Reply to Why academic awards for elementary aged kids are a bad idea.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We've had some European exchange students stay with us, and they all find our American reward and certificate obsession completely weird and alien. So those of you here who are saying "that's life," well, it's not life everywhere. Even in countries that are doing a helluva lot better than we are on any number of metrics.

As one kid put it, if a teacher's student isn't winning awards, isn't it really the fault of the teacher?

Ha![/quote]

Yes, this must be exactly why America is doing worse than other countries.  Never mind that they don't have the drastic educational inequality, or that their culture probably respects intellectuals more, or that their teachers are highly qualified, highly paid, and highly respected, or that their curriculum is more developed, uniform, and organized nation-wide, it must be our "obsession" with certificates.   :roll: [/quote]

You are arguing against a point I did not make. Please turn your attention to the words and try again. I'll give you a little trophy if that helps.[/quote]

No need to be rude, it just emphasizes the fundamental weakness of your argument.

It IS life.  Maybe kids don't get certificates everywhere, but people are rewarded for their work and accomplishments everywhere.  And sometimes that reward is not fair.  Like I said, if you have to contort yourself so much for the sake of avoiding your kids' discomfort, something is wrong with the way you are thinking.  You are not going to be hovering over your kid forever, keeping them from feeling disappointment.[/quote]

No, the point is that adults create the school environment and decide what will go on there and how children will be recognized, motivated, and rewarded for what they do. For some reason, adults think this is an appropriate thing to do to children, when actual real research on children's experience of this stuff for the short and long term tends to be either "meh" or, overall and quite predictably, the OPPOSITE of what we want to have happen.

So what I am saying is: (a) It is not a universally accepted part of "life"--other cultures think it is a bizarre and alien practice. (b) There is no reason to contort yourself or your child into accepting a practice that is completely optional and done at the whim of adults who think it is fun to see children stand with awards. Children do not care--at least, not in the ways we think and hope they do. (c) As mentioned, actual data suggests this is a countermotivational thing to do in education--seek out the highest achieving young kids and give them awards at an assembly.

And therefore, as mindful and cognizant adults who construct the worlds of school where our children grow up and presumably develop important understandings of what learning is, why they learn, why they try hard, who they are, and what others value of them, we can decide to do it. Or not.  And I say not.[/quote]

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