<p>I think you all might find this article thought provoking.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting this valuable article.</p>
<p>"In 1981, while I was teaching at an independent school, this journal published my very first article about education. It was an ironic commentary, perhaps a tad short on subtlety, entitled “How to Make the Least of Your College Years,” and it consisted of ten rules that had already “helped literally millions of students successfully avoid meaningful learning experiences.” Among them:</p>
<p>Let grades control your life. All decisions about how to spend your time and plan your academic schedule should be arrived at with grades in mind. Anything that increases the probability of an A is time well spent; conversely, anything that distracts your attention from boosting a grade is time wasted. . . .</p>
<p>Most important of all, always think in terms of “product.” . . . If an activity most likely will not lead to a tangible reward…you’re better off without it. Under no circumstances should you allow yourself to enjoy something for its own sake.</p>
<p>These bits of paradoxical advice were intended to satirize something that I continue to write about, more than two decades letter. Now, however, the sensibility in question shows up long before students even get to college. Indeed, teenagers are making the least of their high school years in large part because of their desperate attempts to get into college."</p>
<p>A bit melodromatic, but competition prefaces real life challenges IMO. Some kids just lack the mettle or lack the support and compensatory ability to cope with certain stressors. To what extent it should be manipulated by the academic powers may be debatable, but it has to be there. Life is hard, always has been, always will be. Whether it is by testing, athletic competition, applying for a job, boot camp, pre med, pre engineering, etc, there is a weeding out process. Even if it wasn't by a man made set of circumstances, life has a way of exposing our weaknesses and fortifying our strengths. The key is preparing our youth mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually to navigate the challenges that will certainly come their way. The academic environment is just one of those challenges.</p>
<p>You have to have definable standards and goals. Everyone is not going to win, or have equal success. There should be allowances for subjective factors, but the objective factors have to weigh in more. Sadly, some are not up to the challenge. Leadership and being one of the best has never been about the majority. It's always been about a select few. There can be contentment and satifaction in being the best YOU can be. Maybe not Harvard best or Pulitzer Prize, Super Bowl, or even American Idol best for that matter. In the varying degrees of success from the pinnacle, one can find happiness. That doesn't mean we should lessen curriculums, or put more emphasis on "feeling good" about something versus "being good" at something. The key for educators and society at large is to have both as much as humanly possible.</p>
<p>Interesting article. Much of it, I agree with.</p>
<p>As usual, I am irritated by the scapegoating of APs, and, by implication, dismissal of those who take many of them as only out to boost their resumes. I've said it a bunch of times here, and I'll say it again...some of us come from worlds where the APs are generally the best option available to us, even in the very best schools in our districts, and made great subjects available that wouldn't have been taught otherwise, and some of us had brilliant AP teachers who made the classes a joy and not simply teaching a test (and the AP tests are not simply about rote learning here - every AP I took had a "free response" critical thinking-oriented section, that was usually half the score).</p>
<p>"If an activity most likely will not lead to a tangible reward…you’re better off without it. Under no circumstances should you allow yourself to enjoy something for its own sake."</p>
<p>This satirizes a mentality that horrifies me whenever I see it. I see this sometimes on graduate application advice boards...students telling other students not to do various activities that they enjoy because it won't help them on their apps. I also see it here, with students asking which of a list of activities they should do to maximize their chances of getting in to certain schools.</p>
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<p>That's sad, but I'm sure that's far from the only example of that among high school students.</p>
<p>I have to agree with jessiehl here about APs. At our school, if you don't take APs, you learn much less, and our APs aren't test-directed. Some of our most interesting teachers are AP teachers.</p>
<p>And then we exacerbate the problem by implementing NCLB...</p>
<p>For me, I don't find the process stressful at all, but I guess that's cause my life philosophy is diff from most. If you see everything as a experience that you are to enjoy and be amused at, then applying to college, doing homework, and studying are all experiences that although may not be fun, it is most efficent and wise for your own self-fufillment in life to embrace them just like anything else. Take every experience in full and enjoy being amused by it. That's why I'm never stressed out if I have a 20 page paper due in 2 hours that I didn't start on yet or have 6 AP exams lined up in 2 weeks - some more unique experiences. Getting stressed out, just like getting angry or mad, is an experience, but letting it ruin your other experiences is called being stupid and inefficent. That's how I personally avoid any stress related to academics and college admissions and extracurricular pursuits. </p>
<p>Don't be a coach potato, but actively enjoy life! Do that, you'll get into an ivy, and suceed, and be the most materially successful and spiritually happiest person in the world.</p>
<p>I've sort of had this exact same discussion a bajillion times, so I'll just add:</p>
<p>ALFIE KOHN is my HERO. Really. Really really. </p>
<p>If you liked the article- his books are good too. I'm mostly through Punished by Rewards... That's a bit more controversial than this article, because it says that children don't even need to be praised constantly to be okay... Sounds ridiculous when you first hear it, but he writes an amazing arguement and it's also pretty interesting.</p>
<p>And on APs- they're also the best option at my school, but it's true that our teachers sometimes rush through things in order to cover all of College Board's curriculum... Probably learn less in some cases. And it makes it more difficult for teachers to be creative with how they teach.</p>