Getting a DIY Education in the Public School System!
When you hear the acronym DIY, it conjures up images of the Discovery Channel or Home and Garden Television and their programs that teach do it yourselfers how to do things around the home. You would not think that the DIY craze would make it into public education. Is DIY education a method sanctioned by the school board? No! Actually it’s a name I have given to describe my son’s previous year of algebra. The mechanics of DIY education is simple. You tell students to open their books and read. When they ask question tell them to refer to the book, then test them on the subject matter.
My son struggled in sophomore algebra the entire year at Hathaway. Lets not pretend that he was actually making a concerted effort, because it was clear he wasn't. His excuse for poor grades was that the teacher was not working the problems out on the board step by step. Questions about the problems at hand were handled simply by telling the students to look in their books. He complained that even if he tried he still did not understand. I didn't believe him because in order to perform math problems you have to demonstrate it. Algebra is one of those things that have to be taught. I wrote it off as my son being his academic lazy self, and making excuses to cover his inactions.
He eventually failed the class and had to do the summer school routine. Surprisingly, my son's first report card was an A (94%) for the first six weeks. In the second six weeks his score was an A at 98%. I was proud of him and at the same time it causes me to raise an eyebrow.
Shortly after learning about his failing grade, I learned he had complained to the principal about his teacher not working the math problems on the board, and that he was having to try to figure things out for himself. He was told, by the principal that, this was a new experimental teaching method.
Several things come to mind on this. One is that my son is quite capable of making a passing grade, when you have the right combination of effort, environment, and a teacher who actually teaches. I’m sure that rule can apply to a lot of kids.
The other thing that comes to mind is that when a student who fails a course and then crosses the entire grading spectrum up to an A or B suggests to me that there is a bigger problem. A problem where lack of effort by the student, and a lack of teaching effort collide and produces failure. Unfortunately only the student fails. If a kid does not have the mental capacity for a subject matter and goes to summer school you can expect a D average and maybe even a C average. To cross the grading spectrum is another story. I don't need anymore evidence to conclude this experimental DIY, "Do it Yourself" teaching method is a complete failure. The net conclusion is that a number of borderline students lost and entire year of opportunity to learn. I have come to the conclusion that ...my son failed because he failed a "failed" experiment.. Make sense? I believe the most valuable tool a teacher can provide is to teach a student to teach himself. That of course takes alot of effort and only your best teachers can pull it off. This DIY teaching method looks to be effortless, and not at all related to "teaching someone to teach himself". In fact, it’s not teaching at all.
We are conditioned to believe that when a student fails then it's the student's fault because of their inability or desire to grasp the subject matter. Never and I mean never are we allowed to blame the system, a teacher, or a teaching method. My view has always been and still remains today that when a student fails, it is a mutual failure. A failure to learn and a failure to teach.
The educational system, is not well equipped or geared toward
"salvage operations" by focusing on borderline students and salvaging
their education. Some teaching is geared towards the path of least resistance.
It's more aimed towards kids who are naturally academically strong. If you are
teaching intellectually strong people and they make honor roll...what have you
accomplished? These people can probably achieve the same goal in a DIY
environment. Borderline students require a method more indicative of a
"salvage operation". If you can pull A & B average’s out these
kids then you have done something.
If a student fails a course and is forced to take summer school and returns
grades that are D's or at best C's then it would be easy to
convince me that the student struggles academically,
irregardless of environment and that's the end of
discussion. When they jump to the other end of the grading spectrum
the lines of distinction become blurred and the teachers ability to teach
is questionable at best.
My son's experience with sophomore Algebra is a reflection of a 3 sided failure. He must bare the brunt of blame but not alone. His teacher with an experimental DIY teaching method, failed him and was unable to "reach" him. In the other corner of this triangle of failure is the parents. My wife and myself. He tells us all year long that the teacher is not demonstrating how to work out problems on the board but yet we do nothing except hammer away at him in a disciplinary tone. We help the best we can but we are not teachers. We are not provided the tools that would help us to help him. Hell, we don't even get graded tests back. We haven't seen graded tests from our kids for years. I presume it is because they don't want parents challenging the answers that are mistakenly marked wrong. By the time we learn there is a problem or identify it, then it's too late. Nonetheless, as parents, we have failed because we lack the desire, the time, or the ability to fight the system. In the meantime our children continue to make failing grades and we hope and pray that they just make it out of school with their self-esteem in tact.
We are required by law to send our children to school to get an education. When they get there they become a subject of experimental teaching methods and social engineering, and end up having to take summer school to actually learn something. There are some outstanding teachers out there. Then there are those, although they are few and far between, that should be in another profession. Just because they always wanted to be a teacher and went to college to earn their teaching credentials doesn’t mean they can actually do it. There are borderline performers in every classroom, every business, every level of government, and in every educational system. Let's not pretend the school system does not have personnel issues.
Fact of the matter is, I don't think there is a formal DIY
teaching experiment. What there is....is an excuse. My excuse for my son is that
he lacks focus and is academically lazy. He needs guidance and hands on
assistance. He needs one of those rare teachers that can reach him such as the
one that succeeded in summer school. If teacher "A" fails your child
and teacher B passes him on the same subject, with grades on the opposite end of
the spectrum then it’s a clear-cut case that teacher "A" failed to
teach. If this really is an experimental method then how many years will we go
and how many failures must we have before this experiment is doomed as a
failure. What are we to do with the students who the experiment failed. Do we
write them off and send them out into the world less educated?
There’s a small minority of teachers that quote the common mantra that they
cannot provide guidance, and positive discipline because they have X number of
other students in the class. If that's true...... then you can't teach them for
the same reason. The only approach then is to throw information out and hope
that at least an acceptable percentage grasps it. What my children don’t need
is a DIY learning experience right now. There will be plenty of time for that
once they leave high school. Teachers who have students that failed their
classes should not mark the grade and move onto the next one. Teachers should
recognize and own up to the fact that a student’s failure is their own as
well!