<p>Let the discussion begin!</p>
<p>Oh yes! This guy is on the right track. Ad to the prescription for strong academic achievement "hard work" and "time on task". Kids (including my darling son) - spend way too much time playing computer games, and not enough time studying!!!! :)</p>
<p>I am glad I am not a teacher. It seems the teachers, rather than the students or parents, get the blame when kids don't do well in school. Discipline seems to work about the same way. The teacher is on the defensive when kids are disruptive in school.</p>
<p>I love this article. I'm a teacher, and my students will be reading and debating this one next week! </p>
<p>I'm constantly assuring the parents of my middle school students that it's okay for their children to struggle, and in fact, it's good for them to experience some failures in school. How else will they build resiliency or learn how to bounce back? Coming from a middle to upper-middle class community, these kids are often quite sheltered from not only hard work but adversity of any kind. (And I speak for my own two kids, as well.) We parents want to shelter our kids from pain and defeat -- rescuing them is part of our genetic predisposition, I guess -- yet on the other hand we want them to grow up to be disciplined and persevering. I don't think they can have the latter without the former. We need more guts as parents. And we need to stop always blaming others when our kids find something difficult or impossible. Instead of swooping in to "fix" everything for them, we should be encouraging them to figure it out and tough it out more often.</p>
<p>The pressure on some teachers is such that they depend on prescribed medication to get through the day. They are always to blame for students' non-performance. Of course, as in every profession, there are incompetent teachers.</p>
<p>My opinion now..</p>
<p>In high school teachers need the students to perform well so the school could receive more funding when Spring testing comes, therefore a lot of pressure is put on the teachers to make sure the students know the material well (spoon feed students everything).</p>
<p>In college, the responsibility to succeed shifts over to the student, since the professor has no need to spoon feed the students the material- it's up to the student to understand and study the material.</p>
<p>Comparing hard-working immigrant children to middle-, upper-middle class kids is like comparing apples and oranges.</p>
<p>Obviously the families of the former have experienced hardship and overcome huge obstacles, and these experiences provide students from such families with tremendous motivation.</p>
<p>The privileged kids don't have a clue about struggling to survive.</p>
<p>Is it possible to put a fire in the belly of kids who have always lived comfortably?</p>
<p>I have mentioned a number of times before how difficult our HS's AP Calc courses are and how relatively few students get A's. Here are some interesting comments from students about this teacher.</p>
<p>-It takes a little to get used to him, but i passed my calc ap exam after nearly failing the class - he went so far into the material, the ap exam was easier! </p>
<p>-Wouldn't coddle or babysit students, but demanded they put forth effort and tried to learn. </p>
<p>-I will probably never have a math teacher as good as Mr. xxx. If you survive his class, you're good for life. </p>
<p>-How about 100 times, mr. rxxx was the best teacher i had in h.s., prepped me for more than just college calc </p>
<p>-Way cool teacher. I'm proud to get a C in his class! If only other teachers would push us like he does. He's inspired me to consider becoming a math teacher. </p>
<p>-I still remember Mr XXXX! Such a great teacher and prepared me for life. If you do pass his class your ready for life! YOUR THE BEST MR XXXX!!! </p>
<p>-The most amazing teacher you will ever have. Runs a tight (very tight) ship, but you <em>will</em> learn. </p>
<p>-Has high expectations for all of his students, and won't let you take the easy out. </p>
<p>Why do I post these comments. Because it demonstrates that our children appreciate and enjoy(in some perverse way) being challenged in the classroom. The A takes a backseat to having to fight and scrap to do well on that next test. And after taking the AP exam, do the students get a break in class for the remainder of the school year? NOOOOOO! They have to learn new subject matter on their own then teach it to the class including a problem set and answer key for Mr. XXXX.</p>
<p>Students and parents(shame) who expect straight A's are a big part of the problem here as the article suggests. I sometimes have a frosh advisee who comes in to cry on my shoulder after that first round of midterms. They are usually the ones who have gotten mostly A's and a smattering of B's during HS. My advice is always-work harder, join a study group, attend review sessions, take advantage of office hours and don't think a C or B is the end of the world because it isn't.</p>
<p>PS No, my DS did not get an A in Calc AP.</p>
<p>Oh, don't even get me started. Yes, there are some parents to blame, the quote "guilt ridden parents who have little time to spend", speaks volumes. Well then, as I drive thru the huge million dollar home development up from my house, where there are no kids playing outside, not a sole in site, and my son was friends with a kid from one of those homes who could never play, never do anything because he was shuffled from grandparent to daycare while his parents worked long hours. How about a cheaper home, how about somebody doesn't work full time and stays home with the kids, and take care of those kids you had? How about that? yes, there are people out there who struggle and work because they have to. but you do not need a million dollar home. you just don't, especially when it is the kids who suffer for that home that they are never in. But then , how about the teachers who are currently working maybe putting some effort into what they do, realizing when they have had enough and getting out. How about no excuses. how about meeting with parents at 6pm at night after work instead of how our school did it, (meeting with teachers was between 7:45 and 8:00, just when I was getting my kids ready for school). as a nurse I know that I will have to stay late sometimes, work through lunch, breaks etc etc. so teachers don't know this going in that they may have to meet with a parent or 2? I refuse to let teachers off the hook. If consistently you are getting kids with bad grades, look inward. My son excels in mathematics, but he had a horrible teacher for algebra and actually failed. a kid who gets all A's in anything mathematical. who can do complex problems in his head. He retook it with a different teacher and had an average of something like 120. This is a double edge sword, with both sides needing to take culpibility. I had such nightmare experiences with my son in middle school with teachers who had one foot in the grave, who had been my teachers and my brothers teachers before him, who should have been in nursing homes and not school districts. They didn't care, they made no bones about not caring because they had tenure, (what an outdated, ridiculous system), and everything was my fault, a struggling single parent who was working with her son nightly for at least 4 hours, school refused to provide any tutors or assistance at all, couldn't meet with me because they couldn't fit it in to that 15 minute timeframe. oh, you got me started.......because it has continued even into the college system with professors who don't care either, and again make no bones about it, ( the school even admitted that there were teachers that were a problem), but there you have the privilege of paying exhorbitant amounts of money for apathy! ooooooo</p>
<p>Indeed, it MUST be the students and their families! Of course, it cannot be the teachers! </p>
<p>By the way, are there are any other countries in the world who share similar patterns of wealth and time constraints? </p>
<p>Why is the United States a worldwide leader in education through elementary schools and drops like an anchor after middle school? Do children switch parents in 8th grade? </p>
<p>Nah, it could not be the rotten to the core system and the god-darn awful teachers whose three main reasons to become teachers were June, July, and August!</p>
<p>Where's the problem?</p>
<p>
[quote]
U.S.-born classmates from upper-class homes with highly educated parents
[/quote]
</p>
<p>somehow, I suspect these kids won't need to work very hard (at least not in the traditional academic sense) in order to have career success as adults. The parents will grub stake them financially. They've already been honing their contact network at summer camps, ECs etc. </p>
<p>Now, add to this the extensive body of research that shows that academic performance and career success do not correlate, (OK, a few areas yes...), and I say the system is working just fine.</p>
<p>This reminds me of research looking at why so few US born folks go into science and engineering careers. The conclusion was that science and engineering work is too hard relative to the awards; that kids with the right backgrounds can pursue other careers that will be more financially rewarding with less effort involved.</p>
<p>So let's be realistic. Situations like the article discuss are not only normal, to me, they are expected. They merely highlight how many paths folks here have to their own self defined success.</p>