Education

As a teacher, I feel strongly that education is important. Unlike most of my colleagues in the trenches, however, I do not believe that education is a one-size-fits-all proposition. Not every student learns at the same rate. Not every student learns in the same way. Not every student is equally gifted in every subject. And not every student holds the same interests that require a college education.

One of the things that I think education in general, and public education in many places in particular (like Dallas) fail in is teaching students about accountability and personal responsibility. These are concepts that every student can and should learn, regardless of ability or disability, learning style, interests, and aspirations.

I see a lot of the results of this lack in my classroom, as do some of my colleagues. We see freshmen come in without any concept whatsoever of accountability. They're under the impression that all due dates are flexible, that assignment guidelines (like length of essay) are flexible, that academic honesty guidelines (like not plagiarizing, and doing their own work) are flexible.

Unlike many of my colleagues, however, I don't necessarily blame the students for this particular shortcoming, any more than I blame them for not learning the simple grammar concepts that they weren't taught in their public schools. No, I don't blame the students, I blame the schools.

Don't get me wrong--I'm not necessarily blaming the teaching faculty of the various public schools for not teaching these concepts, though I'm sure there are some teachers that just don't bother. No, I think it's more the fault of administration, and, to a lesser extent, the parents.

Take, for example, Dallas's new grading standards:

Homework grades should be given only when the grades will "raise a student's average, not lower it.

Teachers must accept overdue assignments, and their principal will decide whether students are to be penalized for missing deadlines.

Students who flunk tests can retake the exam and keep the higher grade.

Teachers cannot give a zero on an assignment unless they call parents and make 'efforts to assist students in completing the work.'

High school teachers who fail more than 20 percent of their students will need to develop a professional improvement plan and will be monitored by their principals. For middle school the rate is 15 percent; for elementary it's 10 percent."

Not one of these do anything other than teach students that they're not responsible for their actions. There are no consequences. The consequences that should follow not doing the homework aren't focused on the students anymore. Rather, they're focused on the teachers. If a failing grade isn't a credible threat, the students won't do any more than they feel they have to (i.e., nothing).

What does this teach students? That teaches students to believe that the world will make exceptions for any action they take. I see students who, when I tell them that missing a class activity will take a letter grade off their final paper grade, they don't believe me. I'm sure I'll hear about it next Friday when they see the consequences. I've had students believe that plagiarism isn't a serious breach of educational ethics, and are shocked when they're punished. I've had students miss deadlines to hand in work, and whine that they deserve to be allowed to hand work in late because...whatever they can think up to try to make me feel sorry for them.

It breaks my heart, sometimes, to penalize some students. However, I know that, if I don't, they'll learn that they are responsible for the consequences of their actions later, and at greater cost than a poor grade or two. I only hope that my attempts to teach them accountability and personal responsibility sticks to some of them. I'm just as afraid that there are some that won't learn from the consequences of their actions.

I'm sure that some of these students who think deadlines are flexible will wind up fired for missing a deadline at work. I'm sure that some of these students who don't understand why professional ethics apply to them will wind up fired for a breach of such, and possibly prosecuted. I'm sure that some of these students will find out the hard way that the world doesn't care why they don't do what they're supposed to do, when they're supposed to do it. I'm sure that these students will wonder why "somebody" isn't helping them, or fixing the problems they've caused in their lives.

This is what teaches people to think that "somebody" else should be responsible for fixing problems. This is where our education system is most broken: failure to teach accountability and personal responsibility, not in failure to graduate one hundred percent of students, and not in failure to send one hundred percent of students on to success in college.