What? Nobody Wants to Be Tested? Schools Are “Outed” – Still! (Part 16)

Categories: Schools Are “Outed”!, Léo’s Insights 2020-2021

Posted on May 3, 2021

In the last two blogs we covered how parents are being accused of “minding their children’s business” when there are professionals to do that, and that, when inadvertently giving children choice, many children do not bother to do their online school work at home.

All this results from the fact that there is conflict whenever an individual extends his/her “authority” beyond the boundaries of the applicable jurisdiction. For instance, the CEO of company A has no legitimate business telling Company B what to do. Similarly, parents, who are the “bosses” at home do not really have a say in schools where teachers are the “bosses”, and vice versa. It should come as no surprise, then, that when parents and teachers overstep each other’s boundaries, problems are bound to arise.

Every parent has been the victim of attempted manipulation by children who try to get different answers from each parent. A child does this in his/her early attempts to divide, conquer and manipulate. Good parents know the best way to counteract this is to ask the child if s/he has asked the other parent. If the answer is yes, one need only say, “Then why are you asking me again? You have your answer.”

Similarly, children may obey a teacher at school, where (s)he has authority, but they are not as likely to obey the teacher at home where parents are the boss. So, when parents are discouraged from participating in the educational process, children quickly see the conflict and play it. Why not? As when attempting to divide their parents, children see an opportunity to take control, as the “powers-that-be” are conflicted.

Children who realize they are not really under the authority of their parents or teachers will question the need to work on their online programs. Armed with the knowledge that they will pass on to the next level whether they perform their online tasks or not gives them even more reason to disregard the completion of their studies. This should have been anticipated.

The article I discovered today shows how this has gone even further. As there are no repercussions for not engaging in online programming, and as students have been told diploma exams are optional, only 6% of Alberta’s qualifying students are choosing to write diploma exams. This should not be newsworthy because why would any self-respecting individual choose to do something that has no net benefit? What is newsworthy is what was not said. If 6% of students write the diploma exam then 94% of Alberta’s students see the uselessness of these tests. This is encouraging and gives me hope for the future!

Please understand that I am not actually against the use of diploma exams as such. They are a great leveller of standards and expectations, not so much for the province’s students as for teachers. In fact, one of the main reasons given for not requiring students to write the exams is that it brings the overall average down. This clearly indicates that teachers are awarding inflated marks in comparison to the marks students get on standardized exams.

I must admit I am actually encouraged by the latest COVID-19 school problems. Students are no longer under the sole authority of teachers at school. Parents are seeing what their children are being exposed to. And, most importantly, older children are being given the opportunity to think for themselves. As a result, they are questioning what they are being told to do and are looking instead to do things that are practical and applicable to their lives.

Makes one wonder if the government actually thought about the real consequences of school closures.