To take part in discussions on talkSFU, please apply for membership (SFU email id required).
The next generation of students scares the shit out of me.
A recent article at the Toronto Star had me thinking of the youth these days. Now, I don’t want to sound like a 70 year-old man complaining about the loud music and funny clothes; rather I feel as if this coming generation of teens have things way too easy because of the increased pressure for parents, teachers, and authorities in general, to be politically correct.
READ THE ARTICLE HERE
The article states that teachers and principals in public schools are required to keep the failure rate at a minimum, inflating grades wherever possible. What does this mean? Well, basically they’re handing out Highschool Diplomas to just any idiot who will show up to class. How drastic does it get? Well, an example in the article is about a girl who received a failing grade of 30% by her teacher, but the principal felt it was necessary to bump that to 50%, to allow a pass. Another girl skipped 30 classes straight, and never handed in an assignment, but was given a chance to hand everything in at once, without penalty.
Now, one thing that just gets to me is, what about all of the kids who worked damn hard to get that 90% average, and walk down that stage to get their rightfully earned diploma? Where’s the fairness in this? Why does Joe fucking Schmoe who can’t even pass Grade 9 Math (apparently the class with the highest failure rate), get to walk next to everybody else, who worked their asses off to get where they are, only to find out that they didn’t really need to work that hard to begin with.
Well, the answer’s simple: we don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. We’re too worried about Joe’s self-esteem when he turns 17 and still has to take classes with 13 year olds. Well you know what? Joe should’ve thought about that before he started slacking. This world is too full of unrealistically optimistic people who continually tell students/their children/friends or whatever, that they can be whatever they want to be, and that they just have to work hard. Well, half of that is right, you DO have to work hard. But you can’t be whatever you want to be. Some kids just don’t have it. They’re not fit to be doctors, or astronauts, or teachers. They’re dumb. Period. Get over it. Indulging them in this whirlwind of bullshit and fairytales only makes things worse. People are not all equal, and you can’t always have your way. Live with what you’re given and don’t lie to yourself or your children.
We were taught at a young age (hopefully by parents, if not then by your kindergarten teacher, at least) that you have to work hard in life. Somewhere along the way, the kids these days lost sight of all of this, and want the easy way out. And now knowing that they can’t even fail if they try to, well, this is a whole new low. The world gets a lot harder after highschool, and now it’s going to be even harder with all the pampering teachers and parents are doing, just to keep a child’s inflated self-image up.
READ THE ARTICLE HERE
The article states that teachers and principals in public schools are required to keep the failure rate at a minimum, inflating grades wherever possible. What does this mean? Well, basically they’re handing out Highschool Diplomas to just any idiot who will show up to class. How drastic does it get? Well, an example in the article is about a girl who received a failing grade of 30% by her teacher, but the principal felt it was necessary to bump that to 50%, to allow a pass. Another girl skipped 30 classes straight, and never handed in an assignment, but was given a chance to hand everything in at once, without penalty.
Now, one thing that just gets to me is, what about all of the kids who worked damn hard to get that 90% average, and walk down that stage to get their rightfully earned diploma? Where’s the fairness in this? Why does Joe fucking Schmoe who can’t even pass Grade 9 Math (apparently the class with the highest failure rate), get to walk next to everybody else, who worked their asses off to get where they are, only to find out that they didn’t really need to work that hard to begin with.
Well, the answer’s simple: we don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. We’re too worried about Joe’s self-esteem when he turns 17 and still has to take classes with 13 year olds. Well you know what? Joe should’ve thought about that before he started slacking. This world is too full of unrealistically optimistic people who continually tell students/their children/friends or whatever, that they can be whatever they want to be, and that they just have to work hard. Well, half of that is right, you DO have to work hard. But you can’t be whatever you want to be. Some kids just don’t have it. They’re not fit to be doctors, or astronauts, or teachers. They’re dumb. Period. Get over it. Indulging them in this whirlwind of bullshit and fairytales only makes things worse. People are not all equal, and you can’t always have your way. Live with what you’re given and don’t lie to yourself or your children.
We were taught at a young age (hopefully by parents, if not then by your kindergarten teacher, at least) that you have to work hard in life. Somewhere along the way, the kids these days lost sight of all of this, and want the easy way out. And now knowing that they can’t even fail if they try to, well, this is a whole new low. The world gets a lot harder after highschool, and now it’s going to be even harder with all the pampering teachers and parents are doing, just to keep a child’s inflated self-image up.
Comments
I guess the main point I was making is that with all the coddling the parents and teachers do these days, the kids are left thinking that they deserved what they got, despite not actually working for it. This, of course, only applies to those at the bottom. As such, these kids get into a different environment such as university, and it becomes a shock to them that the standards of what's expected of them is raised.
They still have that sense of entitlement lingering in their minds that they should be getting good grades, and that they're smart because mom, dad, and teacher said so. It won't be long before universities and colleges start dropping their standards just to get more students in (and you can see that they've already begun).
The whole idea of the education system being a meritocracy is going to hell because of this "no child left behind" way of thinking. I read a story recently about a mother causing shit with the principal because her daughter wasn't allowed to graduate, and thus couldn't attend the commencement ceremony. Well no fucking shit, your daughter is stupid and doesn't deserve to. What gives her the right to walk amongst graduates who rightfully earned their diplomas?
I'm not saying that we shouldn't give these students a chance. I think remedial classes, and "Catch-up" classes are good, but don't lower standards just so they can feel good about themselves, and feel that they're of normal intelligence. Like I said, some children just don't have it, and school isn't for them.
So now, to keep graduation rates up, we have the opposite phenomenon of letting too many students stay 'dropped-in', as it were.
I agree that inculcating an unhealthy sense of entitlement in our youth is, in the long run, harmful to society as a whole.