I used to believe that as long as one studied long and hard, any student could pass any class. Academic failure was a result of laziness, lack of discipline, and wrong priorities.
Reality has a much grayer scale than that.
I’m learning that there are some kids who try hard, who study for hours, who have the right priorities, and who still fail. Would you be surprised to hear that it’s not my obviously special-needs student who is teaching me this?
I don’t want to discount laziness. For me (and for many people), academic failure DOES mean laziness and should receive discipline...for laziness, not for “bad” grades. But for some kids, who look and act and seem completely normal, academic failure is not at all an indicator of laziness. It could signify poor teaching method, lack of enough practice, a badly chosen curriculum, a completely unique learning style, a learning disability, or a combination of multiple of these things!
This year is stretching me in so many ways. Some days I feel like I’ve been tossed into the very middle of the really deep part of a large and rather murky pool that might possibly have sharks...and told to teach the two people there with me how to swim!
Teachers make teaching look so easy.
Back to the gray scale of reality: What is the balance of teaching so a person actually learns the subject versus teaching so a person is forced to learn how to cope in the ‘real’ world? Academics after 6th grade increase exponentially in their left-brain requirements. What does that mean for those students who process ‘differently’?
My heart breaks for one struggling student, whom at least I can try to help (because Someone first reached out to help me). What about the hundreds of other kids who slip through the academic cracks, labeled with disorders and given medications, who really just need someone to explain things a little differently?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
-Proverbs 9.10
When kids are consistently frustrated with school, how will they learn to desire wisdom and insight? If traditional learning involves feeling like a failure, what are we teaching kids about the life-long process of learning to become like Jesus?
I've wondered the same thing from my experiences listening to parents and simply teaching a variety of people a little bit of horseback riding. I try everything I think might be helpful to explain a concept, but sometimes I wonder if the key is something I wouldn't think would be helpful, because I don't think that way. :-P Then I think I'm overthinking and try to go with the flow.
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