Education

Raise Your Own Darn Bar

By Liana Loewus — April 16, 2009 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Running up against motivation issues in the classroom, Assistive Principles wonders why some groups of students are more driven than others.

I've been working all school year with lower-income seventh and eighth graders who, were it not for the constant prodding by the school staff, couldn't be bothered to walk upright let alone learn anything.

For a year now, Assistive Principles says he has worn the district’s scarlet letter for making a comment that led his co-workers to think he “didn’t believe that all kids could be successful.” Though he can’t recall making the comment, he does hope to clarify his conviction.

Every kid CAN be successful, but not every kid WANTS to be successful. . . Some students set the bar too high, some set it just high enough, some set it far too low (by any standard), and some don't set a bar at all. It's like having given someone a gold brick only to discover he's been using it as a doorstop.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Blogboard blog.