Posted in Standards and EvaluationStudentsTeaching on Jan 10, 2010 - 05:20 PM
In schools across America, young teens walk their halls with the heavy burden of perfection always upon them. Whoever instills this need for being flawless is often the one pushing young people. Their parents, their teachers, their family. However, at my school there is a new kind of pressure that is exceedingly different from the classic one: The pressure to fail.Meeting the status quo. That's what it's all about. Don't do too well, don't stand out. Kids use the term “rebel” fairly often in my school. In dictionary terms, this means someone or a group of people who rise up against the government. In my school, it's someone who fails. Someone who steals. Someone who is not in a good place in their life. The Rebels are revered.
For the first time in my life I have felt pressure not to do well in school. I find myself making excuses for my A's like, “Oh, well I had to get an A, or I would fail that class.” I said this only once and regretted it soon after. It slipped out. I wanted acceptance, and in that moment it seemed that was how I was going to get it.
Because there were no grades in my previous school, many people think that it was easy. It wasn't at all. In fact, my school was academically competitive. But it was a quiet contest and a fun one. We didn't get letter grades, so we would all playfully pass judgment on each others work, in a constructive joking manner. Still, everyone wanted to have their work be top of the line, just because. Not for the sake of passing a class. But in my new school, there is an opposite way of thinking. Everyone is so afraid of failing, they have reversed the cycle and instead you are honored for failing.
The scary thing is, it doesn't stop there. Teachers, along with the kids, seem to think that if you are a good student than you are a geek, or you have no life except school. Once, a teacher gave me an incomplete, after seeing only half of a two-sided paper I had written. So I inquired about it and received full credit, but the teacher mocked me by calling me a "grade grabber." There is also something that a teacher of mine has called “The crap list,” which is just an imaginary list of names of my friends who are failing or forget homework. He says things like,"Oh, no homework? Well you just landed yourself on the crap list." He uses his made-up list casually and in a joking manner. However, I doubt that any of my peers actually think it is at all funny.
This is all saddening and scary to me. I want to look at it in retrospect. But here's the thing: I am torn, between wanting to do well academically and wanting to do well socially. It's hard being new, and I know so many people can relate to that. What we need to do here is clear: Reverse this vicious cycle. Make it so that it is "cool" to do well in school. We need friends. We need to get a good education and do well. They shouldn't cancel each other out. That is what I strive for.
Tags for this entry:
k-12 education,
grades,
youth-adult relationships,
bullying,
achievement,
failure,
school culture
comments
How frustrating! I remember several teachers and classmates like that from high school, too. It’s very upsetting to know that when you’re doing your best, others are perceiving it as some sort of academic snobbery. Why should anyone have to lower their own personal standards to suit those of others?
Don’t let them get you down, Claire! You don’t need to conform to the local underachieving expectation just to suit your peers or even, strangely enough, teachers—like Melia said, keep doing your thing. I think you’ll be glad you did in the long run.
on Jan 10, 2010 - 11:24 PM
Claire, I hear you. When I teach about self-hate and social reproduction, I use a quote by Spike Lee from “By Any Means Necessary” where he says (paraphrased): If you do well in school, then you’re white and uncool. If you fail, if you don’t read, then you’re black and you’re down. This is dumb and not what Malcolm was talking about.
I use this lesson when it comes to the African-American experience in the U.S. but I shouldn’t ignore that it has become pervasive across all races, economic classes, and cultures.
on Jan 11, 2010 - 10:03 PM
Woah! I just had a student express this same idea to me on Friday! He is latino, and was mentioning to our AVID class how he is called “White” when he gets good grades, and is focused on going to college. I am also reminded about your earlier post on “grade grubbing.” I wonder what would happen if kids were only tested two times a year, at semester… so the focus is on learning and not on grades- until the great blow at the end.
You have internal drive, and that is lacking in many students. I wish I could say ignore them, but I know that the reality is you are faced with it daily, that it is foreign to you, and it hurts. I have faith that in time you will find more students around you that really understand the true meaning of “cool.” ‘Cause you are it!
on Jan 11, 2010 - 11:07 PM
I’m sorry to hear that the culture seems to encourage underachieving. That’s as bad as one fixated on overachieving. High school is challenging enough without the teachers fostering either kind of culture.
I hope that you’re able to continue just doing your thing, despite pressure to blend in among the crowd. Keep asking questions and standing up for yourself. I’m sure that any effort to keep you down comes from insecurities or jealousies that other people feel—even the adults who should be mature enough not to act on them.
on Jan 10, 2010 - 06:49 PM