I have an admission to make
regarding education. I am among those who have a concern that our society is
already reaping the results of an education that concerns itself too much with
self-esteem. I am not knowledgeable enough to go into the matter extensively
here. I want to focus upon a recent bit information that has come my way.[1]
In some school districts across the
country, grades of zero are outdated. No more ZEROS! There is a movement afoot
in some educational systems that is designed to keep students from feeling the
pain of a ZERO. These school districts are creating a grading scale in which
failure is not an option. For example, Virginia's Fairfax County Public
Schools, middle and high school students can earn a score no lower than 50.
Across the Potomac River in Maryland, Prince George's County will limit failing
grades to a 50 percent minimum score. All the students have to do is show a
"good-faith effort." The result, apparently, is that failure is not
an option.
My concern is the reason offered for this
change in grading. Some educators believe such a grading system is more
conducive to learning. Thus, getting a score of 50 percent instead of 0 can
encourage students to catch up when they fall behind. The zero would encourage
students to give up. This result could lead a student down the path of dropping
out.
Other educators, however, point out
failing needs to be an option. Giving a failing grade can teach the student
diligence, prepare them for college, and even prepare them for the real world. Giving
nothing lower than 50 percent can mask genuine failure in the classroom. It can
also advance students who have not mastered the material, which is the point of
the grading system. If we assume that they need to master the material in order
to succeed in life, they will never know that they have failed in certain
basics.
You have likely seen books in the
business world that refer to the importance of failure. We are to “fail
forward.” The assumption is that we will fail. Do we succeed all the time? Of course
not, but if failure is not an option, the implication is that we succeed all
the time. We do not. If we are not failing, we are probably not being creative
or taking enough risks. The issue is what we do with failure. One business
saying suggests that failure is not only an option, but also a requirement. The
point is, failure is an option in life and work. It seems as if it needs to be
an option in school.
In fact, studies have shown that
people become more careful when they sense greater risk, and less careful when
they feel more protected. Students of human behavior call this behavior "risk
compensation." For example, motorists drive faster when wearing seatbelts.
They drive closer to the vehicle in front of them when they have anti-lock
brakes. In the sport of skydiving, equipment has become steadily more reliable
but the fatality rate has remained constant, since skydivers are now engaging
in riskier behavior. The conclusion from such behavior is simple. People make
better choices when failure is an option.
Yet, I am not just concerned about education. You
see, spiritual failure is serious business because it involves your life. We discover
in Genesis 2 and 3 that even if human beings are in an ideal situation, they
will chose wrongly. They will fail to live the way God wanted them to live. They
will not fulfill the purpose God had for them. Of course, the issue is what we
do with such failures.
[1] Balingit, Moriah and Donna
St. George. "Is it becoming too hard for students to fail in school?"
The Washington Post, July 6, 2016, A1, washingtonpost.com.
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