I think the decline of proper grammar is a sign of a growing, systemic degeneration of our culture. Ironically enough, the patient cannot articulate the symptom.
I also believe that this society has moved towards a "close enough" kind of philosophy in many ways. If your child received a "C" in English, and you asked, "Did you try really hard?", and the answer was "Yes!", would you accept it? I personally would not, as the amount of effort a person has given, cannot usually be evaluated by that person.
In fact, it is almost always an extremely subjective evaluation, as most people would not have the self-awareness to objectively determine their performance. Also, quite possibly, they would not even be aware of the concept of "trying hard", as many times they have never done it. We do not want to "damage" our children by telling them that they did not try hard enough. In Ontario schools all comments on report cards must be positive and not negative, as I have been told by some teacher friends. There is a positive way to reinforce students, however, when "little or no effort" deserves a positive comment, then that is completely unacceptable. If a student earns a "B", he/she deserves positive comments for this grade, however, the student should also be advised that there are higher levels to achieve like a "B+, A or A+". Those new goals, only diminishes those students and has adverse effects, for those that are looking for any excuse to try less in life. It is logical to believe that any human being, when presented with a greater, achievable task, will only try harder. However, reality dictates, that many times they try less as it appears that the psychology of humans forces them to think in "opposites" sometimes. For example, when a student is told that they can do better and get an "A" instead of a "B" or a "C", although the "B" is declared to be a good mark and the "C" is staying with the average students, they ask the self-defeating question, "Isn't the 'B' or 'C' good enough for me to get through school?" or declare "I can't do better. It is just too hard." This invariably will lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy that they won't do better, because school gets harder, not easier. I have also heard parents tell their children that as long as they pass, it is acceptable. Teetering on the pass/fail benchmark and setting a low goal for a student, or for that matter any benchmark, will only cause them to occasionally fail and often do worse.
Apparently nowadays, a half-ass effort in anything deserves accolades and "a pat on the back" so as to not upset the person. When a person is rewarded for mediocre performance, and any request for improvement or a truthful opinion of that effort, according to "teaching experts", would psychologically damage that person, the ultimate result will always be mediocre or less. We allow the person's opinion of their effort, and a lack of objective and truthful comments of that effort, to inevitably determine their future performance. In an educational, and perhaps a much wider sense, this is the current failing of society. Like many things in life, once a lower standard is accepted, the standard only becomes lower.
Regards, Wisam |
