Do you think it is a parenting issue? I do not remember being cajoled, pampered or persuaded. I do remember when a particular teacher took his or her time to push me by asking me to come after school for more explanation. I agree that motivation has to come from the student as well as genuine curiosity. I remember my sister spent many family holiday gatherings grading papers after the dishes were cleared and put away. My niece has a particular student who was doing poorly but pulled it out. They communicate even now that student is in college. So, teachers are certainly committed to their students.
@lockewong - that is an excellent question and one that is really worth considering on a deeper level.
I know the following is an editorial cartoon but it really summarizes the change that has occurred in education over the past years.
The onus of responsibility for student learning has been placed far too much on the teacher's shoulders while it has concurrently been lifted from the shoulders of the parent, school and district administration, and mostly the student. When my oldest kids were moving through high school, our math program was structure in such a way that it offered students
three opportunities to demonstrate their grasp of subject material. It did NOT matter whether a student made a perfect score on their
first attempt or somewhere later in this process - all 100% scores (regadless when earned) were considered the same.
It did not take students long to make two very accurate observations. Homework was pretty much ignored because a student could use the first test attempt to see what the test looked like (what type of questions would be on the test) and then use test 2 and 3 to get the same score the students who learned the material earned with one test. Class participation and attention plummeted (as students learned to make as little as effort as possible until the teacher 'revealed' the test) but administration looked at the metrics and deemed this approach a success. Actual learning decreased, less content was covered, but administration could look at reports that created a false sense of student competence and parade these in front of the public. This approach is spreading and it is a cancer!
You asked is this a parenting issue - my reply is a certain yes given the quality of parenting (and I hesitate to call it that) far to many of our students get at home(s) these days.
School administration continues to put kids back in classrooms who have no business being there (due to behavior issues) citing the rights of the student
yet conveniently overlooking the rights of the other student(s) in the classroom.
I do not expect a classroom full of perfect angels (but wouldn't that be fun!) because I deal with kids who are still learning how to act in a social situation. There will be set backs as students learn - I get that. I've had some students screw up in class who (after dealing with them on an individual level) figured out a better way. I'll remember and recall these kids with a special fondness as they move on through the grades and do they best they can.
But our society is increasingly turning out kids who lack support (of all kinds) at home, who cannot function in social situations, and whose presence in the classroom destroys the educational quality for the remaining students in the class. Teachers cannot fix every problem they are given, but administration prefers to ignore that reality.
Yeah, it frustrates me.
