As an ex-teacher who enjoyed the students I worked with but still held them accountable, I find it painful to read about the foolishness that is going on as public schools try to find a way to pass students who will do nothing. Usually I skip over articles about education but this one linked from Instapundit hit me with both education and the self-destruction that is going on in California.
The post linked to the NBC affiliate in San Diego and the spin involved a school board making changes to combat racism. It sounds so noble but the problem they are combating is not racism in the classroom but the perpetual Progressive* racism which thinks minorities are too inferior to compete. Their answer to everything is to lower the standards. It makes them feel good and makes success less likely for their victims.
When I was teaching I put in place a lot of measures that made it possible for anyone to succeed if they were willing to try. Most teachers I knew had their methods of doing the same. I can honestly say that no teacher ever failed a student who was really trying. Almost everything I did would be outlawed by these school board policies and I would end up failing more students than ever. Let me give you a few examples. I assume you would be too depressed to read the nonsense in the article.
When you consider that many of the students I received in 8th grade could not read on grade level or write a complete sentence, one of the things I did was give a lot of credit for trying. So if I had a student who had been shortchanged for years by developing no skills, they could still pass with a consistent effort. The San Diego School board would take that away from me.
“... teachers can no longer consider non-material factors when grading. Things like turning work in on time and classroom behavior will now instead count towards a student's citizenship grade, not their academic grade.”While academic skills are important so is the ability to be on time and to know how to behave in a social setting. I agree it is important to citizenship but until the citizenship grade becomes part of the requirement for passing a class it will not matter. Picture trying to get a job if you can’t show up on time or get along with anyone else.
*(Liberals, educators, socialists, communists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, etc)
To be concluded...
homo unius libri
What would the left know about citizenship?
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