"That's silly," you say. "Why would I be rewarded for doing what is expected of me? Why would every teacher win? If we all won, the award wouldn't mean anything. Winning wouldn't matter."
Yet that is exactly what we do to students when we hand out trophies to all of the teams at the end of the season or give them a Friday treasure for "being good" all week.
Be a good sport. Remember that phrase? When did we stop teaching students how to graciously lose? Learning to share and play well with others is part of life. We learned this in kindergarten. In the real world we're expected to be flexible team members. To work well with others. To listen. To show respect, even when we don't agree. Coming to work on time and prepared is also part of the expectation of a dependable employee. Can you imagine going to school late and unprepared? Me either. Yet we condition our students to expect rewards and praise for being .... students.
Do you know why baby boomers have an admired work ethic? Because they were taught responsibility and how to be a good sport. We didn't expect a reward for doing the right thing. We did the right thing because it was... the right thing to do.
Too much of a good thing is often bad. As with all things. Moderation. Going overboard simply creates an out-of-shape system. Time to push away from the table if we see things getting out of hand.
Yes, I'm antiquated. I was educated with the dinosaurs and we all know what they are. Extinct. But there is something to be said for the education I received and for the work ethic that is instilled in me. I think we really need to take a step back and scrutinize our "everyone-wins-feel-good" programs and evaluate if they really are building the type of character that they claim to be building. Are they preparing our students to become leaders with integrity? Or are they installing entitlement practices in future adults ?
(For more of Kim Frencken's writing and information about her educational products, check out her blog, Chocolate for the Teacher.)
8 comments:
Do you teach in public or private schools?
She taught at East Middle in Joplin.(no longer and I'm not sure what she is doing now.) One of my children was in her class. I would classify her as a tough, yet fair teacher. My child was challenged and thrived in her class. Wish there were more like her.
This is an excellent article. The students that grew up with this mindset have been joining the workplace for a while now. I have observed many who lack critical thinking skills and individual responsibility. I've seen many situations where it ends up the task/job is carried by the few willing to do it while the others seem content to just do the minimum to get by. Yet, they do expect to earn the same rewards as everyone. I believe we have done a great disservice in not preparing kids for "the real world".
It's off topic, but I recently learned kids that are still in high school and those have graduated in recent years are unable to write or read cursive. They are exposed to it in earlier grades and that's it. They only print throughout the rest of their education. Don't believe it? Ask around. I have no idea when or why this became the standard.
Thank you 632. My question is not in judgement of her teaching skills, she seems like a good teacher from her writings. My curiosity is about the stories from State Rep Bill White on this site. He insults the public schools and its teachers, this is nothing new around SW MO. I wonder how public school teachers feel about this and would love to hear from them here. I wonder how many teachers will break with this party in November. The current administration and B DeVoss are seeking to damage public schools-including the R8-in a serious financial way. Can Joplin really afford to have its funds cut in a time when it owes so much? If the JHS is cut to its knees, so will follow Joplin. No one in their right mind would bring a company here if the JHS gets financially blind sided by this agenda.
My mistake above, it was Ed Emery making the posts, not Mr White.
@4:31 you're welcome. Though I do doubt that there are many teachers that need to "break" with this party. What? All 8 of them?
My neice's grade school volleyeball league starts each game with both teams having four points.
I think we'really seriously underestimating the intelligence of our children when we do things like that.
Better be careful, Kim. You're starting to sound like a Conservative. Randy won't let you post to his blog if you write more stuff like this.
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