On doing well
Rosie's got a post about her son's struggles with his multiplication tables--or, to be more exact: both of their struggles with his multiplication tables. She's beside herself. I get it. What's a parent to do?
I was visiting my sister in Annapolis the other weekend, and scanned the local paper in the car while she was running into a store for something. There was an article about how the Anne Arundel County school system was considering implementing a plan whereby if students fail a class they will be permitted to retake it and erase the F from their records with a better grade. It's all about college, see?
The kids who never fail classes were up at arms: sounds like the erosion of consequence, in their well-read books. Compassion is the first thing to go on the ladder.
The administrators say: having to retake a class doesn't constitute the absence of consequence. Subtext: duh.
The reporter notes that kids are pouring into AP classes because those classes offer an additional grade point as bonus, so if you get an A your record reflects a 5.0 instead of 4.0. Note that art and music classes are never AP. College, college, college.
One student--the managing editor of the school paper--admitted that though she opposed it on principle she felt sucked into the race for the GPA. She intended to drop her responsibilities at the paper because she could replace that time slot with an AP class.
Could this possibly, on the earth, be what we want for our children?
* * *
Some time after 9/11, a government official and Patriot Act apologist said that sometimes we have to be willing to give up a little freedom to be safe. A guy from Brooklyn retorted, "Hey, I'm willing to give up a little safety to be free." My heart soared. That rhetorical equation is a handy device.
posted by I n g e r @ Sunday, July 24, 2005
3 Comments:
times tables, AP classes a dcollege applications..
here is my take. I have four grown kids.. they were all in gifted and talented classes from around 2-4th grade..
Lots of AP classes under their belts..
3-4 went to college.
Amy wanted to be a social worker and change the world.. she managed for one year to survive the Baptist Chilrens home's emergency cottage for teenage girls. She agave away some of her clothes and spent her free days with kids at ball games and malls and ice cream stores... she barely made enough $ to survive..
she then went on to first wait tables and then bartend in a club and an upscale restaurant , mad tons of money, traveled, drank too much slept toolittle and finally decided to grow up and become something in the adult world. She is an Acct. manager in a wholesale mortgage company..
My oldest son lived and breathed "Art" so i let him go away to an art college in a far away state..and spent 3 years as an R.A. He opened a gallery after graduation and ended up spending 4 years in the military to make good the debts that he and his friends incurred. his friends did not help. my artist is kuwait.. managing an airfield and being afraid every day. Now he works at the college he went to for four years... go figure ( not enough money, again.. )
Son number two.. college! he got an almost free ride, as his choice of schools was Webster University, and they reward scholarship, rather than football etc. He got a degree in media communications, and worked part time selling computers..
Realized after graduation that the flighty life of a sound man or camera man for the movies was not for him... ( after doing some doc. work ) and worked for years in the computer dept of ST. Louis U. He quit to follow his dream of bing a personal trainer.
youngest child entered the navy out of high school... got himself a place as a vocalist in the navy band SPAC..
He does not deal with authority well.. and lost that place.. ended up doing things from a ship that made sattelites move.. he now works for a banking corp. ALl the while singing is his hearts desire.. music in most any form.. so he plays the fiddle and sings and performs and recites WB YEATS now and then.. here and there..
my point ? ( long winded today .. whew)
never mind the damned times tables ro! as for consequences.. society is trying to snuff them out anyway.. and the whining kids would feel differently if they were meant to suffer some..
forget the rest..
do what you can do and be happy.. follow your dream and it will all come out all right...
certainly for you and me and other regular folks.. and absolutely for Ro's kids..
As for " "Hey, I'm willing to give up a little safety to be free.""
that gives me hope..
*me too * *me too!*
oh and btw .. skip all the AP stuff and the gifted programs unless they are really your hearts desire.. it will not matter in the end.. nor for most of us.. or most of them
cheers!
:)
kath
YEAH for Inger!! Did you see Rosie's latest post entitled "Comments" ?
YOU made her list of responses and so did Stephen B!!! Very cool...
I was just telling Stephen that after I commented on her blog a few months back, she went to my website and bought 3 of the t-shirts that I sell. That was sooo awesome! I guess she really does read all her comments...
Congrats!
The grade pressure hits early here too. 6 had so much angst over her 1st grade marks. Teacher told kids their work was 'not good enough'. Tore up one student's work and threw it in the garbage. Told the grade 2's in the split class that they were going to be demoted. All demoralizing stuff. 6 was tied in a knot! Spent the year bolstering confidence. Got the best teacher in the school in Sept. Cheerful, upbeat, encouraging. Bet 6 will thrive! She says she wants to build things when she grows up. People smile - an engineer in the making. Nope. She wants to be a construction worker. Go for it!
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