Improve Grades

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The purpose of schooling is to teach our children to learn and produce quality work.  In order to accomplish this goal, our schools must re-think the ways in which they view the educational process.  Such changes do not necessarily cost more money (although increased funding for education is important), but rather requires a radical shift in how we set out to support our students in achieving quality in their school experience.

Although many students are currently experiencing success in our schools, we have too many young people who are branded as failures as a result of the inadequacies of our present academic system.  The premature use of competition, the introduction of compulsory homework, and an obsessive emphasis on grading (which often overshadows the primary purpose of education – learning), all serve to detract from promoting quality education. 

In his classic work, Schools without Failure, psychiatrist William Glasser focuses on the components of successful schooling.  In his opinion, teachers must develop a positive involvement with students, re-think the relevance of their curriculum and consider the student evaluation process as a byproduct of a successful, quality learning experience. 

Within most schools, grading takes on a life of its own.  I call it the “wad-ya-get” phenomenon.  I find it interesting that when I talk with students and parents about their schooling, the topic promptly turns to the issue of grades.  Grades have become the “be-all” and “end-all” of education.  Rarely, when students or parents talk about school, do they discuss the content or quality of what kids are learning.  They invariably turn their attention to grades.  Parents typically ask their children “how” they do in school rather than “what” they accomplish in school.  Power struggles between parents, their children or teachers rarely involve the nature or quality of the work students accomplish, but generally pertain to the unsatisfactory grades received. 

When teachers are asked about grades, they insist that grades are positive motivators.  My educational experience has shown that good grades (A’s and B’s) are positive motivators for excellent students, but poor grades (C’s, D’s, and F’s) actually reinforce failure-oriented school behavior among those students who chronically fail. 

When I taught elementary school students, I would say, “I want all of you to succeed in my class; let’s talk about some meaningful objectives for getting A’s and B’s in my class and how you can achieve that goal.”  My students were puzzled.  They were used to being told, “If you don’t get your work done and turn it in on time, you will have trouble making it in this class; there are specific standards you must meet in my class or you will fail.”  When the attitude implies “the glass is half full,” students are more likely to buy in to a teacher’s expectations and fulfill them.  Students are eager to accommodate teachers who believe that all of their children have the potential to succeed no matter what happened in their prior school experience. 

The primary purpose of grading/evaluation is to provide students with a yardstick for progress being made.  Grades should never be used as an arbitrary measure reflecting a teacher’s standards.  When we are evaluated on our job, the process is hopefully designed to motivate us and improve our performance.  Many teachers mistakenly believe that they can coerce students who are not doing quality work by using grades as a motivational tool.  However, it is naïve to assume that a student who has chronically failed school will improve his performance by being labeled a failure through the grading system.  Dr. Edward W. Deming, noted management theorist and consultant, believes that managers (i.e. teachers) who attempt to coerce employees (i.e. students) will get workers who do just enough to get by.  The use of coercive, punitive management techniques is not good enough for our students and our educational system. 

Here are some principles of grading that will enhance a student’s chances of learning and experiencing school success:

Accentuate the positive with one’s grading policy.  “All students can achieve in my class.” Allow students who do not turn in quality work to re-do work until it is quality.  This should include re-takes of tests, re-working in-class material, and fine-tuning non-compulsory homework.  Remember, the goal is not some arbitrary school standard, but having your students ultimately learn the material no matter how long it takes. Homework should be removed from the grading process.  Many students do not have an appropriate environment at home or the support from parents to make it a priority.  Make homework non-compulsory and meaningful and you will get better buy-in from students.  Teacher involvement with students is critical in order to get students to embrace the concept of quality work.  Students should be able to say, “My teacher is fair, reasonable and pleasant to be around.”  Work tasks should be meaningful rather than focused on memorizing information for the purposes of the teacher.  Students should be taught how to learn.  This process should include critical thinking, learning how to find information, creative activities, problem-solving, cooperative learning strategies, and class meetings. Teachers should look for fresh ways to motivate students without the use of coercion.  Excuses such as this kid is too lazy, un-teachable, or from a troubled home are not helpful.  Grades are a reflection of the quality of the learning experience.  If many students are doing poorly, it is the responsibility of the school to correct the problem.  Dr. Deming never blamed the workers for management’s failure to lead and motivate.  If the school system is organized upon a healthy, need-satisfying leadership style among its teachers and administrators, most students will succeed and receive good grades. Positive evaluation is a byproduct of the quality of a school program.  If students are not succeeding, the program is faulty. 

Some in the educational establishment may say that the ideas articulated in this article call for a lowering of academic standards and a “dumbing-down” of the curriculum.  On the contrary, I am suggesting that school systems need to honestly grade themselves and see where improvement may be needed.  Without a lead-management style of relating from administrators and teachers, and a curriculum based upon critical thinking, problem-solving, and meaningful work experiences, schools will fail along with their students.  We cannot afford for that to happen if we are to promote quality schooling.

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Many of you probably had experiences with movies like mine when you were growing up. Your parents (if you were lucky enough to have at least one) would use the TV or Movies to keep you occupied (out of their hair). My Dad would give me two dollars every day for entertainment so I spent it mostly on movies. Yes, every day, and keep in mind that this was the early fifty’s when most theaters were 25 cents and the most expensive theater in town was seventy five cents. The same money would be around twenty five dollars today.

At the time most movie houses were showing double features and some had three features with two cartoons and a serial. And because of my love for movies I saw every one of them at least twice and some many times. This went on for years and of course couldn’t have been good for me. However it gave me a focused education in films and stories and perhaps a little confusion about real life.

People in movies don’t have to follow through with work and school and oh yeah, the big one, Love. The music plays and they simply are already a brave policeman or cowboy or engineer or even president. The heros in movies seem to do little or no work to be anything they want. I Expected no less for myself than rocket speed to sucess.

Somehow in my little kid brain I replaced my parents love and parts of real life with western movies and their stars. You can imagine why nice family type movies and westerns were so appealing to me with no brothers and sisters and living with my grandmother. In later years it was shocking to discover my movie heroes didn’t give a crap what I felt or know me from Adam. “Gosh Mr. Rogers, don’t you remember me? I was the kid in the fifth row back?”

“Sorry, I don’t give autographs” he said. “Huh?” I said as he walked away. Now I was a young adult when this true event happened, but still I stood there sort of in a daze until my wife came looking for me. She said, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Roy Rogers just gave me the buzz off,” I said. “He must have known it was me that threw rocks at the screen.”

“Oh, don’t be silly” she said. “He wouldn’t give me an autograph” I said. “Oh is that all, so what?” she said. “Why would that bother you so much?” she said. “I don’t know, it just does that’s all” I said. There was this little pause and she said, “For your information they live like three blocks away from us. You mean you didn’t know!” she said.

“No, I don’t keep track of where people live,” I said. “I see Dale Evans every week at the store or post office. She’s very nice” she said. “Oh great, my childhood hero lives close enough to hear trigger fart and I can’t even get an autograph?” “It’s almost like not being able to talk to your uncle or something because he’s too darn famous.”

“Listen honey,” she said, “Trigger can’t fart anymore and besides you’re taking this way too seriously.” “Yea,” I said. “So what can we do to find out why it affects me so much?” “You saw too many of those westerns I think. Didn’t you do anything else?” She said. “Sure, lots of things,” I said. “But the movies made the stuff I did more dangerous.”

She said “Now that I think about it most of the jobs you do are related in some way to movies and now you’re a screenwriter.” she said. “You seem to be obsessed with not only stars but also in the locations where they were filmed, like Lone Pine for example. We found every rock that Randolph Scott used in his westerns.”

“It feels like I’m looking for my long lost family.” I said. “She said “Remember the actress last year that was kidding you about one of your scripts? She knew you were only kidding and laughed with you about it. Why didn’t she affect you the way Roy did?” “It’s probably because she’s a new star of today’s movies,” I said, “And I didn’t grow up watching her.” “Remember what Jack Palance said to you about movies? He said you were full of crap about them that they were only movies.” “Yeah,” I said, “he said he only made films for the money and could care less and “You should do the same.”.

“OK,” she said, “I have an idea. Why don’t you write about it? You write about everything else so maybe other people have the same problem or worse they let it happen to their kids.” “That’s right,” I said, “it is happening to kids today isn’t it, only in a little different way with music lyrics and the general bad behavior of actors.”

“Yes,” she said, “only its worse now and these kids won’t get over it maybe ever.” “OK, that’s what I’ll do is give my opinion about how movies can be improved and still make the studio money.” “So you’re going to tell them to remove the violence and sex and make lame one hundred and twenty minutes of nothing? I can hear the laughing already.”

“No, of course you need these elements of real life in any story. You must have a good story and a reason for things to happen. Some movies today start out dark and evil and progress to dark and evil and end with dark and evil and that’s no way to tell a story. For a film to be successful the audience must tell friends about it. One big problem is the high cost that scares investors into making something safe.

What they need to make movies safer for investors is a new kind of testing. Why make a film unless you KNOW people will like. I can’t believe investors take such big chances with all that money. It’s possible to make good honest pictures that people will love and still make money for the studio.” “You know that not one person in Hollywood is going to pay attention to you don’t you?” she said.

“I know, but it doesn’t matter about that because Hollywood’s days are numbered anyway. They are so mixed up they can’t even make an original movie or endorse an original screenplay. Can you see them making Rocky 15?

Good actors have little to work with in Hollywood and that’s a shame. That’s why indie films are getting bigger and better every day and sooner or latter with the combination of pissed actors and increased technology a new generation of indie films will put Hollywood to shame.”

When my 8 year old son was almost 5 years old, he was diagnosed with ADHD.  We then set out on a long, arduous task of working thru many different ADHD treatment programs, doctors, and school programs to address his issues.

If you are embarking on that same journey, my best piece of advice is to trust your instincts as a parent and learn everything you can about this condition.  If you are reading this article, you are probably somewhat familiar with ADHD but just to set a common background, this is how most of the medical community describe ADHD.

Characterized by “pervasive inattention” and/or “hyperactivity-impulsivity”, ADHD is a neurobehavioral disorder results in significant behavioral and cognitive impairment. ADHD is frequently tied to an imbalance in the chemicals used to regulate behavior, mood and energy levels in the body.

Symptoms can include excessive worry, fearfullness, agressiveness, or panic, which can also lead to physical symptoms such as a rapid heartbeat, sweating, cramps, and diarrhea. Symptoms of ADHD will probably appear over the course of many months and can usually be diagnosed before a child is 10 years old.

Many children with ADHD show inattention symptoms and are not impulsive or hyperactive. However, most show signs of both. Since Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is accepted as a neurologically based disorder, we should conclude that, besides a possible head injury, the patient with ADHD would have been born with the disorder.

Our son fits virtually all of the ADHD symptoms to a “T”.  So in order to understand and to help as best we can, we set out on a mission to learn about the various tretment options available for ADHD children.  And to our mutual joy our dismay, there are many, many options that you can explore.

In most cases, ADHD is most sucessfully treated with an even mix of medication and behavior therapy. When determining the correct treatment for your child, the care giver might try several different medications in various doses, especially if your child is being treated for ADHD along with another disorder. 

Behavioral councelors, classroom accommodations, and family and community support are other necessary components of ADHD treatment but the “best” treatment options for ADHD are a matter of opinion.  But nevertheless, children who are successfully treated for ADHD are better able to attain success in their educational and career goals, and lead better, less stressful lives.

A number of alternative treatments are studied and attempted by parents including: megavitamins, body treatments, diet manipulation, allergy treatment, chiropractic treatment, attention training, visual training, and traditional one-on-one “talking” psychotherapy.

The variations range from mainstream synthetic medications to a mixture of regular medicine and holistic medicine , or a choice could be to simply implement an alternative treatment approach for ADHD using herbs.

The good news is, with proper treatment, children with ADHD can manage their symptoms and learn to successfully live with them. If your child has ADHD and a coexisting disorder, your physician will take that into account when designing a treatment program.

Whatever you decide, without a doubt, talk with your physician to decide on the best option for you or your child’s particular circumstances.  Just always remember that this is your child and you probably know them best and never be too afraid to trust your instincts.

So don’t be embarrased or put off even 1 more minute by a lack of understanding of ADHD. Get the help you need and your child deserves. Get specific help regarding ADHD Treatments along with loads of other ADHD information, articles, videos, and resources at ADHD-digest.com, a website with articles, guidance, and resources for parents of children with ADHD.