But I deserve at least a B!

Grading is possibly the most crucial task that every teacher should reflect upon, with the current inconsistencies we are seeing more students working less and wanting more.  I can not tell you the number of times a students has walked up to my podium after class and said, "Mr. C, you gave me a D? I deserve an A!"  In which I respond, "Correct, you deserve an A but earned that D."  The student then turns around and walks out the door and that is the end of the discussion until Mom calls angry about the grade. Another question that occurs often not only in my band room but also in my graduate classes is, "what do I need to do to get an A?" or "how long does it have to be?"

We have a society that is happy with doing the bare minimum and the least amount of work as possible.  In the average classroom the students do not want to spend the extra time reading a book when they could be texting their friends or memorizing important facts about science or history when all they have to do is google it.  America has fallen in academics and many other areas compared to the other twenty-nine developed countries.  The only area we have not fallen is  in students perception of self-esteem.  Could this decline in work ethic and acceptance of mediocrity be due to the current grading system?

In Education Week Sarah Sparks gives a list of symptoms that demonstrate how grades are no longer viewed as earned by hard work and mastery but instead, just showing up to class and performing the task with the least amount of work and discomfort as possible. We have a generation of students who believe that they deserve good grades because if we give them anything lower than a B, they will have self-esteem issues for the rest of their lives. Recently an English teacher from Wellesley High School gave a commencement speech in which he told them that they are not special. David McCullough Jr. has sense then has been defending himself on various networks for his comments.

On CBS News he is questioned on why he felt that graduation was the right time for the speech and if he was surprised about the attention it has grabbed. I personally love how David tells the reporters that he was there to celebrate the graduation of his students and the media has decided to place the cameras on him when they shouldn't be. His closing line said it all, "Selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that your're not special - because everyone is." Students need to know that they must accept their responsibilities and to help others.

Tonight I sat down to help my wife "make-up" awards for her students that did not earn one of the many awards that they give out at the end of their school year. The school has a policy in which every student must earn at least one award, even if they did not earn the award. I am a firm believer that not every child deserves an award. Awards are meant to recognize the hard work and accomplishments of those who have gone the extra step and have gone far beyond norm.

 We as educators perform an injustice and take away the importance of recognizing hard work, discipline, and responsibility. Students need to know that it is alright to experience failure from time to time and that it is how we respond to failure that makes us who we are. Abraham Lincoln, the Wright brothers, Michael Jordan, and Thomas Edison all failed but have found a way through that failure to impact the world.

Educators, do not fear failure, take chances, try something new and make your classroom great. If we never think outside of the box and take risk than how can we expect our students to. Provide assignments that allow room for failure, reflection, feedback and correction. This will cause them to reflect, and correct their mistakes, instead of saying, "I got a ___," and then move on to the next task.