So, it is that wonderful time of year where report cards are sent home and you are invited to meet with the teachers. We call them Parent/Teacher Conferences. I attended this the other day with my son. What can I say other then this was a very interesting experience once again.
Unfortunately I am unable to say I am satisfied with the education system. Actually, let me be honest, I didn’t think it could get much worse when I was in high school... I was wrong, and I continue to be amazed at the efficiency at which policy makers are able to put into place backwards and ineffective practices to set our children up with failure!
Further, to the above, I continue to be ever so satisfied with the choices and rights parents have in regards to their children’s educations.
The goal setting portion was a special process. You see, the major complaint from staff is that my son is a very “bright boy” but that he often spends his time focused on things unrelated to his studies and would much prefer acting out or by putting little effort into his school work. My major complaint is that certain subjects say “Needs Improvement” on the report card under “Effort”. Now I can accept any grade my child brings home as long as they have tried their hardest. However, “Needs Improvement” suggests that the low grade can be improved by trying harder. Call me crazy, but would it not make sense at that point to put in a “Goal” to see an improvement in effort through staying on task and producing quality work within the instruction and guidelines of the teacher?
My son is in a class designed to meet the “learning challenges” associated with his “personality disorders”. This translates to a class which is designed to hand hold and coddle my son ensuring the over development of his self esteem and self entitlement and the under development of his actual academics and life skills.
I would like to see my son in a regular class room which does not revolve around him. I would like to see him have a teacher who does not have time to listen, justify, accept and negotiate my son’s excuses for everything he may not want to do. I would like to see my son in a class room where if he does not take responsibility for himself, his behaviour and his performance he will simply receive natural consequences of failure. Do I believe it is valuable for the school to offer supports for his achievement in his studies? Of course I do. Do I think it is valuable to allow my son to continue believing that life is so nice that all you have to do is pretend to try??? NO! The way the schools go about teaching children success and self esteem these days is atrocious. And I do understand that the staffs within the school are limited within the means of their directives provided by policy makers. However if you want me to believe that test scores are down because our kids are not getting enough hugs versus getting enough discipline you are going to have a hard time.
What I have been witnessing the last few years is a gross misunderstanding of the definition of discipline. So to be clear, let’s clear this up...
dis·ci·pline
[dis-uh-plin] noun, verb, -plined, -plin·ing.
noun
1. Training to act in accordance with rules; drill: militarydiscipline.
2. Activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training: A daily stint at the typewriter is excellent discipline for a writer.
3. Punishment inflicted by way of correction and training.
4. The rigor or training effect of experience, adversity, etc.: theharsh discipline of poverty.
5. Behaviour in accord with rules of conduct; behaviour and order maintained by training and control: good discipline in an army.
6. A set or system of rules and regulations.
7. Ecclesiastical. The system of government regulating thepractice of a church as distinguished from its doctrine.
8. An instrument of punishment, especially a whip or scourge, used in the practice of self-mortification or as an instrumentof chastisement in certain religious communities.
9. A branch of instruction or learning: the disciplines of history and economics.
I may be not reading properly but I am failing to see where it says that discipline means to congratulate and reward completion of half a task and request a “positive choice” in the future rather than a “bad choice”.
But what do I know? I’m Just Some Girl.
