<p>I don’t know if there is less ‘rigor’ in my kids’ education than there was with mine. Perhaps.</p>
<p>But there is at least the impression out there that parents are way more involved in the lives of their children now than a generation ago.</p>
<p>As much as we like to blame TV, video games, the loss of the canon, etc., we also should look at different parenting styles.</p>
<p>I know parents who would go over their kid’s homework in elementary school before it was handed in. So, on third grade math problems involving multiplication and division, the child would do the homework and then the parent would check it over before it was handed in, pointing to mistakes and having the child correct it. Of course, this kind of involvement sounds fantastic, as the parent is involved with helping the child learn his or her math.</p>
<p>But notice that it was done before the grade was given out. Rarely did I ever hear of a parent going over the homework after it was graded and then sitting down with the child to point out mistakes and then talking about how to correct them.</p>
<p>A lot of this had to do with making sure that the kid got the top grades. I am sure the parent wanted the child to learn the concept, but a big part has to do with the grade.</p>
<p>If we can’t stand to see our kids get a dreaded B (much less a C or F) on a third grade multiplication assignment, then we also can’t stand to see our kids get a B in high school or even college, when the material is more complex and we, as parents, have less control over how to ‘fix’ it for them. </p>
<p>Add to this the notion that hard work should earn the results you are looking for, and our consumeristic ideology about education (education is a product, I am a customer (or client), I need to be satisfied since I am the customer/client) then we can see how we get grade inflation and lack of rigor.</p>