Race to Nowhere

I drove 6 hours to watch it after a colleague told me about it. Needless to say, I spent the night. The hotel was an hour away from the elementary school where it was shown. Was my trip to Vienna, Virginia worth it to see Race to Nowhere? Without a doubt. For the past four days I have been thinking about what we as a nation are doing to our children. The movie focused on the population of students I teach on a daily basis. Students whose parents expect them to do well in school. Most of who will do whatever it takes for their children to be successful. Students who expect to do well in school, as well as sports, clubs, instruments, etc. Many topics were brought up in the movie: homework, testing, stress, teaching, and even medical issues. I focused on the ones that are still on my mind days later.

No matter where I have taught, be it a public, private, or charter school, homework is an issue that comes up every year. How much is too much? Research shows ten minutes per year in school is good. That means an average 8^th grade student should have 80 minutes of homework a night.  (However, research also shows that homework before 6^th grade does not make a difference one way or another, with the exception of spending time reading every day.) How much homework should be given is only one issue. The bigger question becomes: What is the value of homework? Is it to make parents happy? Is it busy work? Is it to get in the content teachers don’t have time to teach in class? Is it to give students the opportunity to practice a new skill? These are all questions educators in each school need to be addressing. When the vision is clear, it needs to be shared with parents. We all need to look at the issue responsibly and keep in time that there is more to life than what happens in the academic setting.

Regardless of our age, we all like to spend time playing. Unfortunately, much too often playtime is forgotten for homework. Family time is spent taking children to practices, tutoring, and/or meetings. School has become more than a place to learn about reading, writing, and arithmetic. Close to 80% of students are learning that to get homework done and have time for other things, cheating makes work go much faster. They are learning when they take ADHD medication after staying up late repeatedly, they are focused and able to study even more.

In the 30 or so years I have been out of school, the world for students both inside and outside a classroom has changed immensely. Granted, college was not on the forefront of my mind (nor my parents) until AFTER I graduated from high school. Many of my classmates did not go to college and are very successful today in their chosen field.

“You need to get into a good college.” Somewhere in the last ten years, the goal has become that all students go to college. In many instances, matching the student and the college is not the focus. It is about getting into a good school. Harvard. Duke. Yale. Stanford. The more ivy growing on the school, the better it must be. In their desire to get into the perfect school, an abundance of AP classes, extra-curricular activities, community service and a job are added to their schedule. There is not much time (if any) left for family and friends. Our students are feeling the stress. The stress to earn straight A’s. Get into a good college. Get scholarships. Be the star player on a team. The list goes on and on.

I spent some time talking to a parent today. Her child is a junior in high school. One of her main loves is musical theater. She has had starring roles in high school productions. However, this year she was ready to drop the class because it would have brought her GPA down even if she earned the A. It was only worth 4 points as compared to Honors and AP classes which are worth 5 or 6 points.  She decided to stick with it when the school made it Pass/Fail. Therefore, it would not bring her class standing down. I get concerned when we are not encouraging children to use their talents due to grades. (I won’t even go into my thoughts about grades.)

If you ask any parent what they want for their child, chances are the response will have something to do with being happy. Not only do parents want their children to be happy in life, they want them to have choices. Somewhere along the line, society decided that happiness comes with money. That message is perpetrated throughout school. In order to get the money, you need a college education. Yet many of today’s successful CEOs (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates) do not have a college degree. Close friends of mine have no degree and make twice the money I do. We do not all have to be doctors and lawyers. Our society needs people to build houses, repair our plumbing, clean offices, and even drive rickshaws. When we find something we love to do, we do it well and succeed. Thus, the success of the men mentioned above.

Unfortunately, in the area of teaching, many teachers who love the profession are leaving it due to the ever-increasing demand to teach to the test. We can all think back to a teacher that changed our lives in some way. For me, it was Miss Moore, my 5^th and 6^th grade teacher. I don’t remember much of the content that she taught. What I do remember is her mantra, “Can’t was killed in the battle of try.” I remember the day she let my friend and I chase a strange animal even after the recess bell rang to go in. When it finally got away from us and we returned to class, she had us research what it was (IN BOOKS) rather than do whatever assignment was going on. I will never forget what a star-nose mole looks like. I am willing to bet when you think back to your teacher and the reasons why you remember that person, it will have something to do with that teacher teaching from the heart.

When people ask me if I like where I teach, I respond that I love it, but I miss working with at-risk students. Recently I realized, while I don’t work with kids blatantly dealing with gangs, drugs, sex, and poverty, I am working with at-risk students. The risks are just as difficult, if not more so. For these risks are found within. The need for perfection. Something tells me it is going to be a bit more difficult guiding students as they take on the risk of imperfection.

It is time for us to start a dialogue as a nation. What is important in the life of a child? Are our schools having the desired impact? How can we best prepare our children to be the kind of citizens we want looking after us when we step down?  I believe we have a long way to go.