It's a Great Line but Does SPS Really Value Academic Achievement?
Update: The NY Times had an article on the decline of science fair participation.
At his State of the Union speech, President Obama said something to the effect of it being just as important who wins the science fair as who wins the Super Bowl. It got a good round of applause.
Pondering this, though, I have to wonder. In SPS, it seems like there is a ton of work and effort all towards the goal of academic achievement for our students. But:
At his State of the Union speech, President Obama said something to the effect of it being just as important who wins the science fair as who wins the Super Bowl. It got a good round of applause.
Pondering this, though, I have to wonder. In SPS, it seems like there is a ton of work and effort all towards the goal of academic achievement for our students. But:
- We have a gifted program that gets spotty attention from the administration and attacked from within/without (people in the program worry about quality and loss of the program, some people outside the program wish it didn't exist).
- There are individual school programs that compete in academic programs like debate, Latin and robotics but only in competitions outside the district.
- Schools are spotty on whether they have honor roll in middle and high schools. When my son was at Eckstein, I was told they suspended it because "it hurts kids' feelings". I believe they may have brought it back since then.
Do you have academic competitions at your school? Should a school science fair honor outstanding work? Does it matter or are good grades enough?
Comments
I disagree, however, that the focus should be on "winning" and competition in these areas. A focus on such extrinsic motivators hinders genuine interest in learning. Refer to
* Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us - (http://www.danpink.com/drive)
* Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation- (http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-What-Understanding-Self-Motivation/dp/0140255265)
* Punished by Rewards (http://www.alfiekohn.org/books/pbr.htm)
* No Contest: The Case Against Competition - (http://www.alfiekohn.org/books/nc.htm)
Science fairs are great, but there's no need for them to be competitions. It seems highly likely that's why, as the NY Times article notes, parents so often do the projects for the kids.
My kids do well academicallly, but at our school it is best not to shine publicly. The kids have learn this lesson so well that when they were being interviewed for a private school, when asked to describe their best qualities, they just couldn't speak about them.
We are happy our kids are modest, sensible kids, but we do think there is an odd pervasive attitude in our school about academic achievement. It is valued when it helps the school's statistics. There seems to be a fear that if we acknowledge academic achievement in some and not others, this will result in hurt feelings and marginalization.
We have no answer, but are just telling you our experience and what other parents tell us in private.
SPS parent
I'm sure this is all common sense, I'm just thinking out loud.
Is it possible to foster in students the ability to recognize their own (and other's) individual successes without it being in competition? A culture of supporting, and recognizing, individual success would foster a student's ability to describe their qualities (and also those of others) without an "I won!" or a "we won," or a "I'm in the top 20%"
Perhaps to many it is the competitive "successes" that merit attention because competition is so much a part of our culture. But it's possible to recognize individual or group successes that aren't competitive. How much of this do schools do? How much does the district? How much do parents and guardinas do this?
In one middle school we found the opposite culture; now in high school there seems to be a sort of middle ground.
-central mama
According to their newsletter.
Bryant neighbor