Celebrating Mediocrity

Has anyone else noticed our society's epidemic of celebrating mediocrity in our children?  This has always been an issue for me, but it was brought back to the forefront of my brain this week when an Edmonton teacher was suspended for giving zeros to his students.  What prompted him to give zeros you wonder?  Well, because they did not turn in their assignments.  Hence, no marks given.  Seems pretty straight forward, wouldn't you agree?

Not so.  Because our government, in all of its infinite wisdom, designates funding to schools based on minimum percentages (25% in this instance) if students don't achieve that mark the money is pulled.  As a result, schools across the province have begun instituting a 'no zeros' policy.  Essentially it means that teachers cannot give zeros unless every other avenue has been exhausted (in other words every other attempt to rescue the child from the natural consequences of their own choices).  Also not very fair to students who get their work done on time.  Talk about lack of incentive!

When I was in school, and that was not all that long ago, if you didn't do the work you simply failed.  But we don't teach our kids about failure anymore.  We don't help them to find and develop the thing they are good at.  Heck, we don't even differentiate between them at all.  Nowadays everyone is good at every thing, and every student will graduate and go on to succeed in life.  Sound a little idyllic to anyone else?

Case in point at an elementary school level.  Remember we used to have actual track and field days?  For weeks before we would practice our hearts out in each of the events in gym class - running, long jump, triple jump, high jump, ball throw.  Teachers taught us proper technique and we tried hard to learn, then on the big day you gave it your all in the hopes of receiving one of those beautiful red ribbons.  I remember the only ribbon I ever won - it was for ball throw in the 5th grade. 

That's right.  The ONLY ribbon I ever won in my elementary school career.  Can you understand my natural talent for sports?  Pretty non-existant.  But I survived.  That's because I was good at other things.  I excelled academically, musically.  But there were kids in my class who lived for track and field day.  Why?  Because they were awesome at it.  They took all the ribbons and we cheered them on.  As we should have - they were great!

Fast forward to now.  The schools we've been in don't even teach the events in gym anymore.  Someone might get hurt maybe?  No, they just don't need to because they don't ever do them.  No, now we have 'Sports Day'.  These generally involve splitting kids into some sort of team and participating in cheesy relay races, like a family picnic.  Everyone is celebrated, everyone is a winner.

Now there's a killer statement if I've ever heard one.  I hate to burst the euphoric bubble, but everyone is NOT a winner in all things, sports or academics included.  Can't we celebrate the hard work and talents of our kids?  Can't we let them experience sadness and failure so they pull their socks up and try harder the next time?  Can't we let them understand the real world of disappointment and the thrill of achievement before they're thrown to the wolves after graduation?  Any psychologist would tell you that too much praise and equalization is as harmful as none.

So why do our schools perpetuate this?  Stop celebrating mediocrity and get on with helping these kids become all they can be - for real.