I have been reading with interest the articles on our education system in Manitoba, starting with Grant Park removes advanced-placement-test due to student stress (April 29); Getting beyond just grading and tests (Think Tank, May 6); Grading by percentage is failing our students (Think Tank, May 7); and The importance of quality of assessment for students (Think Tank, May 12).
They all made me think, which is the sign of a good article. I learned that from my educators: to think for myself.
One of the articles stressed that percentages should be removed from schools due to student stress.
They advocate that no tests, no grades, and just anecdotal comments will better serve students’ needs. If this is what is happening in public schools today, I despair.
This rhetoric does not teach young people anything about striving for goals, or about having faith in their own ability to learn.
This type of thinking explains so much about the students I see in my first-year university classes. Students who can’t take constructive criticism, who bristle at instruction, and who don’t bother reading the grading rubrics before completing assignments.
They hand in anything that they have written at the last minute and expect an A because they submitted the assignment.
They come to see me at the end of the term telling me that they now have all of their late assignments ready and are wondering how to submit them.
When I explain that they can’t, they become defensive and wonder why, if it was acceptable in high school, I won’t accept them now.
They consistently miss classes and instruction and then want special treatment because they are stressed.
As a former colleague of mine at the University of Winnipeg told his students, if they aren’t stressed at university, then they aren’t trying. Life is stressful and it starts at school. Students have to know how to deal with stress when they are on their own.
It’s part of life to deal with situations that do not always go as planned.