Public Schools. Unbelievable! A member of my family is doing her student teaching in one of the local public school districts. Last night, she told my wife about some of the daunting disparities she’s noticed between the schools she grew up in and the school district where she currently works. Did anyone else know that teachers cannot use red ink when correcting student’s coursework? Apparently, red ink is too damaging to the emotional well-being of the students. Teachers are now instructed to make all corrections in purple ink. Purple is not as mean-spirited as red.
Pardon me, but as I recall, the only red ink on my homework was on the items I completed incorrectly. If students are upset by the sight of red ink on their assignments, they don’t lack self esteem. They lack self control. They don’t need a different color to identify their errors. They need to put down the XBox controller and put their brain to work. For me, an abundance of red ink provided motivation to push myself to do a better job on my homework; to try harder next time. It helped me learn to be self-disciplined. I learned to say no to what I wanted to do, and yes to what I should do. “Going the basketball game with my friends sounds like fun but I need to stay home and study for the exam I have tomorrow.” Thank God nobody thought I was too fragile to face the real (red) consequences of my own behavior.
Why are we protecting our children from the feelings associated with mistakes and failure? Isn’t this part of life in the real world? Aren’t we robbing them of the invaluable learning opportunities inherent in these kinds of challenging circumstances? Who among us can’t point to specific moments in which our character was wrought in the midst of our own knuckle-headed handiwork? What is it about the words “you are wrong” that are so injurious to a child’s psyche? What happens when a generation of sissies who’ve been cotton-gloved through their formative years, is confronted with a world that is unyielding, unforgiving and immovable? Life is governed by principles that are true, regardless of whether or not we acknowledge them as such. When a generation of self-entitled, emotionally crippled people engage with those principles, we will witness – on a much grander scale – the very results these nonsensical rules have been designed to prevent.
Pardon me, but as I recall, the only red ink on my homework was on the items I completed incorrectly. If students are upset by the sight of red ink on their assignments, they don’t lack self esteem. They lack self control. They don’t need a different color to identify their errors. They need to put down the XBox controller and put their brain to work. For me, an abundance of red ink provided motivation to push myself to do a better job on my homework; to try harder next time. It helped me learn to be self-disciplined. I learned to say no to what I wanted to do, and yes to what I should do. “Going the basketball game with my friends sounds like fun but I need to stay home and study for the exam I have tomorrow.” Thank God nobody thought I was too fragile to face the real (red) consequences of my own behavior.
Why are we protecting our children from the feelings associated with mistakes and failure? Isn’t this part of life in the real world? Aren’t we robbing them of the invaluable learning opportunities inherent in these kinds of challenging circumstances? Who among us can’t point to specific moments in which our character was wrought in the midst of our own knuckle-headed handiwork? What is it about the words “you are wrong” that are so injurious to a child’s psyche? What happens when a generation of sissies who’ve been cotton-gloved through their formative years, is confronted with a world that is unyielding, unforgiving and immovable? Life is governed by principles that are true, regardless of whether or not we acknowledge them as such. When a generation of self-entitled, emotionally crippled people engage with those principles, we will witness – on a much grander scale – the very results these nonsensical rules have been designed to prevent.
No comments:
Post a Comment