I got a phone call from a former student asking if she could come by to interview me. She is taking an education course and this was an assignment. Of course I said, come on over. I loved her as a student, loved her younger sister even more and was a big fan of her mom so helping her was something I looked forward to.
I say, looked forward to until I heard the first question. It was about GOALS, my GOALS for the students, my GOALS for classroom management and my GOALS for professional growth.
I couldn't believe my ears. The G-word has now infiltrated college classrooms.
I wanted to run but my body froze and I could barely move. I started to shake and my head started spinning in circles. The girl and her mom got scared. Everyone in the cafeteria stared. Eventually I regained control of my body. I tried giving her some text book answers. I tried to offer real assistance Every time the word goal came out of her mouth I snickered. I had to ask her to go on to some other questions and I promised to e-mail her some copies of my less offensive goal posts. (Hopefully she will be able to tame them down for her teacher.)
I hope I didn't discourage her from becoming a teacher. I know she would make a great one.
I say, looked forward to until I heard the first question. It was about GOALS, my GOALS for the students, my GOALS for classroom management and my GOALS for professional growth.
I couldn't believe my ears. The G-word has now infiltrated college classrooms.
I wanted to run but my body froze and I could barely move. I started to shake and my head started spinning in circles. The girl and her mom got scared. Everyone in the cafeteria stared. Eventually I regained control of my body. I tried giving her some text book answers. I tried to offer real assistance Every time the word goal came out of her mouth I snickered. I had to ask her to go on to some other questions and I promised to e-mail her some copies of my less offensive goal posts. (Hopefully she will be able to tame them down for her teacher.)
I hope I didn't discourage her from becoming a teacher. I know she would make a great one.
2 comments:
Our goals, when listed together:
1) manage your classroom so you never write anyone up
2) enforce the school rules and write up all tardies
3) increase our graduation rate
4) raise your grades by giving grade recovery
5) pass 90%
6) give no grades less than a 60.
7) increase scores on state tests
And they see no conflicts.
One of the sociopathic goals in my school is to meet or beat arbitrary grade point averages for certain classes. AP classes are supposed to have a class average of 84%. Vocational level academic classes are supposed to have a 65% class average. No one explains why this is so; it's just what the administration wants so it's the law.
Of course, what happens as a result is that the kids realize that the teacher is under the gun way more than they are, so they slack off, which lowers the GPA of the class, which consequently requires the teacher to offer make-up assignments or pad the grades or make easy-to-achieve assignments like making steam on a mirror or something.
A teacher asked me today if anyone could trust the accuracy of my grades and I replied that, to be frank, it would be ludicrous to do so with that GPA requirement hanging over my head.
And really, why would I want to do anything other than pad the grades? Why would I chase the kids for late work or missed tests? Why would I ask for yet another stack of assignments to mark when it's easier--and so much more beneficial--to simply add ten or twenty percent to the class average by giving every kid a free mark for every four he earns?
Am I cynical? You bet. It's not just the kids who learn at my school.
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