So, society as a whole seems to be promoting creative, innovative individuals right? I mean, how many job postings have you seen that request creative, innovative thinkers? Well, why then do schools kill creativity? Why are schools set up so that only students who excel in Math and English can be considered successful?
A parent recently was complaining on Facebook that their student who is an A student was denied the A honor roll simply because she earned a B in choir. The parent was appalled that something as insignificant as singing could keep her daughter off the honor roll. I also recently read a blog about how a student could not believe that a gym teacher would give a student who doesn't preform as well in gym class a lower grade than a student who is performing well in gym. She insisted that this isn't fair because some students were simply born more athletic than others, and it made her feel less superior in gym class. She also was upset that her not performing well in gym could even hurt her GPA. The crazy thing is that a lot of people would agree with these statements
I can't say that any of these complaints are legitimate. Being an Art Teacher I must stand up for students...all students. If we are practicing what we preach, that is meeting students where they are, differentiating, educating individuals, teaching higher order thinking, ect...why then are we calling math, English, and science "core" classes, and everything else is a "special" "other" "practical art". In some cases they are weighted less for GPA's. Students who are gifted in visual art, music or PE are often pulled out of these classes where they are gifted so they can do more math or English than they already are. I know how important it is for them to be able to have skills in math and English, but in our society we also need creative, innovative, forward thinkers, and we are taking those future innovators out of the classes where they excel to drill them on skills the school deems more important.
The student in PE has a point, some people are naturally more athletic than others, does that mean that people who are less athletic should not take or try to be better at PE? She said she struggled, and did not do as well as some students, and that was hard for her. Well, I must also point out that some students are born more gifted in math than others. If we apply this PE class logic to math, the students who are born not as gifted in math will struggle more in math, and won't do as well as others. If PE students are not graded on their PE performance, why then can we score students not gifted at math based on their math performance, after all it's genetics fault right?
With this mentality, we are telling students something like this, "If you were born gifted in math or English, we value you, and we weight these classes the highest, congratulations, you're in the club!" "If you are the creative type, musical type, athletic type, or like to work with your hands, well those are extras, not weighted as highly, and if you struggle in math or English you will be pulled out of those classes where you excel, so we can mold you into someone who is good at math and English. Sorry, this school is not catered to students like you."
We are doing a majority of our students a HUGE disservice. We are not meeting their needs, we are not differentiating because we are cutting and devaluing courses because they cannot easily be put on a bubble sheet. Students are and will continue to fall through the cracks; those students who are future innovators, creators, and artists of every kind. If we truly want to reach all students we need to start valuing all students even if they excel in an area that doesn't have a bubble test attached to it.
We expect creative, innovative employees, yet we de-value the courses that teach and promote it. Worksheets and memorizing facts will not teach these skills, and in a world of Google, how many facts do we really need to memorize anyways? Yes, the student who earned a B in choir should not make the A honor roll, and yes, if a student is not meeting PE standards they should receive a lower mark than a student who is meeting the standards.We need to stop organizing school so that there is an "in" club, some students even think they are better than others because of our structure, and that's not reality. Often students who did not fit this school system we have created go on to be the most successful, driven individuals there are in our society.
We all read up on different learning styles, and some of us even implement a few activities catered to different styles within our classrooms, but how about valuing and keeping students in classes where they excel, and not telling them the skills they have, and classes they want are less valuable. I have thick skin, I can handle people not valuing what I do to a point, but I am so sad when gifted students are pulled away from their one love for drill and repetition on something they struggle with. And those in the "in" club, well they are not always expected to perform in those "other" courses, and they get to spend most of their time in courses where they excel. Don't let this keep happening in our schools, be an agent for change, and stand up for students who are not in this "in" club we have created in our nations schools.
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