Colorado House Bill 1238 proposes that students no longer be retained to
take classes over again. Early intervention with parents is part of
the bill's goal, but students in early grades would be "passed" anyway,
even if students were unable to meet standards for what were
formerly required classes. Instead, there would be "social promotion."
It is politically correct in the most admirable ways, but there is still
disagreement over the issue of retention. The greatest hope, according
to the wording of this bill seems to be that parents be encouraged early
to read to their children and be part of the learning process from the
beginning. Early intervention by the school would take place primarily
from kindergarten through third grade, but the idea of social promotion
would continue indefinitely.
As a retired high school teacher who was in the profession for thirty-five years, I approve of the increased role of parents in the process of educating children. I also like the idea of early intervention regarding literacy as soon as there are signals that help is needed. Further, I applaud any high quality, remedial help given where needed, and given in a timely manner that, will help every student achieve the sense of dignity that comes from being literate.. The motives of House Bill 1238 in those respects are right on target.
What disturbs me is that public education has been trying recently to erase consequences of the efforts and behavior of students themselves. Over the past several years, the entire burden of imparting those essential skills of being able to read, understand, calculate, and to think critically and creatively fell first and almost entirely upon teachers through No Child Left Behind, students becoming mere passive vessels for knowledge that teachers would somehow make happen (hypodermic injections?). Now the burden is to be placed upon parents, while consequences are slowly removed for students. When students are relieved of any consequences for behavior and academic achievement, I wonder about the possible results down the road being better or worse than what they are now. I am very much against social promotion, which appears to remove any value to the idea of effort and earning something by actual work. The workplace in the outside world is still performance-based That world outside the other side of the halls of academia is not an easy place to survive, and I wonder if that world will be so concerned about individual “feelings” in the work place. The strongest argument for social promotion is the occasional and permanent emotional scarring left on students who are held back as their peers continue. It makes me wonder about the scarring that could occur in sending kids out into the work force with fake credentials, diplomas that have become one-size-fits-all.
Are we truly reaching the point at which promotion means nothing, and that our message is, “Well, that’s OK. If school is too hard for you, we’ll promote you anyway.” Doesn’t that diminish the value of what others are working for? See if that works for pay checks in the world I mentioned earlier. Imagine a student’s attitude about learning anything that is not really required. My attitude as a kid would have been, “So what? Why should I work for quality when they’re going to give me a diploma anyway? What’s the point?” And I don't believe that attitude would be so uncommon among students today either. Will parents take the yoke upon themselves that teachers could no longer carry? Are we placing more responsibility on students than we used to, or much less? We are so interested in avoiding bruised egos through education and everything else, that I see coming our way, eventually, a society and economy in which no one really has to do anything he doesn’t want to do, and it scares me.
One of
the greatest problems caused by educational "theory" over the past
thirty years has been the enthronement of "self esteem," even if it is
delivered in a completely synthetic way. I still believe that no one
can give anyone else self esteem. It is something that has to be earned
in order for it to mean anything. Whatever currently fashionable
labels we assign to promotions or classes, students are, as they have
always been, sharp enough to know exactly what those labels signify. We
need to discern carefully the differences between earning what one is
given, and what is simply handed over on a silver platter. When the two
become the same thing, we're in big trouble.
JB
JB
