The “Pass It On” movement is a wonderful concept in society. The idea of passing king acts along to other people, who then pass on another kind act is amazing. However, the “Pass Them On” movement being forced on public school teachers is not a benefit to the students, teachers, nor society. Public school systems are now so enamored with successes with numbers that we no longer care if we actually teach the student anything or not. Graduation rates and test scores are all that matter. Our public school systems are no longer concerned with whether or not actually each and prepare students for life after high school.
There are several ways to observe the impact of the change in focus of our public schools. Our students are no longer students to our public school boards, they are only numbers. My research for this article focused on the time period of 1998-2018. I think it is important to have the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act as an early portion of the study. From 1998-2018 the national graduation rate climbed about 13%, depending on your source. Either way you are looking at a movement from the low 70% to the low or mid-80%. The corresponding number is to look at the average time taken to earn a 4-year bachelor’s degree. Again, using 1998-2018 as the reference, the shift goes from just over 4 years to just over 5-and-a-half years. Due to the lack of education, actual learning, we as teachers are now allowed to provide our students college’s are forced to have students use their first year taking college prep classes.
It seems odd. However, our students were provided a much better education when our national graduation rage was in the low 70% range. At that point more of our students were better prepared for college, or work after they finished high school. We are so much more concerned about the numbers than the students we literally are forced by our school board and administration to give students grades even when they do none of the work. Under this policy a student can sit in the classroom, do zero work, not take test, and end the quarter with an absolute “0” average. Yet, at the end of the grading period we are forced to change the grade to a “50%”. It only takes a 60% to pass in my current school system.
The reasoning given to defend the giving of students a grade is so a student does not fall behind at the beginning of the year and give up. What really happens is that the student quits at the beginning of the year, understanding they do not have to do anything until the final grading period. We actually have students who tell us they aren’t going to do anything in the class because we have to give them a 50% anyway. The students are not being positively reinforced by this policy. The students are not being “saved”. All we are actually doing is encouraging them to do even less work than they would have anyway. When these students graduate (and they will graduate) they will eventually get a job. We have taught these students that they will go to work, do nothing, and still receive half of their paycheck. What will actually happen is exactly what we have trained them for; they will go to work and do nothing and get fired.
So, what exactly did we do to help this students? Nothing!
Public School Truth 