CAROLYN
BEITZEL
Diary #28
Why
Shouldn't My Students Be Apathetic?
I am still struggling with the lack of motivation I see with almost all of my students.
It is less than six weeks until school is over. Approximately 23 percent of my students are failing at this point. More are headed in that direction. I have tried all sorts of tricks in the past: curving grades, making assignments count as extra credit instead of in the overall grade, not counting an assignment into the grade even though it was originally supposed to be there. What else can I do? I really am at a loss. Social Promotion: Right or Wrong? I attribute a large part of the student academic apathy I see on a daily basis to the district's "unwritten" policy of social promotion. Even though the district administration states a student will not move on to ninth grade if they have failed a basic subject at least twice in middle school, and even though that student is mandated to summer school, historically all students are promoted. Last year at least eight of the students I taught did not have a mastery of my subject and should not have moved on. They did, without attending summer school. Two of them have since been expelled from ninth grade. There is one student on our team this year who has been absent more days this year than he has been present (he averages about one day in a week, and he is not the only one). He has been TOLD in his determination meeting that he will pass to ninth grade. This student, of course, has told many other classmates that any eighth grader will be going to the high school no matter what kind of grades they have received or their attendance record. Our school takes the expression "no child left behind" literally.There are five students in my social studies class who have earned failing grades for three marking periods, and will most definitely receive a fourth fairly soon. They will all be promoted to ninth grade. Without a doubt. The kids know this. So how can they not be apathetic about their education?
The message is, "get a good education," but it is also, "Don't worry about middle school. It doesn't count. You will go on to high school regardless." The unacknowledged thinking is, move them on and let the high school deal with it. I have heard this from numerous teachers, although truthfully, never from administration. These students will most likely sink their first year, will flunk out and that will be that. Our high school has a policy that if attendance is poor, a certain number of days absent is equal to lowering a letter grade. So technically, there are kids, if they continue the pattern they have set for themselves, who will fail within the first 90 days of high school, on attendance alone!
What's The Solution? Is There Really One? So, how can I get my kids to care about learning when faced with this knowledge? I feel as if I am on a roller coaster that will never stop. I am not really sure that I would want to be the teacher who has to teach a repeater— someone older, wiser and possibly with the same attitudes that got them to this point. I also know that within our district there are not many places (maybe none?) for these types of kids. On the one hand, my teaching is being held accountable to state standards. I am being told that I must be "qualified" to teach my subject area. I have the potential to be penalized if the students who are under my tutelage do poorly on state standardized tests. I am being held accountable for all sorts of issues that are well beyond my daily, minute-to-minute control. On the other hand, the students are not being held accountable at all. Let alone the parents or guardians of those same students. I am supposed to jump through hoops to make my lessons interesting, fun and active. Make sure my lesson plan book exhibits what standard and objective I am teaching to on a daily basis. Hold myself accountable to every parent who wants a play by play of what I am teaching their kid and who demand to know why is he still failing?Apathy - Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance.
Are my students
apathetic or is it a larger, more global issue? Is education apathetic
to changing how it teaches students who do not fit the norm? I am sure
the answer lies somewhere in between.
