Raising the education bar (the fourth ‘R’)

Rob Bernshaw

Rob Bernshaw, Columnist

Recently in the news the feel good marking policy has once more raised it’s hydra-like head in the Battle River School Division of central Alberta. This feel-good policy will be implemented in the coming school year at high schools in the district. Already in place in the elementary and junior high school the new marking model once implemented will grade according to one of four “achievement levels” :

1. ‘Beginning’ will represent 0 to 50%
2. ‘Developing’ will represent  51 to 66%
3. ‘Achieving’ will represent 67 to 83%
4. ‘Excelling’ will represent 84 to 100%

Only the words designated will be used and no percentages will be assigned. With the above model, will the student in the ‘Beginning’ section be at the end of the line with a zero potential or will it be 50% potential?

What kind of model is that going forward where there is not a set grade to show the student and parents where the student actually sits in respect to a tried and true percentage grade.

This announcement got students and parents up in arms about the new model being too coddling and confusing for students that need actual grades in order to attend post secondary centers of learning. Proponents extol the virtues of a more descriptive understanding than the raw test scores provide. The new model, according to proponents, will better indicate where students are in relation to “learner outcomes” or the curriculum targets of the Battle River School District.

Is this new model any different than the “No Zero” policy of the Edmonton Public School System where a dedicated teacher by the name of Lynden Dorval was fired for doing the right thing in giving out zeros when and where applicable, specially where assignments were not handed in or completed.

It is fair and proper that the students and parents are standing up against a feel good policy especially where they are concerned about the future direction of education where it political correctness and feel good policies are the order of the day rather than the exception.

What is needed going forward is Education and an Education System that works for the benefit of students and their future not a system that seems to be lowering the education bar wherever and whenever it can.

It is time to raise the Education Bar instead of lowering it as has been the case for many years now in the education system of the day. Education knows no boundaries and is there for everyone to partake of and enjoy, no matter what socioeconomic conditions one may live under or have been raised in.

There is a game called the Limbo Dance usually played to music and it is based on “How Low can You Go”.

In this game on or two people hold a bar about chest level to begin with and a third person will shuffle under the bar to the sound of music. Every time the third person makes it under the bar it is lowered to such a level where the third person falls flat on their back looking up at the stars. At that point the game is over as the third person has failed to achieve the lowered expectations laid out at the beginning of the game.

Is this what the current education system is attempting to achieve by lowering the Education Bar to  such a level where students are laying flat on their backs looking up at the stars rather than reaching for the stars?

Here is a song played by Chubby Checker(born Ernest Evans, October 3, 1941) for you to enjoy as you contemplate the question asked about lowered expectations.

Is that what lowering the bar of education is doing to our children and future leaders teaching them to have lowered expectations of themselves? Teaching them to fall flat on their backs rather than strive for excellence in whatever they may be doing? Education should not be treated like a game where the bar is lowered in order to achieve what; lowered self esteem and lowered ideals?

That is not what education is about. The Education Bar needs to be continually raised and children will rise to the occasion and strive for the stars in a manner that builds self esteem and self worth rather than taking it away.

Look at how Olympic athletes are constantly raising the bar to achieve records and improve their abilities not only in sports but in all areas of expertise that they put their minds to. Take a look at Canada’s favorite sport of hockey where many children of all ages are out raising their level of expectations hoping to become another Wayne Gretzky or Bobby Hull.

These children would practice 24 hours a day playing street hockey, ball hockey, roller blade hockey or whatever form of hockey has been devised over the centuries in the hopes of becoming superstars like Gretzky and Hull, two of the many superstars elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame over the years - Bobby Hull in 1983 and Wayne Gretzky in 1999.

What would happen if these superstars did not raise the bar that they had set for themselves? Would there be any world records set? Would there be any personal records set? Would there be a need for a Hockey Hall of Fame?

For sure there would not be any records set if they lowered their bars of expectations.

Water always flows to the lowest point, so why is the education system of the day making it easier for students to flow to the lowest point of underachievement by continually lowering the Education Bar of expectations?

When has lowering the bar in any form been an acceptable way of achieving greatness?

If Steve Jobs (Spent his Dash from February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) of Apple and best known as co-founder, chair and CEO of Apple Inc., had lowered the bar on developing new and innovative products would Apple be the household name it is today?

Why is it the Education System of the day run by people with feel good policies and political correctness have not grasped the concept that children will rise to the occasion when the Education Bar is raised to a level that will encourage children to strive to obtain their full potential and will many times exceed the height that the Education Bar has been raised to?

Look at Olympic pole vaulters and high jumpers of the day, would they be the Olympic athletes of the world if the game played in school was the Limbo Dance played to the song the Limbo Rock where there is a limit on how far the bar is lowered making it harder to achieve their full potential?

Would these same Olympic pole vaulters and high jumpers be the superstars they are because of the full potential that is available to students of all ages when there are no limits placed on how high the Education Bar can be raised?

Athletics Women’s Pole Vault Final- London 2012 Olympic Games Highlights:

In lowering the bar there is a limit set because how low can one go before they will have no where else to go but up?

Wake up people and step up to the line and raise the bar of  Education and an Education system that works in order to unlock the potential of the children being educated in the flawed school systems of the day.

What kind of star do parents and stakeholders want their children to be?

Please think about the questions asked and maybe ask some questions of your own of the school trustees of  the respective school districts in the upcoming Provincial Municipal elections.

What type of education do you want for your children going forward?

Will all children reach their full potential in the school systems of the day or will they graduate as empty shells with no power to achieve in the real world once they have left the brick and mortar schools of the day?

For sure children and students of the day will fail as long as the Education Bar is continually lowered in favor of feel good policies and political correctness. Give the children and students the opportunity to show what they can achieve by raising the Education Bar so that they can strive for the moon and obtain the stars. Their potential is limitless and we need to encourage that by helping to raise their expectations with continually raising the standard  of excellence being sought and not stifle it by lowering the Education Bar as is currently happening.

Stay tuned as we travel the education highway of lifelong learning for:

more to come...

Related links:

Bobby Hull - www.hhof.com/htmlstcjournal/exSCJ05_33.shtml

Wayne Gretzky - www.hhof.com/htmlinduct/ind99wg2.shtml

Lynden Dorval:

www.pinchercreekvoice.com/2012/06/passing-incomplete-buck.htmlwww.pinchercreekvoice.com/2012/09/breaking-sounds-of-silence.html#comment-formwww.pinchercreekvoice.com/2012/09/lynden-dorval-could-not-in-good.html