Kids Graduations???
Out of context: Reply #24
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- locustsloth0
Here's the thing about all that, albums, and maybe i'm misinterpreting you, so correct me if i'm wrong.
There are those who believe that each child should be taught to their ability and given the opportunity to grow and learn as much as their ability allows them. This means being given an ample amount of attention and resources from those who mete out the child's education. Ideally this would result in individuals who succeed to their highest potential, without sacrificing the needs of those who require as much or more attention, but don't produce the same results.
And there are those who believe in what could be called educational Darwinism. The smart survive and move on, the rest are someone else's problem.
The tone that started this thread sounds more like the latter. "Why are we congratulating these kids, they didn't do anything special?!" And while it's true that they didn't do anything out of the ordinary and, as you pointed out, they are merely taught to the test, this sort of celebration is often the only kind of bone they can throw these kids. It's an ineffective bone, for the most part, and a cheap tool on the part of the education system, but it works for some kids. Some enjoy being lauded for accomplishing something and that compels them to want to achieve again and more.
Year-end celebrations/graduations aren't what is bringing the education standard down, it's lack of funding and lack of participation on the side of the parents. There is no way to provide children the education they need if the system is built in a one-size-fits all manner and evaluated on that basis. But because it is, for the most part, that way and politicians have hung price tags on those homogenized evaluations, we're not going to get anywhere.
Not to mention the cynicism of parents (much like the cynicism that started this thread) who don't want to pay more in taxes for their child's education. Every year my son's school cuts positions, yet that doesn't make the school better or more streamlined or more efficient. It just further taxes the staff that are there,making them less effective.
In conclusion, it costs money and time to educate a child the way that they each, individually, need to be taught in order to entice them and excite them about learning. If all schools can afford to give them is a congratulations on filling the requirements, i hardly think it's a problem and certainly not worthy of the cynical fervor in this thread.