“They have no study skills.”
“They’re so unprepared for college studying, like organizing lecture notes.”
“Those high school teachers are letting my kids retake tests, and it’s making them lazy.”
These were a few sentiments I heard among a few other parents (one of whom was a college professor) while waiting to pick up our kids. That teachers just aren’t sufficiently preparing students for the next level.
This has had me asking myself tough questions ever since. A lot of them.
Like this one: Amid all my soap-box preaching about student ownership, what if, after all we do to teach our children to own their learning, they find that somewhere down the line, ownership is impossible?
When we try to focus more on powerful learning & less on “doing school,” are we doing our students a disservice for later expectations?
Where’s the line between building our kids up for what’s coming, and focusing on all their developmental needs now?
Or even, if I want my 1st grader to someday get into the university of her dreams, shouldn’t I do all I can to help her get “ahead of the curve” starting now?
But then…
I see articles like this that suggest that kids who wait to start kindergarten for a year have fewer problems with ADHD & hyperactivity. Which makes me think (especially since kindergarten is the new first grade) that all this prep for the next level is perhaps taking its toll already.
And I see posts like Taryn Bond-Clegg’s sharing her dream of a system that supports rather than hinders a culture of student agency. Which makes me think that every action that focuses more on the here-&-now of our student’s needs helps us move closer toward a better system.
And then I see articles like this that remind us all that best practices are always the bottom line for the present:
We do not sacrifice good instruction because those in upper levels are not there yet. Instead, we employ what we know works, and we spend time mentoring those above us in what we do.
I still don’t have all the answers. But in the end, maybe college level study-skills can just — wait until college…
featured image: DeathToTheStockPhoto