How much have we dumbed things down for kids? And, worse, how much farther down are we willing to go?
Late start today, so we discussed how our students did recently on their informational essay. It was not funny that some people had little to offer because they didn’t even give their students this assignment. They were the smart ones, btw.
What my regular English classes recently completed can’t really be used for trustworthy data. I have a single class of 32 students who, usually, have more absences in that one class period than all my other periods combined. They had the essay assigned to them–the good students in there, though few, still need to be challenged–and only 12 of the 32 turned it in. What am I supposed to do with that? What I end up doing is rewarding the students who do, and failing the students who don’t. I have no idea what they want me to do, but a message is clear–we will not do our work, especially the tough stuff, so please fail us.
Is that too harsh? Does that make folks uncomfortable? Am I a big bad man for writing such things? Our school wants students to write an informational essay, as do I. Teachers and administrators meet on late starts to discuss such things. It is assigned. I break down the essay as something that, I think, makes it less painful, like it’s no big deal. Students can “communicate” in their “voice” and write about subjects that aren’t always literature-based. Haven’t read the book? You will have every option in the world open to you to pick a topic you can write on. 12 of 32 turn it in. I’m still waiting for the book, or source, or teacher, or administrator that has an answer for making students sit down and do work. They either do or they don’t.
Kids come in at lunch every day because I have two microwaves. One student today had a copy of Huck Finn, which Hemingway once claimed was the greatest American novel ever. My former student, who did not have a copy of the book, said she was not going to read it because it was hard to understand what the guy was saying. Translated: Huck Finn narrates with slang and that’s before-my-time slang. The student with the copy said he had just checked out the book, which is why he was carrying it. He planned to not read it based on how boring the first pages were.
News flash, America. Students don’t read. If you’re lucky, they go online and check out the secondary sources found everywhere. They don’t read, though. And now it’s moved into their writing, their test scores, the circles they run in, and how they speak to adults. What is our solution? To hold them to an even lower standard and only read excerpts from books. Because, after all, if they can’t read a book, maybe they can read part of one.
I walk by classes on campus and students have books open and spend 20 minutes at the start of classes with those books open (I walk by, so I’m not sure if pages turn). These are in the higher-level classes, too. Those kids read for 20 minutes, then teachers have them generate some essential questions, maybe do some low-level plot questions that don’t have students infer anything–which are reasons why they don’t read. English teachers got into teaching for this?
I’m pissed. I don’t mean to offend or put other teachers in a bad light because I don’t have answers here (and maybe what other teachers are doing with similar students is working for them). I am no better because I feel any work that students can complete is better than nothing at all. But, CRAP, it’s brutal out there. As a good teacher, I should make them sit down and force them to do work–you can’t leave the class until you have something tangible. But then I get in trouble when they are late to their next class, or I have to stay after school until they are done.
If any new teachers read this, understand that there are no clear answers. We show up the next day, try our best, and hope that previous failures don’t repeat.