Do Kids Need to be "Challenged" in Course They Think are not Worthwhile?
Published on October 26, 2014
George Couros:
She ended up with the worst attendance and the best mark. Go figure.
I’ve always had a similar question. What is wrong with showing up and taking the assessments and not being there at any other time? Is this still a problem? Yes, but I think with standards based grading we are starting to get closer to moving beyond that.
Personally, I believe kids should have more say in the education they are forced to endure. For example, I know nearly nothing about and care to know nothing about baseball. Total snooze fest. So, I stay away from it. I can do that because I am a grown up who chooses how to spend my free time. I would love to play an instrument. At some point, I will take the time to learn. That will be neat for me. But right now, neither baseball nor music holds much interest for me. If I were forced to take a class on either, they would be pretty low on my priority list. Baseball, I would show up, if possible only for the assessments, nail those, and move on. A good teacher could probably challenge me to spend a little more time on the music course. But, a bad music teacher could just as easily turn me off, and make me not want to be there either. How much choice do we give our kids to make to decide between something they may like if they give it a shot and something they have no desire wasting any time on?