Jest Let Them Rite (A Parent's View)

Here is an analogy that might help explain why I personally am against the "just let the kids write" idea of so many teachers.

Years ago my daughter's school paid to have a portable, inflatable planetarium dome set up for several days. Kids and parents signed up to sit inside and view the constellations. The group putting this on decided to make it "multi-cultural" and showed us the constellations with super-imposed images as viewed by the Native Americans.

Tick, tick, tick, the back of my mind began to question how was it possible that 5,000 miles away from Greece, these people looked up at Orion and saw "Chief Long Sash" with his sash hanging where Orion had his sword hanging from his belt. How did they see "The Basket Weaver" sitting between two large baskets, when the Greeks saw Cassiopeia sitting between the large arms of her throne?

Tick, tick, tick, it became clear to me this group had NOT studied Native American star legends, but had simply changed the Greek images to "native" sounding names. I checked, and sure enough, our local tribes saw the footprints of the God of the Fleas in the stars of Orion. Now it was obvious; these promoters of the lab deemed Native American star stories too silly or less than worthy of presenting. So in an attempt to add "cultural awareness" they quite possibly;
a) made every parent who identified the constellations by European names look foolish,
b) taught the children false and useless images for identifying the constellations,
c) made any Native American child feel something was wrong with their own culture.

My point is; just as this "multi-cultural" experiment was constructed so poorly, if you also let children just write willy-nilly, with no rules, then the self esteem you think you are building is slapped down hard when they sit for SATs or have to write a paragraph for a college entrance exam or a job interview.
This is just wrong headed thinking. Teach the rules I say!

I'll stop now and let the lambasting by educational professionals begin.

Comments: 12

Dorine H. Aug 1, 2007, 7:19pm EDT

In my 30+ years in higher ed, I've found more and more freshmen entering college unable to put together a coherent sentence--never mind a paragraph or essay, and they think it is okay not to be able to spell or use apostrophes correctly. I end up teaching them things they should have learned by age 10 so they can get the respect (and decent grades) they want from the profs in their majors. Those same people write on Gather with such appalling spelling and abuse of apostrophes that the things they say seem unworthy of respect and attention. To many of them lose their cool when omebody gently suggests they need to work o their spelling and mechanis to make their thoughts readable. "Just let the kids write" is as ineffective as "just let them stick together a car any old way and expect it to take them safely from one point to another on the interstate". It doesn't work, whether it's engineering or writing. I actually find foreign students who didn't stat learning English before age 12 who write more readable English than native speakers who think it's okay to "just write".

My SIL, an elementary teacher for over 30 years with her M Ed +60 yanked her now grown kids out of a school who were doing the "just write" thing and put them in a private school with actual standards; I would do the same in a heartbeat. She refused to teach the "just write" way when her school got into the fad, and her results ended up in her being left alone rather than being pressured to go along with the fad.

reply to this comment

Carol Roach Aug 1, 2007, 7:31pm EDT

you make great points, but some kids need to first learn to relax, and create and then you teach them the rules, my son for example refused to write because he was always corrected, when left on his own he wrote, and practiced and improved with gentle guidance.

reply to this comment

Jeana Hamilton Aug 1, 2007, 8:05pm EDT

yes that is silly, why would you tell a child something like that? About the spelling and gramor thing, i cant do either at all, thank god for spell check.

reply to this comment

Apryl Just Apryl Aug 1, 2007, 9:55pm EDT

We have a program here called kera, kira, something like that. The name is not as important as the focus of it. Apparently it's quite all right if billy boy can't read, lets just keep telling him he is a good boy. WHAT ???????????? Are these people insane? When I was a child I brought home A's, I got praise. Why? because I earned it! Since when in society is being nice the same as being literate. How does this equate? I have no faith in the education process, NONE! I am home schooling my five year old because I don't trust school to do an adequate job. Yes, being good is all fine and dandy but reading opens up the world so you have a place to take your nice/good behind.

reply to this comment

Madame Donna C. Aug 1, 2007, 10:21pm EDT

I could tell horror stories of the errors I found in the graduate theses I edited while making extra income in graduate school. Quite honestly, it shocked me that these people gained admittance to institutions of higher learning and could not spell or construct a grammatically correct sentence even half of the time.

reply to this comment

James s F. Aug 2, 2007, 1:04am EDT

Apryl, a good source of cheap knowledge geared to the 11 to 15 year old mind (which is probably 10 to 12 in old era years) is the BSA merit badge booklets.

We had a friend that failed the teacher's exam part on American History/Government. I gave her a copy of the American Heritage booklet, and Citizenship in the Nation booklet. She passed with flying colors. The BSA turns to experts in their respective fields to design the merit badge booklets for scouts.

reply to this comment

Ida I. Aug 2, 2007, 4:03am EDT

The fact of the matter is that all children learn at different levels at different times. Our education system use to be set up for the average learner. This left the ones who were advanced and learning more quickly than the rest of the class bored and learning nothing. The slow learners learned the basics and were pushed along until they became so far behind that they either quit or became to old to keep in the class. No one, educators or parents, addressed this problem. At least in those days some of the non-average children had other things to help them keep interested in learning. Things where they could feel normal. Art classes, music classes, chorus, physical education. Today all of those things are gone. Kids do what they can to scape by and teachers who have little control over how their corriculum is taught are almost as bored as the kids. Teachers are treated by parents as child care and are not given the tools they need to reach out to the non-average students. Advanced kids are sent ahead when they may not be mature enough to be with older students. Underachievers may have problems with one area but are put in remedial classes across the board because the school cannot financially provide what is really needed. The kid figures he's just dumb and quits trying. Later on when these kids go for jobs they are not prepared for life, school, and have to start over in adult reschooling.

reply to this comment

~Lady Neeetah of California~Obama #44 W. Aug 2, 2007, 4:04am EDT

This is pretty much common sense. It's sad to see these things happening, but that is why so many countries are ahead of us in math, the sciences, and probably English, too. It's almost as if the plan is to raise a generation of illiterate people, but why?
What would be the value in such a thing?

reply to this comment

Quinn (aka Entwife) Blackburn Aug 4, 2007, 11:14pm EDT

Hmmm, interesting analogy. Such a shame that folks seem to not even give a second thought to something like that, eh?

..
U wishing you laughter

reply to this comment

NoName *. Aug 16, 2007, 10:22am EDT

Probably for some kids, letting them develop in any direction they choose is good, for others it is importent to know the rules. Personally, reading and writing is an integral part of life (not that I am very well versed in either) but I've known people who have very prestigious jobs who either can't or don't care to make themselves understood even verbally. I don't think reading and writing are as importent to eveyone as the current political climate make them out to be.

reply to this comment

Charlene C. Aug 21, 2007, 4:40pm EDT

I am a former High School Teacher and had to quit due to poor vision. However, I agree completely with your article. The only reason children do not perform at higher standards is because as educators, parents and administrators, we have lowered our "Expectations". I believe in the philosophy that a child will rise to the expectations we place on them. I have seen this time and time again when teaching the so called "troubled" student about which every teacher warned when enrolled in my class. I told each new class at the beginning of the semester, "You all have straight A's in my class until you prove yourself differently, so I expect you to all finish this class with an A". It may not have worked on every studen, but I was surprised at how much it helped with those that normally fell through the cracks, the one no one noticed, and the one that had low self-esteem. Surprisingly they rose to my expectations and actually enjoyed learning. Education is still my passion. I am working on obtaining my Master's Degree in Science with "The Art of Teaching" as my emphasis. I also have strong beliefs about NO ONE LEFT BEHIND mandate. That is for another subject and discussion at a later time. Hugs, Char

reply to this comment

Jest Let Them Rite (A Parent's View)

Comments: 12

Join the Conversation

You might also like

More by James s F.