They additionally think if no one, not even the teacher, is putting in the effort for them to succeed than they shouldn’t either. Because of the inactivity from the students and teachers the students go as far as isolating themselves so they do not have to interact with their classmates and their teachers. They think that isolation is better than having to participate because they don’t need assistance to be a failure. In the essay “I Just Wanna Be Average” by Mike Rose, he talks about his time spent being, “placed in the vocational track, a euphemism for the bottom level [in school]. (346)” Many of classmates, including himself, did not care for the lessons being taught.
Even if the teacher was trying to teach the child something useful, him not wanting to be there is a waste of time for them both. It is hard for the child to learn anything in school that helps his growth. What’s the point of attending school if you are not learning anything by yourself, and you can’t make decisions for yourself. “He learns that in real life you don’t do anything unless you are bribed, bullied or conned into doing it,”(2). In “School Is Bad for Children,” John Holt is explaining how school actually takes away most of the learning from children.
Fear of failing a class in school is near extinction. There is no more drive to do the best a student can. A student putting forth the hard work necessary to learn and prosper in school is disappearing. Hard work, effort, priority, and responsibility are just some of the concepts that are lost among today’s youth. There is no drive to do ones best when no one really expects it.
When students work hard all year only to find out they do not have to exceed expectations on a test, it eventually causes them to stop trying as hard. Because of the difference in classroom learning and the STARR, students cannot correctly adjust to the different learning process that comes with taking the test. Even though state tests are supposed to follow the same curriculum as the class room, they do not and cause problems for both teachers and students. While some may argue, students need to experience new learning habits, they would not agree if it were their children stressing for weeks before and after taking the test. At the end of the day, it is up to the parents and teaches to get rid of state mandated tests seeing as students have no power against it.
Los Angeles middle schools should not offer cash rewards to students to improve their academic motivation and performance because they will be thinking about the money rather than their own motivation to become educated and successful in life. As a student their job is to come to school every day and complete the work ... ... middle of paper ... ...zes will ultimately lift achievement.” From this we can see that children should be inspired to learn own their own. It’s like saying you feel better when you work hard and earn what you worked for instead of having it handed to you. As you can see, some schools have tried to pay students to excel, but it is not working. Students should understand that there is more than money in this world, but learning from your own motivation is better than having money offered to you to do well in school and standardized tests.
If the parents do not tell their children to get good grades and to behave, they will feel that there is no reason for them to put effort on their schoolwork. As Nocera mentioned in his article, one student said, “My parents don’t care as long as I’m passing. So why should I kill myself over grades? The money I earn from my paper route and my part-time job is more important” (Nocera, 1990, p. 68). This student demonstrates that there is no need for him to get A’s if he could pass with C’s.
The reason for theses tests are to make a student more knowledgeable, and a head start for college, but they keep the students at a tenth grade level with each test. Even if the student is promoted to the next grade,the student will not be introduced to the education they require. If these tests do not give what is promised, then why have them? If the state, teachers, students, and schools focus more on education and less on state tests standards; then the teachers will have done their job. Students will be ready for college and their future careers.
The usage of grades as a basis for failing or passing is wrong. This is because of how little feedback they give. They shouldn’t be used to “tag the unfit” or to “ wash the dirt down the drain.” (Gatto 4) The gradual increase of knowledge, experience, and love from doing things, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, is learning. If someone wants to learn they will pursue this knowledge, and in turn become successful in learning. It may not be possible to remove all rote learning from school, but it is possible to remove it from classes, like science or English, that don’t need it.
Parents and teachers tend to be the main suspects. Parents want to see their kids succeed in everything they do and grades are no different. Some students see a bad grade as them failing their parents because their parents believe in them so much (Weissbourd, 2011). Teachers have multiple reasons why they want to see their ... ... middle of paper ... ...ke school something that the students can look back on and think that it was a meaningful time where they learned a lot about life instead of a time where they thought they would have a break down because they got a low score on a test. School should be a time to make mistakes in a safe environment that they can learn from, not a place that they are petrified to make a mistake for fear of retribution on their grade cards.
School should prepare the students for a life outside schooling but now it focuses on the career aspect of life. Learning and creative thinking are skipped over to focus on the relatively unimportant aspects of schooling. Changing the grade system is one way we can change education to be more useful to future generations. Mandatory attendance would not need to be a rule if we made student actually want to come to school, made them interested in learning instead of stressed about grades or thinking about what they want to be in life. When it comes to education our culture is not very open to change, tradition rules over reform it will take a lot to