So we are not all rocket scientists! Should students be held back for bad grades?

                    

I have been a teacher for 26 years now. I have taught at a few schools and I talk from a personal point of view. For many years, I have helped students to get better grades, but I have also seen students fail.  To fail at something in life, makes you negative and I have seen many students lose hope because they just feel as if they are not good enough.  Over the years there has always been one negative thing that keeps on bugging me.  Why does a student have to fail a grade, because of bad marks? 

I have seen students leave school because of certain things in schools that are just unfair.  Why should a child fail at something because they do not understand something? And don't blame the teachers!  I have spent many hours on Algebra and felt like a failure myself sometimes, because students still did not understand, and I am a good Maths teacher, even if I have to say it myself.  

I understand more than you know that some kids are just lazy, don't hand in projects on time, and even NOT study for tests, but if I know that a student gave his utter best to complete something and it is not quite up to standard, I give them the mark that they deserve. Usually a pass mark:) At least the student tried their best.    

Personally I think for some projects we receive, most parents should actually get the marks, because if you look at some of the projects I have received for grading, then you will understand that no normal 15 or 16-year old are able to complete projects with such precision.  

Many students however can not compete with others.  I have written about this before and I believe that testing someone on the same level as others is just wrong.  It is a different story if specific criteria is given and students do not study, but surely we can not all be given the same test and expect everyone to do well?

 We all have something that we are good at.  Not all of us are good at everything.  I hate Geography and even if it is apparently important to know in which direction I am driving, I don't really care.  I have never been good at this....and my husband is constantly fighting with me because I don't always know in which direction I have to drive.  Well, that is why we have Google maps right?

I have also seen many students struggle with maths, and it becomes a nightmare if they  just don't understand. Is it fair to make a student fail a grade just because they are bad at Maths?  What if they are artists and are good at everything else?  There are some important aspects in Maths that students should certainly know but seriously we are not bombarded with word sums in our everyday lives.  If we struggle with something, we use a calculator.  Why are students not allowed to use calculators?

                                          

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I think that difficult concepts should actually only be studied when we decide what we want to do with our lives.  Then you could learn something that you can actually use.  If someone is going to be a sportsman and play sport for a live, surely they only need to know how to read the scoreboard! They won't have to work out the actual degrees on which you should focus to score a goal.   I think students are fed all the wrong information.  The whole point is being missed. 

                          

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Loads of unnecessary information is forced down their throats on a daily basis and that is why some children just hate school.   What if they never have to use this information again in their lives?  Time wasted. There is nothing worse in life than to actually do something that you don't like to do.   If you know the basics things in Maths, if you know a little bit about science and if you can read and write, then the rest of the school time should be focused on the interests of students. 

Personally I do what I need to do in class, but always spend some time talking about something interesting, and if I don't have anything interesting, I give my students a chance to talk.  As you should know by now, I love science so most of the stuff that we talk about is science orientated so it is still about schoolwork but just from a different angle.  

I might be wrong, but if a student can write a proper essay and use the correct punctuation etc, then that is enough.  Big fancy words don't make an essay special, correct sentence structure, spelling and punctuation does.    

Students have the whole internet to their disposal.  They do a lot of research and read a lot via the internet.  One thing that I have brought in at our school is a reading period.  As reading is the foundation to everything in life, it is important to me that a students reads.  I don't care if they read here on Steemit, comics, on the internet, on a tablet or a book, this helps them with their spelling.  

The overall school system is no longer up to standard here in South Africa, so I am a great promoter for homeschooling.  There are so many things that students can do on their own and with the help of their parents.  I have seen many succeed by only writing their GED and completing the SAT.  

In today's life, it is all about the survival of the fittest.  Does it really matter if you don't know your multiplication tables on the tips of your fingers?  Does spelling really count?(OK, that is a little farfetched, because it does:) One day I want to start my own school, and teach students about real life situations, I want to teach them about taxes, about medical aids, about health, beauty, even things like how to arrange a funeral. Does that not make sense? 

What is your view on this?  Do you get fired every time you make a mistake at work?  No, usually you are given a second chance and try not to repeat the mistake again.  Should a student really be held back a grade if they can't succeed at something?

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