“When the school wants teachers to spend classroom time discussing political or social issues - they need to realize that sometimes the end result of that wasted instruction time can be an 18 year old boy, completely broken and alone out in the woods feeling like his life is hopeless because he doesn't have the basic writing skills needed to succeed. It breaks my heart and has me determined to be a better advocate for my younger son."
This is just one example of what can happen when we put statistics ahead of education. In an effort to have higher graduation rates and higher grades, students are suffering. This student wasn’t even one that seemed to be at risk. Instead he received A’s and B’s which would imply he was understanding the subject.
His mother went on to tell me:
"Do you know what his breaking point was? He had absolutely no idea how to write. He was convinced that he was a failure because he had no idea how to answer writing prompts or to write a simple essay. He sat in the library and cried for two hours before finally calling me.
As a parent, I'm trying to evaluate where we went wrong. His language arts grades weren't fantastic, but they didn't give me any indication that he wasn't mastering basic writing skills. How did he make it through WBLAHS without knowing what a noun or verb was and without knowing how to write a simple essay?"
We need to value quality over quantity. Sometimes that means giving a lower grade as an indication they need more practice or holding a student back so they can repeat a course they didn’t understand. Simply passing students to get them out of our schools isn’t enough. Students should not need remedial classes to begin their freshman year of college or struggle to make change when working in retail. Completing 12th grade should mean that a student is ready for the real world.
