Historically, American schools and universities were places where students learned, were evaluated and held accountable for their efforts and achievements. Academic rewards were linked directly to individual performance. Concurrently, schools were havens where discipline and respect were the norm. Those who disrupted the system were summarily punished and often expelled.
Now, after three centuries of evolution, during which many of the world’s finest minds were trained by our admittedly imperfect system, many Americans perceive the educational system to be in serious decline.
Metal detectors and armed police have replaced teachers at school doors. Talking and chewing gum have given way to vicious assaults and rampant substance abuse. Politically correct curriculums and an easing of standards have been substituted for challenging course loads and an exacting system of student accountability and academic excellence.
As a result, the most important metric of any educational system, the acquired cognitive capabilities of its students, has fallen precipitously. SAT results, which peaked in 1963, have continued to slide. When tested with their peers from other industrialized nations, our students’ scores inevitably fail to measure up. Business leaders lament the marginal skills and competence of many high school and college graduates entering the workplace.
In short, American students have not been making the grade!
Well … actually, that’s not quite true.
“Grade inflation”, which developed absent improved student performance, permits students to earn more “A”s and “B”s than ever before! Meantime, “C”s are now perceived as below average scores, with “D”s and “F”s having disappeared from many schools altogether.
In reality, grade inflation evolved from 1960’s activism when it became fashionable to condemn society for not only a panoply of social ills, but also for inequities resulting from individual achievements. Schools, as public institutions, necessarily played a role in building the critics egalitarian utopia.
The “feel good” activists argued high standards would segregate students into achievers and non-achievers. Those in the latter group would be destined to receive lower grades, be held back, fail to graduate and/or have a lesser job opportunities.
What arguably began as equal opportunity was failing to produce equal results. The possibility some students would harbor feelings of low self-esteem and unhappiness was an unacceptable consequence to these social engineers.
Their solution was to reward all students by issuing generally high grades irrespective of individual efforts or academic achievement. This they believed would guarantee their goal of ultimate parity and equality. It never occurred to them that over time, most children who are seriously challenged will rise to meet those challenges and perform as well as well as anybody else.
Schools liked the concept, as higher overall grades suggested a better system and attracted more money. Educators bought into it as less demanding, a method of enhancing their resumes and a way to avoid hassles with students and their parents. Parents simply liked seeing better grades on report cards, giving little thought as to the value of such grades. And students … they loved it!
This trend reached a new low when 57 Houston schools recently eliminated the “arbitrary nature” of traditional grades. Instead, students are assigned to one of eight stages of learning … discovery, exploration, developing, expanding, connecting, independent, application and synthesis. Unfortunately, it’s as silly as it sounds … measuring nothing and reinforcing only bruised egos.
Perhaps these attitudes aren’t surprising in a period when society has demanded teachers double as social workers, parents, public health officials, psychologists, baby sitters and even wardens. In the process, ensuring each student receive a first-rate education, one which has challenged each youngster to his or her fullest, becomes an understandable casualty.
Yet, tragically, it’ll be the graduates of educational systems where personal accountability is absent and poor and slipshod performance is not only condoned, but rewarded (with “A”s and “B”s) who will be the ultimate casualties. Once they leave the protective environment of high school or college, they will quickly discover a world in which they will be held accountable and where promotions, pay increases and other rewards must be earned … with little concern for damaged egos or unhappy feelings.
Quoting Albert Shanker, president of the New York Teachers Unon, “If the schools don’t have standards, and if they can’t tell the truth to the youngsters and their parents, the world will eventually tell them the truth …”
