Archive: Opinions

There seems to be a bit of a brouhaha surfacing in Lansing in regards to the New York State Core Curriculum. Heck, I’m sure a similar discussion is happening in lots of communities across New York State. Much of it has to do with the new math standards that have come out.

An interesting part of this discussion is a concern over what grades kids will receive. From what I understand, many students who are graduating from high school with good grades aren’t carrying that achievement to college. This, in my opinion, is due to an emphasis on grades over learning and understanding. According to HigherEducation.org “Every year in the United States, nearly 60% of first-year college students discover that, despite being fully eligible to attend college, they are not ready for postsecondary studies.”

Certainly I want my children to do well in school in the same way I want them to win their soccer games. But let’s remember there’s much to be learned from losing a soccer game. Just as there is lots to be learned from struggling and working hard to truly understand concepts in school.

Maybe I’m a bit of an exception when it comes to the importance I place on grades. If you were to look through many of my report cards growing up, one comment that was regularly written by my teachers was something along the lines of “Grades do not reflect ability.” Back then some of it had to do with the fact a lot of what we learned in school seemed very irrelevant to me. (Don’t tell my kids I said that. Actually go ahead.) But it also had to do with the fact that grades neither determine intelligence nor ability. Grades are, in fact, a very one-dimensional measure of a certain kind of intelligence. And this approach also diminishes the importance the arts play in our lives and society. Personally, I want my kids to both know who an artist like Jean-Michel Basquiat is and gain a great understanding of math and the other more traditional academic subjects.

It is certainly excellent if your children fit into this model and get good grades. But what if you’re one of the many parents of many children whose intelligence doesn’t fit into this narrow form of measurement? Does this mean your kids aren’t smart? My answer to this is no. Most of us are intelligent in our own ways. I regularly tell my kids this.

In the end, New York State is going to set the standards that it wants to. Our schools and teachers will do their best to respond to this. What can we, as parents, do? We can support our kids, no matter their strengths. We can say thank you to the fine folks that teach our kids everyday. They work very hard and I, for one, have been truly impressed with the level of caring that has been shown to my children. Lastly, we can work to create a thoughtful discussion about what really matters in education.

Stephen Kimball
Lansing, NY
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