Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Slackers

Joanne has a link to a story about a school district whose policies teach kids to be slackers. As a teacher, I find that story scary.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

My dream school.... NO HOMEWORK

Darren said...

Interesting, since you're anything but a slacker.

Anonymous said...

As I take a break from reading 80 pages out of my AP Psych book, taking copious notes and writing essays after hours of football, I can dream.

Darren said...

AP Psych? You deserve everything you get!!!

Anonymous said...

The idea of "failure is not an option, because we won't let a failing grade stand" horrifies me.

Sure, sure, failing wounds a kid's much-vaunted self-esteem. Being held back for a year must be hell.

BUT...isn't it better to suffer that earlier in life, get straightened out, and actually be EMPLOYABLE as an adult?

I've failed a few times in my life. Sure it's painful. I cried about it each time. But then I got up and asked myself, "Why did I fail?" and "What do I need to change?" I learned something from it each time. I came back a stronger, better person. The key, as I see it, is not to keep people from failing, but to keep them from getting mired in failure.

Mr. W said...

Ugh...what is wrong with people? Imagine if we did this for certain jobs. How about a bridge builder who can keep rebuilding a bridge every time it collapses because he/she didn't do the calculations right the first time.

We just keep creating generations of kids who will expect second chances. And how do they react when there is no opportunity for a second chance?

Mr. W said...

I also like the fact that if the teacher fails more than 20%, they are the ones that have to have training. Classic.

Paul said...

The Dallas ISD is one of the worst school districts in the Dallas area. There has been a lot of local uproar over their operations and this new grading policy is just one of them.

They just announced yesterday that they have overspent their budget by 64 Million dollars and that they didn't see it coming. see: www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/091108dnmetdallasisdbudget.62f2203d.html