5 Comments
Apr 5Liked by Cecil A. Grant Jr

Many educational policies and school administrations contribute to this problem by not holding children accountable. "Parents don’t demand excellence from their children unless it has something to do with sports." I believe too many educational polices do the same thing. If one wants to be on a sports team, one must work his or her way through JV to varsity. The opposite seems to be true of academics (other than the few AP classes, if any), with mixing as many abilities as possible in a classroom and then teaching to the average. This drags down the brightest and leaves behind those who need more time learning to hold and throw a football.

Expand full comment
author

School admin. is another huge hinderance to the education of students. Educators get thrown under the bus by admin. because they don't want the hassle that comes with pushing back on parents. The schools promote all this higher education but as you state in the end the class dynamics cause the educators to teach to the average. As a former adjunct professor, you'll find the same attitude at college. Students don't want to learn they just want a passing grade so they can move on. Admin. is afraid of the students so professors are "asked" to acquiesce to the desires of the students. Our entire education system needs to be scraped.

Expand full comment
Apr 5Liked by Cecil A. Grant Jr

The adults need to go see a brain chiropractor for an attitude adjustment. I worked as a sub for a few years and every single time I brought up the benefits of separating classes by level of accomplishment I would get looked at in horror. Then I would hear how that would make many children feel bad. I often subbed math classes with a mix of students from the barely comprehending to the A+. It was depressing how much it held everyone back. The bottom couldn't keep up, the top was bored, and the middle at least seemed to do okay. But even that middle would have made more progress if I had been able to teach at their level. Imagine the hysteria if we did this with football. Bring in the chubby guy who is trying to get in shape and still can't hold a football, then make the varsity players spend their days working out at his level.

Expand full comment
author

I heard someone asked a university with a great football team if they supported DEI and of course they said yes. Then he asked if they would support efforts to make their football team more racially balanced. Of course the answer was no. DEI for somethings but not everything. Hmmm....

Expand full comment

Spot on! Helicopter parents, lawnmower parents, soft-parenting, etc. does not make a child resilient and industrious. It only makes the child needy and insecure in their own abilites. Haidt’s interview on Honestly and his book are excellent.

Expand full comment