gifted student may be able to
skip over the fundamentals and still achieve. The average student however
needs them. We learned arithmetic when I was young by using math squares.
It consisted of a large square on a piece of paper with smaller squares
inside. The numbers 1-10 were lined across the top of the large square and
also down the sides of the large square. We learned to add or multiply the
numbers going down the side with the numbers going across the top.
Sometimes the teacher would time us to see how fast we could fill in all the
inside squares with the correct answer. We did this activity over and over
again. Not just one year in school but three consecutive years. By the
time we were in middle school all the students had a good fundamental base
for future math work.
Once, my
first grade stepson came home from school with a math assignment that
involved graphing. He was to contact a number of people on the phone, ask
them a question, and chart the results. He was then to make a graph chart of
all the collected responses. My question to him was, "Can you even subtract
yet?" His response was, "No."
Without
repetitive fundamental work students may become "Jacks of all trades but
masters of none". Racing too fast through a curriculum simply to cover all
the material is like scrimmaging your team too early and often. Students
may achieve early but will never reach their full potential.
HOMEWORK MYTH
relying too much on unsupervised work.
Before I begin
don't mistake my intent here. I am not saying that students don't need to
work hard on school work. As I said previously, I believe repetition of the
fundamentals is a key to learning. I do however have a problem with
unsupervised homework. Homework should be changed to class work were the
student has the teacher to help with proper execution.
I have talked
to many students who have discussed with me frustration about not learning
anything in a particular class. "I don't understand the material. The
teacher doesn't explain it to me." Are common complaints students make.
When I asked them what kind of grades they were making I was surprised to
hear some of them remark "B's and in some cases even "A's". When I asked
them how they could be an Astudent without learning they said by copying
others homework and getting enough points in the grade book to earn the
grade.
Much of the
frustration I hear from students concerning homework is that when they don't
understand, there is no one to ask for help. They immediately blame the
teacher for not explaining it well enough. If the homework were turned into
class work, this problem can be addressed. Instead of turning kids into copy
machines, maybe we need to slow up drill more in class.
I go back to
coaching. How effective would I be (or how long would I last as a coach?)
if I lectured in practice and mainly relied on the athletes to practice
skills at home? In coaching, I take athletes through the drills with me
right there to make corrections as they appear. If the athletes are not
executing for some reason I know immediately. By game time I pretty much
know how the team should do given the strengths and weaknesses of the
opponents.
This may mean
that not all students may accelerate through the curriculum as rapidly as
others but this would bring the focus back on the comprehension level of
each student. In a time when educational institutions always seem to worry
about having to prove its worth to society, maybe the first place we should
start is to the student sitting in the classroom. The only real standard
should be when a student is asked, "Do you feel like you are learning?"
their response is, "Yes."
With all the
attention given to special needs and gifted students today, let's not forget
about the average kid in the classroom that is fighting the classic battle
of, "middle child syndrome" i.e. - feeling overlooked. Let's make sure we
give them the solid foundation they need to continue to grow and reach in
many cases beyond their abilities into their dreams.
|
