Ouch.
The day had arrived. Jordan came home from school and told me that she got "dum dum dum dummm" --- a C on a math test. (As a small reminder, a C is, and always will be, average). She was not happy. How did I know? Her exact quote was: “Mom, I am not a happy person!” She was worried that her teacher would be angry and yell at her. None of this was surprising. She was almost obsessed with getting 100% on all her tests, and so far her track record was basically perfect.
Her reaction made me smile. I guess it made sense for someone who never got lower than an A, but did Jordan actually think the other kids in her classes had similar grades? I know one thing, if Jordan’s theory was true, our middle school teachers would have spent more of their instructional time yelling, than actually teaching.
Forget the fact that in our school district if a child did well in, let’s say, fourth grade math, they were moved into advanced math. I assumed this meant the next class would either move at a quicker pace, or enrichment materials would be implemented into the curriculum… but no. Our higher achieving math students got to skip a year of math. An entire year! So the following year, the bright fourth grader slid right into sixth grade math. What? It’s a good thing mathematical concepts don’t build upon one another, because if they did... these bright kids would begin to feel lost, overwhelmed and begin to fall behind.
Really?? (As I regress, realizing this could be a topic for an entirely different blog.)
This was the first time we needed to have the conversation with Jordan. You know, the one that goes: "As long as you try your hardest, we will always be proud of you, even if you get an F.” If I had a nickel for every time I said this, I would be loaded. $ :)
Thank you,
Us Too
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