The shift of blame...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-03-07-forum-students_x.htm This is the Internet site of a recent article I read about placing work ethic back on the students. The article discussed the shift in attitude from the student being responsible when they don't learn the material (10-20 years ago) to the teacher now being responsible.
This article got me thinking a lot about our 3 questions.: What we want students to learn (our big picutre/essential learnings)? How we will know when they've learned it (common assessments)? And, what will we do when they don't learn it? The third question is what the article discussed in detail. And I must somewhat agree with the argument. When did the shift happen that it is now almost 100% on the teacher's shoulders when students don't learn material presented, practiced, applyed, synthesis and assessed?
"When asked to identify the most important factors in their performance in math, the percentage of Japanese and Taiwanese students who answered "studying hard" was twice that of American students." - USA Today
I think this is so interesting. Why do American studnets tend to blame or credit their success to the teacher, but in other cultures studnets credit their success to "working hard and studying"?
I would love to hear other's thoughts as to when this shift happened? Why it happened? And is it realistic that without the students effort to work we can assure that all students will learn?
posted by bkitch @ 8:37 AM
2 Comments:
Because that's the way we've trained them to be. We've trained them to be dependent on the teacher/parent for everything. We give them grades or praise, punishment or bribes, and we try to control everything they do. Then we wonder why they aren't more independent and responsible.
Read some Alfie Kohn to learn more about the effects of rewards and punishments, the standard operating procedure in the vast majority of schools (and families) today.
And our culture celebrates the outliers, the athletes and entertainers who are "stars," and who may work hard but also have a vast amount of talent. We don't celebrate working hard or doing our best, we only celebrate success. We celebrate #1.
Sorry, just commenting on my own to get into blogger
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