Runs. Touch downs and conversions. Two-point and three-point shots and free throws. Strokes. Goals. Percentage of correct responses. When everything is reduced to points, there always is a numerical end. Sometimes the end is when the numbers of time on a clock or calendar run out. Sometimes it is when the magic number is reached. Other times, the end is when the points assigned reaches a target number. In so many things we do, numbers equate to how well we do and when we are done.
Kids in middle and high school understand numbers. In fact, their sense of numbers is cold and hard. Points earned are grades and good enough grades mean promotion. Or, poor grades are not good enough and mean summer school or retention. In so many, in fact too many, ways schooling and learning reverts back to points.
Ernie was a freshman who scrambled through middle school. If his middle school computed a grade point average, Ernie’s would have been a 1.2 or maybe .3. His middle school efforts always were just good enough to earn a passing grade of D or better and his now-and-again F was balanced with a now-and-again C. However, high school was not like middle school and grading was more rigorous.
Ernie’s work effort in 9th grade was just like his work effort in 8th grade, but his point sub-totals were not good enough for a once-in-a-while C; he was looking at Ds and Fs. By mid-October, Ernie knew he was in grade trouble with Ds and Fs on his first quarter report card. By December, he knew that his first semester was in the tank. He would not earn credit in English, Math or Science. And, by late February, Ernie knew that he would be a freshman again the next school year. It was impossible for him to earn enough points.
Numerically, Ernie was finished. His work effort throughout the second semester demonstrated his knowledge that no matter what he did, he could not alter his fate. Ernie stopped any intentional learning after March 1st, not that his intentions were very impressive in February or January.
What a terrible way to treat a child! What a terrible way to treat all children who numerically crap out every school year. Ironically, the Ernies in every school are the children who are the focus of most federal reform efforts. Regardless of racial or economic status, non-performers like Ernie populate every school’s academic achievement gap.
I am not an Alfie Kohn fanatic. Given that, I do agree that points and grades are killing our Ernies in school. We need to separate every Ernie from:
- Any and all point recording systems. Why give students reasons to quit learning?
- Every assignment calendar. When the desired outcome is learning, “when” should not matter.
- Any information that tells him that no matter how he does, he cannot succeed. The motivation valve must always stay on, especially for children who look first for failure and second, if at all, for success.
This separation from the usual way school happens is not designed to give Ernie a free pass; free passes are even worse than being numerically finished.
Ernie’s new system needs to be what we really want for every child – learn this well enough before moving on to the next learning. Effort is recognized and applauded, but is not enough. Time is no big deal. Getting it right is all that counts. And, let’s see how much Ernie can learn by June 1st. Instead of being a learning fatality, Ernie could very well be a statistic of achievement.