My child needs reduced work. What do you say to people that say “where’s the standards?”
Re: standards
The standards for what? I would have to ask,is it to teach him to do 40 math problems,or is it to teach him Math? The standards are going to be whether the child learned the subject,not how many numbers of problems he did.
Re: standards
The standards movement is a fairly new one in American education and many people question its value. The standards movement draws a line in the sand but doesn’t change how you get to that line. It’s also true that if a school teaches to the test and confines its teaching to testable questions, scores will rise but that doesn’t mean the children are better educated or parents are any more happy with the school.
Why are schools about “one size fits all” requirements? Colleges aren’t. Colleges allow student to choose from many areas of interest and assume that no student is interested in all things or excels at all things.
I’d tell those people who ask you where are the standards that your standard is what’s best for your son right now and that your son’s school works to meet the needs of each individual child in the school. Tell them how happy you are that your son’s school isn’t trying to “rubber-stamp” students out with a standardized education but realizes that each of us is unique and have unique paths to learning.
Re: standards
The child is being tested on knowledge, not ability to sit still. If that’s a problem for some people, let them deal with it…you don’t have to! (G) JJ
Re: standards
I find in my hyper competitive, achievement oriented suburb that its best just to keep quiet about special accomadations that the school is willing to make for my child. People who don’t have to deal with learning disabilities will never understand it so I just don’t bother. It’s really none of their business anyway.
Unfortunately, my husband is the person who says stuff like that. He has made me a little crazy in school meetings cause he will say stuff like “tell me what the standards are and I’ll make Chris meet them”. (by the way he is an army officer so he is used to standards as the be all end all)As if the teachers aren’t already trying to help him meet the standards. Basically the reasoning behind reduced work isn’t to bypass the standards but to reduce the stress and still teach the concepts. To me the concept is the standard, not the amount of class or homework. If say a math sheet has 40 questions of the same type and you know it will take 2 hours and a lot of whining and procrastination for your child to finish, then it is reasonable to reduce that paper to only odds or evens. The child still spends as much time on the work as any other kid and learns the concept(we hope) and if he doesn’t, then it isn’t because of the math sheet but the instruction (no offense to teachers, most get it, some don’t).
Just say to inquiring minds, that it helps to level the playing field for the kids, not to let some kids get away with stuff. Gosh knows, our kids work harder than most for the gains they make.Best wishes.