Stop Teaching My Kid
Mark H. Shapiro,
The Irascible Professor,
Mar 05, 2004
I couldn't pass on this one. The author's contention is that "most parents want an easy pass (in some cases, an easy A) rather than a course in which their children acquire real knowledge and skills." Whether or not this observation is statistically valid, it nonetheless speaks to a misplacement of value, replacing a desire for accomplishment (that is, learning) with a desire for a sign of accomplishment (that is, an A). It wouldn't be the first time people came to value the sign of something more than the thing itself (for a fascinating read, see Gibbon on the iconoclasts). Me, I would have drooled at the prospect of "college level" work in high school. Never happened, though.
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