Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character is a book parents, grandparents, and teachers should read. Paul Tough argues the context that learning takes place is at least as important as the child’s IQ. Tough shows that discipline, focus, and someone saying “No” to kids boosts educational performance. “Kids who do well in school tend to do well in Life,” Tough says. It’s also true–and I’ve seen it first-hand–that kids who don’t do well in school tend to struggle to find and hold jobs. Parents, grandparents, and teachers can help kids gain grit (not giving up), curiosity (motivation to explore and learn), and character (building relationships that last). Our educational system is addicted to testing and political garbage like “No Child Left Behind.” Instead of forcing teachers to “teach to the test,” our school systems should be helping teachers to work with students individually to build their strengths. GRADE: B+
I could write a book on how out-of-control testing has become in public schools–I work in a classroom with severely-autistic, non-verbal students, including one who is in diapers, and we just received the news that they will have to take a standardized test this April. Exactly how that will transpire hasn’t been revealed to us yet! Sigh.
As for educating our children, at the risk of sounding fatalistic, I think early childhood environment plays such a huge role (barring any mental/learning disability, of course), that after about five years old, we’re just adding facts to a brain whose processing system is already basically set.
/Another dismount from yet another soapbox.
Deb, you’re right about early childhood education. If we can’t reach kids early, the game is pretty much over. Bureaucrats love tests.
Scary, Deb. How are you supposed to test… oh, never mind. You’ve asked yourself that. Every time one of these stories comes up my wife repeats how thankful she is to be done with that, out of the classroom and retired before the era of testing madness and I know George’s wife Diane feels the same.
Jeff, Diane taught for 32 years before she retired. During those 32 years, the job of a teacher totally changed. And so did the nature of the classroom. When Diane started, she might have one or two “troubled” kids in her class. At the end of her career, Diane said she was luck if she had one or two “good” kids in her classes. Broken families, drug abuse, bureaucratic demands, constant testing, completely transformed the teaching profession. We did not encourage our kids to become teachers (although Patrick decided to follow in my footsteps by teaching at the University level).
This is a book that you and Diane could have written.
Right now there seems to be a push in Oconomowoc for helping “the gifted child.” Yes, they are supplying some more challenging experiences for the child. And yes, they are also supplying a sense of entitlement. If I hear another kid inform me that he/she is gifted so whatever does or doesnt apply, I’m going to throw up.
Garrison Keillor could change his Lake Woebegone slogan to “Where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and the children are gifted.” All of these phony “Gifted” programs are a sop to parents.
Beth, Jackie was always against gifted programs because the “ordinary” kids were the ones she felt needed the most help. The gifted will always do fine. When they divided her school into separate programs she was in charge of the “regular” classes in grades 3-6. The gifted kids always thought themselves superior and most of the parents encouraged them to stay aloof from the riff raff (how they regarded them for the most part), an attitude that infuriated Jackie.
Jeff, Diane had similar experiences with gifted students. They were frequently arrogant and snotty.
This is all so sad, isn’t it?
Patti, it’s sad because it doesn’t have to be this way. Education can be improved. If just a fraction of that testing money was put into art and music education, you’d see a big improvement.
I did a long-term assignment in a class for gifted 3rd graders several years ago. When I told a student to use “please” and “thank you” when asking for things, his exact words were, “Oh, my mom says I don’t have to worry about all that stuff.”
Indeed!
I’m afraid even if they read the book, they wouldn’t live it. Education starts, and continues, in the home.
That’s a big part of HOW CHILDREN LEARN, Rick. The importance of parent and grandparent involvement can’t be underestimated.
Here is Jackie’s take:
After 25 years in the classroom, I spent the last 8 years training teachers in literacy and social studies/history. Heterogeneous grouping and a holistic approach was working really well for us through 2004 when I retired. Gifted programs are a dangerously elitist approach. Well trained teachers know how to use dynamic grouping (changing the groups around to meet the needs of each student) to bring up struggling and average students and challenge more advanced students. I’ve done it and seen in done over and over until NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND! I am so glad I didn’t have to stick around to see all of our hard work undone by TEACHING TO THE TEST.
Diane agrees with every word, Jackie!