My daughter is learning to swim and is enrolled in a local swimming class.  A few weeks ago, as the course was coming to a close, the teacher handed out ribbons and certificates of achievement to all the kids in the class.  At first I was pleased to see the certificate but by the time I got to my car I was furious.  How could it be that every kid in the class passed?  My daughter attended every class and I know that most of the kids missed over half the lessons, but yet, in the end, they all passed – was I missing something?  

If we take this swimming class example out of the pool, we see it in so many other areas of life as well.  Take the school system for example.  A good friend of mine is a teacher and it blows her mind to think about how much the school system has changed, even over the last 10 years.  Teachers used to have authority and if your kid failed a grade, guess what, they failed.  Nowadays, students are given a floating deadline to complete their assignments because heaven forbid teachers are actually allowed to give a student a zero for not passing in their assignment on time.  Instead they are given extensions and, to make matters worse, teachers are not allowed to deduct grades for it being late!  What message does this send to students who complete their assignments on time?

Basically these kids are raised by doting parents who tell them they are special, play in little leagues that don’t even keep score, and have their fireplace mantel lined with trophies just for participating.  Kids are being patted on the back for being mediocre, congratulated on a job well done when it is two weeks past due, and praised for being a star athlete even though they picked dandelions the entire summer while a game of soccer was being played around them.  It is no wonder that when kids actually do enter “the real world”, they go through a bit of culture shock.  

Over the past twenty years we have moved from tough love to unconditional praise.  We have gone from one extreme to the next and it is time to step back and find a happy medium.  I fully understand the need to motivate kids and support them, but enough is enough people.  Can you imagine how many people would watch the Olympics if in the end, no winner was declared and everyone was rewarded with a medal just for showing up?   I believe people who try should be encouraged and supported, but I do not believe that everyone at every level deserves to be rewarded – but that’s just my 4 cents!

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Comments (3)

• 2010-10-28 18:40:14 |24.142.42.xxx| Wendy  - And then some...

  What kills me is that for all the studies we've done, we know that 70% of the population belong to the group we call visual learners. 23% being auditory learners. The other 7% being tactile.

  Most of those who become teachers find themselves falling in the 23%. Which, oddly, becomes the way most classes are taught.

  Perhaps if we taught in a learning style that was more prevalent, we could create an environment for learning and could mitigate the rampant failure of our system.

  If we did that, perhaps we wouldn't need to coddle and training wheel our kids through life.

  It is infuriating though. Makes a solid case for home school co-operatives.

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• 2010-10-01 19:55:57 |99.252.15.xxx| Gordon  - Great Article. Very true.

  Great article and very much true. There is a serious problem in today's society ...we are setting up our children to fail.

  Check out the book:
  The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement by - Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell.

  Great read on the subject.

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• 2010-10-01 11:36:50 |96.30.139.xxx| Anonymous  - It's about time

  As a teacher myself, I'm glad to see that people are starting to see the damage we are doing to our children by making them think they don't need to work hard to be successful; by encouraging them with objects and things rather than having them FEEL the satisfaction of success; and by not allowing them to make mistakes and learn from them so they can grow into productive members of society. Thanks for your four cents!

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