Excellence in Education?
by Nicolette Groeneveld
I recently drove past a high school that has a sign out front saying, “Here, we all strive for excellence.” ‘Really?!’ I thought and wondered what that school’s definition of excellence is and how they measure that everyone in the school is striving for it.
In the ten years I taught in public education, I became very disillusioned with what was considered excellence. From what I observed, the excellent student was the one who sat down, stayed quiet, listened carefully, questioned nothing, completed all assignments (no matter how futile), studied hard, did well on tests and got an A+ report card. In other words, the excellent student was the automaton who was skilled at production and memorization.
Maybe in the industrial age where children grew up to be assembly line workers, that definition of excellence fit, but in today’s post-industrial age where innovation and self-initiative are keys to success, followers, pleasers and performers are no longer what employers are looking for; they are, in fact the cause of many complaints. “The graduates I hire can’t think,” an employer recently told me. “They constantly need to be told what to do, and they can’t seem to solve problems on their own.” Communication skills are often lacking as well, despite that they are often the most important aspect of a person’s job. A parts sales person recently said to me, “Anyone can look up parts numbers and key the information into the computer. But it’s the person who’s got the people skills – the one who can make a grumpy customer happy – who wins the client’s repeat business and impresses the employer.”
Looking a step further, who are today’s employers? Many of them are the “class clowns”, the “hooligans”, the ones who refused to conform and do as they were told. They’re the “average” kids and the “failures” who left school and jumped right into the real world. They’re the ones who, in many cases, are now bosses to the “excellent” students who went on to get a “higher education” because they were told that’s what they’d need to become successful.
Well, one thing I can say for sure is that my higher education served only to get me the piece of paper I needed to become a teacher. Apart from my practicums, the four years I spent getting my B.Ed. did nothing but reinforce my memorization skills and hold me stuck in my performance-oriented drive for high marks. But the dean’s honor list standing I graduated with didn’t make me a good teacher; in fact, I was a total flop my first year! My success as a teacher came only through being immersed in the reality of the Junior High classroom and having to deal – moment by moment – with the demands of my job.
Reality is the best teacher, yet excellence in schools seems based on a completely unreal world.
Reality check #1: In real life workplaces, employees deal with people of all ages. In schools, children are segregated into same-age groupings. How are they to learn to effectively deal with and have respect for people older and younger than themselves?
#2: In today’s world, knowing how to source and sift through information is a key skill. In schools, children are generally presented facts and required to memorize and regurgitate them. Research projects are rare, and self-directed learning is practically unheard of.
#3: In real life, people need problem solving skills, especially in dealing with other people. In schools, conflicting students are most often separated by adults and punished for inappropriate behavior rather than being involved in creating a truly functional solution.
#4: Many employees take extra training involving exams, but more important than getting high marks on exams is employees’ ability to put into practice what they’ve learned. In schools, students “learn” information and then write an exam on it, but very rarely does the information come to practical, daily use (how often, for example, do people analyze sentence structure while reading a book or use algebra in their daily life?)
#5: As adults, we pursue what we’re interested in and learn, grow and experience fulfillment as a result of our pursuits. In schools, children are expected to learn and grow by studying subjects that are forced on them and that they’re not necessarily interested in, and they’re reprimanded or labelled if they’re unmotivated or disinterested.
#6: Society celebrates all the different talents people have. If an adult is very skilled in a certain area, his/her employer likely makes the most of that skill. If an adult is unskilled in a certain area, it is very unlikely that s/he is made to work overtime to become proficient at it, unless it is truly an essential part of that person’s job. In schools, children are expected to be good at everything – at least that’s the message children get when the students with honors in every subject are loudly praised. Students who are weak in certain areas are forced to do extra work or get extra help, which takes away from the time they can spend enjoying their areas of strength and often negatively impacts their self-esteem.
There are many other areas where reality and the school system don’t match. So when I drive by a school that claims everyone in their building strives for excellence, how am I to imagine what that means, let alone be impressed by it? All I can do is shake my head and be thankful for the alternative schools out there that do reflect reality and make it possible for children to attain a form of excellence that will serve them in the real world.
Nicolette Groeneveld
Founder and Staff Member
Indigo Sudbury Campus
Nicolette taught Junior High French Immersion for 10 years. During that time, she was appreciated for her sunny personality, how genuinely she cared about her students and for the fact that she nurtured not only her students' academic growth but also their personal growth. Nicolette delighted in her students but became increasingly disillusioned with a system that, to her, holds too many contradictions, counters what is natural in children and, ultimately, does damage to children. Looking for a different career path, Nicolette found the Sudbury Valley School's website and immediately knew she had found the approach to education that rings true to her heart. She spent her next year working with co-founder, Ric, to create the Indigo Sudbury Campus.
Nicolette's other accomplishments include being a published author of two novels and an accompanying activity guide; compiler and co-author of a French poetry collection for adolescents; a passionate public speaker; and an inspiration and guide to hundreds of teenagers.
Nicolette is currently working on a screenplay through which she hopes to awaken the masses to the limitations of the public education system.
