In an era of hyper-focus on students’ academic performance, is it possible that schoolwork is actually too easy? I recognize that this might seem a strange question, given how much we hear of stressed-out students, slogging through hours of homework and blizzards of standardized tests. If anything, school is too hard, right?
I remember the exact moment when I found out that Princeton had accepted me. It was third period chemistry class, right after lunch, and I was slowly dozing off as my teacher went through the titration lab instructions.
The current paradigm of success — that it is best measured by outward appearances, grades, trophies and prestigious college acceptances — is not without merit. It stresses persistence, hard work and the American Dream of upward mobility.
However, our over-reliance, I would say singular reliance, on this narrow vision of success has placed enormous stress on students and parents. When we are preoccupied with external markers of success, it is easy to lose sight of the internal skills that are far more predictive of success out in the world.
One SAT Saturday in mid-September, between frantically cramming vocabulary and mathematical formulas, my friends and I started the typical pre-SAT complaining: how we should have studied harder and how we should have taken more prep classes — how this girl got a perfect score and that guy cheated on the math portion. You know… the usual. After a few minutes of bantering, one of my friends announced that she wished she had bought Adderall. A drug commonly known as the “study drug”, Adderall is a psychostimulant used in the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactive disorder, or ADHD. She felt too tired from studying for tests, writing essays and filling out college applications from the week before to fully concentrate on the college-prep test. To some, Adderall abuse may sound foreign, but Adderall and abuse of other attention-deficit drugs is growing among high school and college students across the nation.
Having read the thoughtful and accurate series on youth sports in the SF Chronicle, I thought I would chime in on what it means to get “the prize” — a highly coveted spot on a Division 1 team. One of my daughters plays lacrosse at a highly regarded academic institution, on a team ranked in the top ten in the country last year. During the last week of October, here’s what her schedule looked like: Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 8-9:30am Lift; 10am-12pm Practice Tuesday: 7:30-9am Team Skills Work and Individual Run Thursday: 8:00-9:00am Seniors Meeting; 11am-12pm Individual Work with Assistant Coach Saturday: Off Day; Individual Run Sunday: 5am Wake Up to Bus to Philadelphia for a Play Date. Games at 10am, 1pm and 2pm Followed by a Team and Family Tailgate; Return to Campus at 8pm. That adds up to 28.5 hours — and fall is her off-season! For this “job”, my daughter was granted a partial scholarship based on competing in all 16 games last …
“Well, I’m not saying I cheat all the time but I do feel the pressure to get straight A’s.” “I am willing to stand up at a school board meeting and explain to them why, we, as students would like to see individual rankings done away with. Because we are ranked, and well aware of our ranking amongst our peers, we are constantly competing.” A teacher leaned over to the new freshman mother and said, “Don’t worry, freshman are not aware of the rankings.” “Yes they are, Mr. Kravitz,” he says earnestly. “Yes, they are. I always knew what my ranking was and so did every other kid I knew since freshman year.” These are the comments I heard at the first Challenge Success meeting I attended last May. These were the responses to a teacher’s comment about wanting to address, “Very creative and out of control cheating issues that high schools are experiencing.” What I found so refreshing at this m …
What comes to mind when we hear the term “mental health”? Many people might be unable to give a straight answer. Ambiguous terms like “happy” or “stable” might pop up, but it’s likely that the average person has never given it a whole lot of thought. What about the term “mental illness”? Today it often encompasses a spectrum of images: suicidal or self-harming teenagers, Prozac prescriptions, people who are a “danger to themselves and others,” or more. Regardless of your personal reaction, the fact that we have a more concrete perception of mental illness versus mental health is saying something about our cultural values. Stigmas against mental illness exist all over the world, but let’s focus on the stats in the US: while mental illness affects about 25% of the population, nearly two-thirds of these will never actually seek treatment. This is observed even more so in minority groups. Most interestingly, 50% of …
This week I headed to Maine for a 60th birthday party. Long cross country flights almost always provide an interesting array of parenting choices and this trip was no different. On this entirely full flight I was surrounded by families with young children. Directly beside me was a young mom traveling alone with 2 girls, I would guess about 18 months and 3 years old. They were excited to be on the plane and chatty with their mom, who was well prepared with plenty of snacks and lots of activities. A good start, I thought. Then it got interesting. Mom told the girls that once they took off she was going to take a nap and, once in the air, she handed them their electronics, put her head on the tray table and proceeded to sleep. The girls pretty much played with their devices with a few skirmishes along the way for the entire flight, rousing their mom once when they needed a potty run. As I watched I couldn’t help feeling conflicted. On one hand, I was thinking how great it would h …
A human unfolding into adulthood is an ugly, beautiful thing. I should know. As Stanford’s freshman dean for ten years I had a front row seat as thousands of teenagers emerged into their adult selves through the alchemy of trial, error, and dreams. They made me laugh. They made me cry. I rooted for them either way. I also have two kids of my own making their way through the rigors of public school in Palo Alto so, between my own parenting experience and my decade with undergraduates, I know a thing or two about parents. Nowadays, in well-to-do communities like mine and throughout our country, we parents over-direct, over-protect, and over-involve ourselves in childhood. Of course we don’t want to see our kids struggle, let alone suffer, and we act with the best of intentions. Yet bestselling author and psychologist Madeline Levine (Teach Your Children Well; The Price of Privilege) tells us that when we do what our kids can already do for themselves or can almost do for t …
I would be lying to you, parents, if I told you I wasn’t having fun working at summer camp. Glassy, calm, blue lake, rowboats, sailboats, hiking, yoga, improv, and even disco bingo- these are a few activities that are a part of my job. When prefacing working at summer camp, many people put “job” in quotes, insinuating that camp is not a real position, since we do not work in a cubicle or the depths of a sunless research lab. But do I have to dislike my job to make it a serious, important stepping-stone for my future? It is my third summer working at a beautiful camp nestled in Lake Tahoe, California. I had some friends who decided to stay on campus or work in a big city; they were so excited to work one-on-one with their idol professor, or so they thought. I even considered a summer staying on campus, as the majority opinion insisted that would be the best place to make connections hereafter. Instead, many of my friends became lab rats and spent most of their da …
Well, actually, this piece could be entitled seven hundred and six things that matter more than perfect grades. But hey, I needed to pick a number and there is a word limit for blogs. While there is no debating, that for most kids, grades do matter, and that they matter significantly, the fact is that we’re thinking about grades in entirely the wrong way. Good grades as an indicator of engagement with learning, curiosity and persistence mean something both in the present and as indicators of being successful out in the work place. But getting straight A’s so you’ll get into Harvard, in order to get an internship at Goldman Sachs, so you can go to Wharton for your MBA, and as a result, will be set for life is a very poor way to think about grades. Unfortunately, this has become the paradigm for many young people and it bodes poorly not only for their mental health, but for their success out in the work world as well. Here is an example of the kind of thinking that all …
Blog post from Denise Pope explaining value of revision and redemption grading practices.