Notes of
Concern…
…Jackson Blair
Fall Inspection
Fall has fallen upon us!
The “kidlies” are back in school.
The freedom from schedule that so often accompanies summer
has morphed into a much harder, more organized and less loose time of living.
Or has it?
I must admit that there is often comfort in a predictable
schedule. There are lots of studies to suggest we humans need predictability,
stability and order in our daily lives.
When I went to school we pledged allegiance to the flag
first thing every morning. Some great mind determined that in the middle of the
morning, as our attention spans waned, we should be permitted out on the
playground for a little “recess.” The same brilliant thinkers determined that right
before recess would be a great time for everybody to have a potty break! So
they marched us off in a very straight line to the toilets.
But we were taught.
Our teachers and our parents were determined we would be
educated. Expectations were high.
We didn’t get a recess in the afternoon because the planners
knew we would be thinking of heading home. Instead, they scheduled the art
class for the afternoon, knowing that using different skills would help keep us
attentive. Nothing like finger paints and working with clay to ease us into
dismissal for the day.
I am reading in the papers today about a class at
the
prestigious Harvard University. I am hoping what I am reading turns out
to be untrue. But if it is true, it is certainly unsettling.
According to reports, a very popular professor
told his students that he didn’t care whether they attended class or not.
Further, he planned on giving almost all of them an A+ regardless of what they
actually did. Finally, his tests would be “open book” and they were welcome to
bring whatever they needed to the test, to help them succeed.
Believe me when I say this guy could not have been hired at
my elementary school!
Now this fella’s classes were highly sought after by Harvard
undergrads (only the naïve would express surprise.) He presented an opportunity
for a quick fix for the old GPA.
Then trouble appeared.
It seems, even guaranteed a high grade, not expected to
perform daily in discussions or even to attend class, given a blessing to bring
notes, lists or even books to class to use in completing the exam, what you
were not permitted to do was ask any other student questions during the exam.
Imagine the uproar.
What a dictatorial attempt to limit freedom.
This professor needed to be taught a lesson. So his students
talked to one another. They got caught. The professor’s approach to education
came to the attention of the Harvard Big Guys.
Now all the students in this Harvard class stand in a line
to be investigated for cheating! They might even be expelled.
I admit to being a bit “long in the tooth” and “set in my
ways” and continuing to think that when you pay good money for an education you
are supposed to receive an education, not a day at the beach.
Knowing how fickle youth can be, I am not surprised to find
that the students took advantage of the “forbidden fruit” held out by the
professor.
Rather than investigating the students for betraying some
sort of honor code, if I were president of Harvard I would be investigating
this professor. I would also call in Louis Freeh, he of the FBI and the famous
Penn State investigation, to find out how many other of my highly paid
professors might also be letting the kids slide.
Finally, if I were a parent paying for a prestigious Harvard
degree, I would be kicking the tires of this “academic automobile” I had
bought.
If the professor is not seriously disciplined and/or
terminated, not one kid should suffer a punishment for cheating. Every one of
them was being encouraged to cheat in a thousand ways.
Cheating is what was being taught.
Learning was not occurring in the traditional sense.
School bells ring in the fall.
My recommendation to parents is this:
Inspect
what you expect!
If you would care to read my BLOG, access it at blair-notes.blogspot.com
Website: www.jacksonblair.org
