No Day But Today...

I'm required to take a course called "Education in a Multicultural Setting", and so far, it's been an awesome course.  Now, this could be because it truly is an awesome course, or because the prof really likes me because I happen to voice my opinion a lot, and strongly at that, about educational issues that are bound to pop up especially in Canada's multicultural society.  Haven't figured out which yet; probably both.

Today's topic of discussion: does "failing" a child, or holding them back a grade in school damage the child psychologically/mentally/etc or should the child be passed and propelled forward with the rest of their classmates regardless of whether they've achieved the required milestones of knowledge so as to avoid social crippling?

Heavy topic.  Discussed in class for just over an hour today and was it ever a great discussion.  Basically, here in Manitoba, about 12 years ago there was a huge movement that suggested that children are emotionally/mentally/psychologically scarred by being held back a grade (failing a grade) in school (we're talking elementary school here...high school, it's their own fault) and that it in other words negatively effected the child badly enough that the practice should be abolished.  There was such a ruckus around the whole issue that parents blindly followed the school psychologists and professionals who suggested this theory.  Anyone see the problem yet??

Due to this movement, children were, and have been being passed on to the next grade, with their marks being tweaked, failing marks being pardoned, and other movements such as no longer giving children grades but being annoyingly ambiguous and saying that they completed or did not complete the work.  These kids are slipping through the cracks at an alarming rate.

We have kids in grade 4 who are at a grade 1-2 reading and comprehension level because each preceding teacher "passed the buck" so to say, and the kids managed to somehow scrape through the grades.  This wouldn't be such a huge issue if we had millions of education assistants in the province that the government could afford to pay and the funding was thus available.  Sorry to say, but we don't. 

Now, this isn't to say that the whole theory of "failing" wouldn't be tough on kids...because no matter how you put it to them (it's the best for you, it's in your best interest, it's to help you, you'll feel much smarter...etc) it's still failing, and it's still being separated from their friends.  The real issue lies in our society...our very success-driven, accelerating, pass-with-flying-colours-is-the-only-option society.  From a young age, we transmit to children that to fail is bad, and to pass is good, whether we intend to or inadvertently transfer these values and beliefs is regardless; it's what's done and it's been done for so long that there aren't many out there who believe or have the power to believe differently.  It's what we were raised with.  It's what most of our parents were raised with.  And it's what's screaming at our kids from every corner of their surroundings...to succeed you must pass (make the grade, make the cut, get a gold star...you get the picture).

Therefore when, as an educator, you see a child struggling and know that the best thing for them would be to take an extra year to solidify the core concepts of the grade so that they can comfortably move on to more challenging situations, you know that you are aiming for a brick wall.  My mom works as an educational assistant in a class of 32 grade 4 kids (large class size, I know) where about 6 of them are severely below grade level to the point at which they can't function in the classroom setting without my mom standing over them coaching their every move, every pencil mark, every thought.  If she gravitates away from them, they zone out because they don't get what's going on and it's so much easier to zone out and play with your pencil than to listen to someone yap on about something you know nothing about (we've all done it...).  These kids are the results of a generation obsessed with success...they're the ones who didn't cut it but got moved on anyway.  These are the kids who, in future years, will drop out of high school as soon as they hit 16 because they can't be bothered with "learning this shit".  (Not that I'm typing these kids...but it's a generality that I'm making in order to make a point, so no mad comments about naming a stereotype, thank-you).

One of the mums of a kid my mum works with adamantly refused to have her child held back when it was suggested as an option during a conference with the teacher.  The reaction: "No, no, not my kid. My child is smart.  My child will not fail.  My child can't fail."  The message here is that failure is bad...having difficulty and struggling with concepts is in essence, failure....and that having a child have difficulty in school deems the parent(s) a failure.  HELLOOOO....!!!  *game show buzzer* WRONG!!!

In all honesty, holding your kid back a year will make all the difference in the world to them.  They'll have more opportunity to learn the material.  By advancing them to the next grade, you're setting your child up for failure of the real kind because there's no way they can understand say, how to do multiplication of 3-digit by 3-digit numbers if they don't know their basic 1-12 multiplication tables learned in the previous grade.  It's true however that yes, there is a risk of teasing, whispering behind hands, gossip, and that's from the kids...the parents of OTHER children are worse.  But really....is it worth a few tears to help your child out and secure that they get the proper tools they need in order to advance at a rate that is good for them or is it just easier to let the system keep advancing your child in the hopes that maybe someday they'll miraculously catch on and figure out a couple years worth of work, but hey, they'll have a social life and their friends. 

Something I found out today that I did not know: this "policy" of advancing kids in order to protect their psyche is not actually a policy...at least not one that is written.  It was simply a movement that garnered a lot of attention in the province and got a lot of press time, but not one that was ever written into a mandated policy; although I do believe that it is strongly suggested to partake in the idea.

So what are we waiting for?! Why are we continuing to let the system strip our children of their right to a nurturing learning environment which has their best interests at heart?!  Why is no one standing up?!  Because it's easier this way.  But is it?  Drop out rates have been higher than ever.  Teachers who have been teaching for decades and know kids are saying that this new crop of elementary kids are by far the lowest academically-scoring kids they have ever seen...so much so that the grade 4 teacher (who has been teaching for 30 years) has had to drastically change her units and lessons to reflect the astonishingly low academic abilities of the incoming kids over the past 3 years.  What gives?!

We as a society need to smarten up.  Adults: take one for the team; don't make the kids do it for you.  It brings all new meaning to the cliche "Slow and steady wins the race".  What do you all think?  Thoughts??