What Message Are We Sending Youth About Education?

13 Comments

Comment by Hazel "The Queen" Walker on September 27, 2008 at 6:58pm

There is more to being successful that school. I know many Complete Failures who have high GPA's and big degrees, they lack ambition thinking that their degree should get them where they wanted to go, it didn't. On there other hand I know some people who are amazingly successful with no degree or low GPA. It is not about the degree, it is about the person.

Comment by Nwokedi C. Idika on September 27, 2008 at 10:06pm

Sure. I'm not suggesting that doing well in school is a necessary requirement for success in life. The thrust of this post is: why do we ask students to do well in school? As you said, high GPAs and the such doesn't really matter; "it is about the person."

If this is really the case, why not just say to little Johnny that he doesn't need to apply himself in school, that all he needs to do is "get by," b/c, after all, doing well in school truly doesn't matter? Answer: B/c it's categorically false.

Comment by Pat Coyle on September 27, 2008 at 10:22pm

I could be wrong, but I'll bet there are at least a few straight A students out there who have gone on to high levels of achievement :-)

Comment by Steve Stuck on September 28, 2008 at 8:40am

How about the kids doing well because their parents in grain in them to do so. Relying on just your grades to become successful is not the only component in life. Achieving good grades does instill study habits and working hard, but once you leave school, the world owes you nothing.

No, in America you don't have to be extraordinary if your black to be average. Absolutely not true and I feel you are probably putting this label on Obama because he is either tied or losing in the polls. Maybe, just maybe people are listening to his ideas and not agreeing with him.

Comment by Hazel "The Queen" Walker on September 28, 2008 at 9:37am

I think as a parent it is my responsibility to give my kids the "Pros" and "Cons" of higher education, but I was clear that they had to do well in school. College was up to them, because I was not going to pay for most of it, if they were going to spend their hard earned money they would want to do well, it was their future, their investment.

And I don't buy the Extraordinary to be considered Average argument.

Comment by Nwokedi C. Idika on September 28, 2008 at 10:43am

"Relying on just your grades to become successful is not the only component in life." --I'm not disputing this.

Well, not "buying" or "believing" the extraordinary to be average argument is a luxury that only a White person can have.

If you have some time, check out this video: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JNvCWATr26s and jump to the 7th minute.

Then check out this article: http://media.www.guilfordian.com/media/storage/paper281/news/2006/04/14/News/Tim-Wise.Speaks.Of.Realities.Of.Racism-1856534.shtml where Tim Wise (the guy in the video above) mentions a poll that suggests that more White Americans believe there's a significant chance of Elvis being alive than there exists discrimination against "minorities."

Comment by Joe Shoemaker on September 28, 2008 at 1:30pm

I'm stunned by the near-instant rush to justify and rationalize how it's OK to be a poor student... as there's so much anecdotal evidence to support that a lack of education doesn't inhibit success.

Steve Stuck wrote: "No, in America you don't have to be extraordinary if your black to be average. Absolutely not true and I feel you are probably putting this label on Obama because he is either tied or losing in the polls. Maybe, just maybe people are listening to his ideas and not agreeing with him."

Steve: what does this mean?

Comment by Steve Stuck on September 28, 2008 at 2:15pm

Meaning that with the original posting, he was trying to get across that Bush/McCain are just average students, but somehow race (being black) you can be an exceptional student but still be considered average. So I was making an assumption he was writing about Obama. That is what I was taking from the original posting.

I didn't say education doesn't play a role, but just because you walk out of a university, life doesn't become instantly easy and you become successful in a business.

Comment by Anita LeBeau Griggs on September 28, 2008 at 5:29pm

Going back to the original post about the message being sent to kids regarding good grades in school, I have to say it is probably a convoluted message that is made even more complicated by the standardized education and testing programs that our schools are held to.

Here's the way I see it.......we need to make sure that our kids know and understand the importance of knowledge, diligence, integrity, honesty, hard work and ethics. Our schools were put in place to provide at least a portion of this and assist in bolstering what the parents were teaching the kids, too. We have now connected the money each school gets with how well the student body of that particular school does on standardized tests. The problem.....kids aren't standardized. Each and every kid learns differently, just ask any intervention specialist or parent of an LD kid, and the knowledge of the kids, especially those that learn best through more non-mainstream methods, cannot be measured by a test geared for masses. From these standardized tests and requirements schools establish their curiculums and expectations for accomplishments and grades for being successful.

Based on this standardization, expecting every kids to "do well" or "get good grades" is only setting many of them up for failure. Almost every kid is bright, capable and talented if they are allowed to learn through the methods that serve them best; however, when they are forced into a mold much of that luster dissipates. As parents, we need to help our kids figure out what works best for them and how that can be filtered into the standardized processes required by our schools so that each and every kid (regardless of race) believes that they are as successful and intelligent as they really are and become the talented, productive adults that they have the potential to become.

In short, the message that needs to go to kids is that they should always do their personal best and when the tools that they need the most to successfully accomplish a task are not handed to them, then they should know they are capable and resourceful enough to go out and get those tools and do the job.

Just my 2 cents......

Comment by Nwokedi C. Idika on September 28, 2008 at 7:06pm

@Steve:
(1) My post isn't about Obama. I find that a lot of disagreements in the blogosphere are based on straw men.

(2) The "extraordinary to be average" statement extends well beyond the classroom. America, more than any other country in the world, is a place where ANYONE can achieve his/her dreams through hard work--which is why it's referred to as the "land of opportunity." America judges people on the merit of their work more than any other country--but that doesn't mean it's perfect as much as we'd love to believe that.

To believe that everyone is treated fairly, regardless of race, is more than a little bit naive. If the position is that there are Black people out there that are judged on the merit of their work, then the position is absolutely true. However, the position that all Black people are judged on the merit of their work is wholly untenable.

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