Do we as educators and parents ever take a look at what Herculean effort now goes into today’s student receiving an A+? And what grave disappointment follows when that A+ is not achieved? I have listened to many parents, totally overwhelmed by the hours of time it takes after school to complete assignments, many of which their child may not even understand. And I have listened to educators, caught in the middle of ever changing government regulations telling them how and what to teach. And the ever-lurking watchdog call standardized test scores that determines the future employment of the school’s administration and the amount of dollars available to each school.

Who pays the price for this system? We all do! The teachers must teach to the tests, whether they think they are doing that or not. The children must learn, whether they are interested or not. And the parents must be sure their children are mastering the demands of the curriculum in order to have a stellar grade record in order to attend the college of their choice, and ultimately get good jobs and have a good life. And the rest of us suffer the consequences of having burned out teachers who leave their jobs early, children who drop out of school, and parents who become more and more frustrated with a system that robs them of their family life.

What happened to being happy?

Let’s start over and re-frame our thoughts.  An A+ means that the student understands the material and has mastered the assignment – and most importantly – feels a great sense of accomplishment and enthusiasm for the subject, and is eager to embrace the next more expansive topic. In preparing to demonstrate mastery, the student reviews the written material, asks questions of teachers and others in their lives, understands the importance of the subject for themselves, and has learned to evaluate the learning from their own perspective, demonstrating accuracy and good judgment. He or she has a sense of joy at mastering the knowledge, and finds it useful for understanding the world he/she lives in.

If there is no personal connection to the material, this will not be a happy learning experience. Or if material that is mastered is repeated over and over, never moving to the next step, boredom follows. If the material is too advanced – either the student is not understanding the background to support it, or the material is not appropriate to his/her maturation level, defeat, frustration, and low self-esteem are the inevitable consequences.

I will be writing a series of blogs on the dynamics of education, drawing from my background as a marriage and family therapist, music and special education teacher, Waldorf-trained elementary education teacher, teacher of Lindamood-Bell reading and math programs, and my many years teaching skills for great communication beginning with Parent Effectiveness Training back in the ‘70’s. As a therapist,

I see the long-term damage current common education practices have on the student, their parents, and the whole family dynamic. As a teacher, I look to what a healthy education environment should be to support real learning. I want to share with you the qualities I understand must be present for a healthy student to take responsibility for his/her own learning, and demonstrate successful enthusiastic mastery of that learning in the context of his/her total life experience. Life is, after all, about having a happy fulfilling experience while we are here enjoying our beautiful planet.

Please add in your comments below. I think most of us have pretty strong feelings one way or the other about what is happening in the process of teaching our children. Let me hear from you. Dialogue is definitely a part of our own learning process, so please participate with me!