On September 29 I attended my son’s back to school night. It was an evening full of surprises and confusions, not just for the largely uninformed parents, but also for the teachers.
There are several issues that simply caught me off guard.
1. Letter grades are removed, and only three-level descriptive marks will be given to 4-5 graders on all courses.
2. Schools will no longer participate in organized math contests that have long traditions and excellent school track records, such as Continental Math League.
3. Chamber orchestra for 4-5 grades is moved to after school hours and no school buses are provided.
The arguments from the school district appear to be that WW-P is too competitive, and the students have too much pressure.
Though we, as parents, are largely kept out of the decision process, based on these changes, recent elimination of final exams in high schools, and the proposal to remove the 4-5 math A&E program, one could easily conclude that the WW-P school district is re-prioritizing its resource allocation. However, be it due to budget constraints or a change of school district missions, these priority choices seem to be on the wrong track.
This country is built and thrives upon being competitive on every front — economy, business, military, science and technology, sports, music, and movies — you name it. We Americans manage to get ascribed to this so-called “can-do” attitude and compete on a daily basis. See how fiercely those basketball players compete to win NBA/NCAA titles. Let’s face it: this world is a competitive place.Take a look around, other countries are catching up with the US because they dare and strive to compete with us, starting from their youth. It is hard to imagine that our kids would all of sudden become competitive in the real world if all along, schools simply played down on it.
I agree that when children are young, they should play more and have fun. However, that doesn’t mean we should relax all aspects of their education. Middle schools and high schools all have letter grades, so 4-5 is a good transition period to let the students get used to the letter grading system. In my view, the split of elementary schools into K-3 and 4-5 is an excellent design, so that younger kids could get into more serious and rigorous academic processes in the upper elementary grades. In fact, K-3 always uses descriptive marks on report cards. The current (I should call it old, now) system has been working well for so many years, why change it?
As a casual basketball fan, I couldn’t resist drawing a lame analogy to the removal of letter grades. When a 10-year-old boy was playing basketball and trying to shoot a two-pointer in a training match, he did a good jump and released the ball cleanly. His every move seemed perfect according to the basketball textbooks, but the ball hit the rim. The coach/referee then said, “OK, young fellow, since your shooting looks almost perfect, you get two points.” Would you expect this boy to adapt easily later on while playing real games without having such a caring umpire? You get what I mean.
There might be a gap between some advanced students and some other students, and WW-P might want to reduce the gap and improve equality. There are usually two ways to make things equal: one way is to slow down or cap the high performers; while the other way is to let the high performers fly while boosting and encouraging the low performers to catch up. The first choice might be cheaper or easier, and the overall student body might quickly appear “balanced.” But that balance point could well settle at a lower quality level than it should be. The second choice might need more effort and creativity, but it would make the entire student population improve and excel at a higher level. I am afraid that giving up these rigorous requirements and advanced programs would let the school district slip toward mediocrity.
According to the News, an external study paid by the school district showed that many students felt not challenged enough by math at the K-5 level. It suggests that we should expand more advanced programs, yet A&E is still an elimination candidate (the advanced orchestra program could well be the next in line).
WW-P is a great school district for leading in many competitions. Let’s not simply surrender ourselves by moving backwards. Let’s keep being competitive and strive for higher levels.
Lev Groosky
Plainsboro
