I think education should be demanding, so much so that we should all be fine with kids failing at it instead of blaming the school for it. I think grades should only and honestly reflect the level of understanding of each student on whatever they are supposed to be learning, not make them feel good about themselves.
The school should not be there to make the student feel ‘good’ or ‘understood’ (that’s the family’s job). School main purpose should be to make them smarter, which is something that demands practice and efforts, like anything.
Making them smarter means making them better equipped to deal with the real world, that is not a fairy tale kingdom filled with nice people and magical animals that will make them feel welcome and where they lived happily ever after.
Instead of lying to those kids, the school should help them prepare to become an adult person able to face a not-perfect world with a not perfect population, and teach them how to use their effing brains to solve any of the many problems they will face in their life (personal as well as professional)—and for that making them study their lessons, aka memorize stuff (even stupid shit one will never use again) and having to do their stupid homework, and get a failing grade when they don’t, is still the best and the simplest way to develop.
Kids that are being told they’re amazing perfect little creatures (they’re not), and that they should never have to break a sweat in school (they should) are being lied to. Even more sadly for them, compared to those other kids that are still encouraged to face that they’re aren’t perfect angels and that they should put in the work, every single day, all year long, they’re the ones being screwed up. Big.
I think education should be demanding, so much so that we should all be fine with kids failing at it instead of blaming the school for it. I think grades should only and honestly reflect the level of understanding of each student on whatever they are supposed to be learning, not make them feel good about themselves.
The school should not be there to make the student feel ‘good’ or ‘understood’ (that’s the family’s job). School main purpose should be to make them smarter, which is something that demands practice and efforts, like anything.
Making them smarter means making them better equipped to deal with the real world, that is not a fairy tale kingdom filled with nice people and magical animals that will make them feel welcome and where they lived happily ever after.
Instead of lying to those kids, the school should help them prepare to become an adult person able to face a not-perfect world with a not perfect population, and teach them how to use their effing brains to solve any of the many problems they will face in their life (personal as well as professional)—and for that making them study their lessons, aka memorize stuff (even stupid shit one will never use again) and having to do their stupid homework, and get a failing grade when they don’t, is still the best and the simplest way to develop.
Kids that are being told they’re amazing perfect little creatures (they’re not), and that they should never have to break a sweat in school (they should) are being lied to. Even more sadly for them, compared to those other kids that are still encouraged to face that they’re aren’t perfect angels and that they should put in the work, every single day, all year long, they’re the ones being screwed up. Big.
Feel free to downvote as much as you want.