The world is full of mediocrity. Have you ever had a student at the “other” end of the special ed spectrum? You know…. the end that also requires extra teacher input and attention; where it is just as challenging to keep this student engaged as it is the lower-achieving student? Why is the term “special needs student” only used at one end of the spectrum?
I once sat in on a public discussion meeting where a high-achieving group was challenging a scheduling change. I was shocked when I heard one of the presenters say,
We’re not here to teach the elite. We’re here to teach the masses.
Think about that.
It is as though we’re all about not leaving a child behind, but also about not letting anyone get ahead either. At the lower end of the proficiency spectrum, we have organized “special” education with additional classrooms and facilities, employing both certified and classified staff. We develop IEP’s (Individualized Education Plan) for about 12% of our public school student body (Institute of Education Sciences) and require all building teachers to accommodate each of those individual needs.
But what about the 6% of Gifted & Talented student(s), at the high end of the spectrum; those who ace the test, ruin the curve, and yet still do all the extra credit — just because it is there? For them, there are no additional classrooms and facilities, specially trained staff, and IEP’s. The easiest thing to dois re-assign them as “mentors” or “tutors” so that we can pull everyone into the mediocre middle. That is the educationally correct thing to do, but who does it help …. and does it also hinder? We teach to the middle and use the achievers to help. We love the star quarterback but not the star student.
Yes, let’s do all we can to help every student, but let’s help every student. Compare the long term benefits of our lopsided investment for both students and society. When you hear about the top technology and other highly skilled jobs going to students from overseas, where do you think those countries are investing? As we correctly strive to leave no child behind, may we also more aggressively assist the academic achievers?
There are teachers who recognize the high achievers and provide individual challenges. We do have “AP” (Advanced Placement) classes designed to better prepare students for college….. but which colleges?
As you listen to or read about politicians, lawyers or surgeons focus, on the schools they attended. Are state schools bad? That’s not what I’m saying, but many of them are teaching “to the masses”.
I went to both a large, inner-city public high school and a super-sized state university. I sat in freshmen writing and lecture classes with 200+ students in a lecture hall with a graduate assistant on a microphone who would never know my name. One of my sons, while a doctoral candidate at an Ivy League university, taught a freshman writing class with 15 students…. and of the three classes he taught, that was his largest. Am I claiming that not all colleges are created equal? YES!
School systems celebrate when test scores are slightly above the state “averages”. What is average? Mediocre? So, we’re all about being slightly above mediocre?
I’m tired of being the geek. I’m tired of ruining the curve. I’m tired of making people mad because I do the extra credit anyway. I want to go to a school where I can be normal, where it is okay to be an achiever.
I heard this quote when I was asking a high school senior about the choice of college. When the principal learned about his Valedictorian’s college choice, he shared his opinion:
Why not go to [XU], it is the biggest state school…..everybody goes there. It is affordable. Why out of state at such an expensive school?
I know because I talk to both students and parents, that the experience of the student quoted above is not unique.
Low achievers are helped. High achievers are heckled.
My parental experience raising two high achieving academic students is that:
…for us the system worked, but we had to work the system.
With the attitude and determination evidenced by the geek quote, he chose Duke. His SAT score was slightly above the “average” there. He went in as one of nearly 500 high school valedictorians and graduated in the top 1%, but that was okay there, where he was expected to achieve and encouraged to excel. Unlike public high schools, which must take everybody and do the best they can to educate all…..there are schools, both high school and college, that specialize. Here is a paragraph from one such school’s admissions brochure(emphasis mine):
We want to find the ambitious and the curious, students who want to tackle issues head-on and are open to change. Ours is a community of talented learners, and we look for people who have unique qualities, who can challenge us as much as we challenge them. We want some bumps. We want some students who are well-rounded, some with sharp edges. We want people who are not afraid to undertake things that are messy, complex, and extremely difficult to do well—because they love it. We like students who already know what it means to succeed and those who know what it means to reach and not succeed and reach again. We like students who make intelligent and interesting mistakes, students who understand that only in risking failure do we become stronger, better, and smarter.
Let me be clear. We could not have afforded to pay the $58,000 sticker price of a [“top tier”] University education. As I was balking at the “early decision contract” on the admissions office table, they responded to my financial panic with:
If we decide we want him, we will get him here.
And they did. They didn’t make it cheap and they didn’t make it easy, but they DID make it possible for us to pay less than what we would have paid for an in-state public university. Our total contribution for eight years of college for two was about $32,000. Our total contribution for eight years of college for two was about $32,000. That’s $2,000 per semester. Where can you go to a school for a price like that?
ps Every time I’ve written about variations of this topic, I get blasted with negative feedback. The goal is not arrogance or elitism, but to encourage those who ARE achievers, or who want to be by pointing out that there are solutions for you too. And….to dispel the myths that college is all about who can afford what. Here are my bullet points:
Don’t choose the cheapest school based on $$$
Good Grades Do Pay
Be proactive vs reactive; make it happen, don’t just let it happen. Plan it, don’t wing it.
I was sitting in the driveway of my son’s trumpet teacher writing out a check.
The teacher had requested going from a half hour lesson to an hour. I recall the teacher’s response when I asked if there was a discount for the double-session…..
You get me for twice the time at twice the price.
As I wrote out the check, I shared a sentiment with my son,
I consider this an investment in your college career. I hope I am paying for your college one week at a time….and by the time you’re ready to graduate that you will be good enough that a college will pay for you.
He worked — and his did. This video is a portion of his senior recital. He had the flashy stuff too, but I thought his tone was fantastic….. I had the honor of guest conducting his high school band, which accompanied him on this same piece during his high school final semester.
I don’t ever recall, as a student, having to spend school time on bullying or suicide prevention, tolerance, drugs, sex, active-shooter and lock-down drills. I’ve participated in mandatory teacher training on bullying. We provide “digital citizenship” training worth several class periods for using those free iPads we gave them. Schools test to test that teachers’ tests are testing appropriate levels, that teachers are teaching and students are learning.
WHAT students must learn today is so much more complex than what students needed to know back in a previous century. Below is a good visual. It would have been much easier to learn to identify and differentiate the crayon colors available in the 1903 vs today, wouldn’t you agree?
At the time, our Fall Bands were divided into three classes. There was the Marching Band, a class of 10th-12th graders who did not march, and a class of 9th grade non-marchers.
It was early in the semester and I was working with the 9th grade band’s clarinet section. It is important to note that these students had never heard me play. Clarinet is my major instrument…and way back in a previous century, I was pretty decent.
Anyway, we were working on a scale, but I used this opportunity to also teach correct fingerings, hand position, range, speed and breath control.
We played the scale several times and got the first octave sounding pretty good. They were feeling pretty good.
“Okay, now let’s add a second octave.”
There were looks and stares, but they stayed with me. Some of them acted like I was teaching them some notes they had never played before.
“You’re in high school now — and you need to be able to do this.”
We played the upper octave slowly, but then gradually increased the speed. The next step…
“Good. Now I want you to play up and down BOTH octaves in ONE breath.”
Not bad.
“This time, we’re going to go up and down both octaves TWO TIMES in one breath.”
STUDENT: “Mr. Gardner, to do that, we’re going to have to go faster.”
“EXACTLY. We’re going to go faster — and you’re also going to need to take a deeper breath and control your air. Remember…..TWO times…..ONE breath. Ready?”
I was gradually increasing the tempo and they were surprising themselves with the fact that they were getting it.
When I said we were going to go THREE TIMES in one breath, one of the freshmen stopped me.
STUDENT: “Mr. Gardner, clarinets can’t go that fast.”
That was my cue. I got out my Buffet R13 and zipped up and down those two octaves several times. I really don’t remember the number, but it was much higher than the “impossible” three where they thought we were.
I finished.
Big eyeballs. And silence….until one of them asked shyly,
STUDENT: “How did you do that?”
I started out by saying that,
“Mine is a professional model clarinet…..and it has a special SPEED BUTTON.”
To my dismay, that explanation immediately and completely satisfied them.
THEY BOUGHT IT.
Of course, you can go fast if your clarinet has a special speed button on it. I was almost speechless. I thought I was telling a joke.
No, I didn’t leave it there. I couldn’t. I talked with them about technique (how close my fingers stayed to the keys) and some practice technique, including what we had been doing with, 1) get it right, then 2) get it faster and 3) keep increasing speed.
More on practice technique in another post. And maybe I’ll share the story about the clarinet student who told me the section we were working on was “too hard”.
The Children’s Choir of Huntington County in their first Christmas Concert in 1993 at Huntington University and under the founding director, Dr. Rediger
In 1993 the Children’s Choirs of Huntington County were formed. Originally there were two choirs for younger and older children. Dr. Joann Rediger was the founding director and is on stage with the group in this picture at their first Christmas Concert in 1993. As high school and adult choirs have been added, the group name was changed to Community Choirs of Huntington County and currently includes the Children’s Choir, Copper Sound and Joyful Songsters. Follow them on their website at https://childrenschoirofhuntingtoncounty.org/.
They make some top end clarinets with this alternate Eb key. I thought this sounded good…..but $250 for one key??? Ummmmm, I’ll use the Eb key I’ve been using since….ummmm well, a long time.
Joan Gardner receives the Mary Sell Volunteer Award presented at the 4/15/23 concert of the Community Choirs of Huntington County.
The Mary Sell Volunteer Award recipient for 2023 is Joan Gardner
Joan Gardner receives the Mary Sell Volunteer Award presented at the 4/15/23 concert of the Community Choirs of Huntington County.
Mary Sell is a retired music teacher from the Huntington County Community School Corporation. She volunteered a lot of time for the Community Choirs of Huntington County and an award was created in her name. Joan Gardner received the award at the Spring 2023 concert.
Joan has been a choir parent, an accompanist, a volunteer and a board member for the CCHC. Her two sons, John and David, were in the Children’s Choirs during the very first season they were started – with Dr. Joann Rediger as the director. She was eventually asked to accompany one of the choirs for several years and is currently one of the CCHC Board Members.
We were returning home late at night from a long drive return from an out-of-state visit. In a tired way, I reach down in the dark to open the door. It took us a while to get a flashlight and determine what had happened. I love bandsters. They do fun things without damaging anything.
I came into a program that was stable, consistent, well-rounded — but with few exceptional accomplishments in marching band competition. I told them,
