First,
The American Spectator is a fairly conservative publication. So keep that in mind as you read the article. There's nothing wrong with being conservative, your IB Coordinator is a pretty conservative guy who used to have a subscription to this magazine, back when there were paper magazines. But you should always try to identify the bias.
That being said, a recent article entitled
Not Making the Grade by
Ken Blackwell has a lot to say about high school and college admissions. Specifically with the ideas of achievement and entitlement.
Achievement represents things that we have accomplished through our own effort and ability. Achievement cannot be given to you or done for you, otherwise it is not achievement. Achievement is individual, it cannot be shared although it can be combined with others. As the article says
Our lives are filled with measures of achievement.Entitlement represents things that are given to us through no effort of our own. Entitlement can only be given by others and cannot be obtained by oneself. Entitlement is community oriented because it requires others to give you something you have not earned. Entitlement is not charity, which springs from an inner desire to do good. Entitlement is selfish, demanding special consideration for no other reason except that you want something and should have it easily. My toddler at home feels this way, but he is only 2.
In many ways, very ably pointed out, the measures of achievement are being removed from our lives and replaced with the idea of entitlement. For high school students, who want grades without working for them, the result is students that are unprepared for the more difficult work at university. Does this sound like anyone you know?
George Leef with the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy wrote of this problem at the college level, noting that more college students today expect high grades for simply showing-up in class or completing reading assignments. The New York Times explored the issue as well, quoting college educators bemoaning the fact that too many students are equating effort with quality of work. So how does this play itself out at the college level? Colleges respond to the students they are getting by making admissions standards focused less on achievement and more on...
well on something else which is not always so clearly defined.
An illustration of this is seen in the relatively small but growing number of colleges that have dropped standardized testing as a requirement for admission in favor of "holistic" admission practices.Holistic can have a lot of meanings, but one meaning it definitely doesn't have is a focus on grades and scores. By removing the emphasis on tests and grades colleges open themselves up to a shifting field of admission standards that students will find hard to understand.
Presenting students with uncertain and imprecise standards for admission plays into this growing sense of entitlement. It stands to reason that, if the standards for admission to college are subject to holistic whims, so too should be the grades given to students.
Read the whole article and think about your own approach to your work and the expectations you have for your school and your future college. When education is weakened, society suffers in the long run. Expecting
rewards without results will not benefit the student, the school or the country you call home.
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