WHEN GRADES ARE FUNNY MONEY

Discussions of  public schooling are usually solemn but they seldom are serious. Most of what is said is a stew of wishful thinking seasoned with a sprinkle of lies. So let’s be novel and take a rational approach based on simple truths.

Let's begin by recognizing that people respond to incentives. When a behavior is rewarded, people do more of it, and more intensely. If behavior is costly, (Costly from their point of view, mind you. ) people do less of it.

Now, let’s consider grades. Some youngsters regard good grades as rewarding in and of themselves. Others see them as valuable because it pleases their parents. Still others see them as means to other ends, such as a scholarship or admission to a favorite school. And for many, it's all of the above. In any case, youngsters who regard grades as valuable, will work to achieve them.

But some youngsters regard good grades as valueless. Sometimes, even undesirable. (Good grades might make them a target for their peers.) They see little or no connection between what they get and any future they imagine for themselves. In addition, some parents couldn't care less about their children’s grades. (Read Claude Brown’s biography, Man Child in the Promised Land, for a sad, real life account.) So, given such situations, it makes more sense not to try and possibly raise some hell instead.

What rewards can a teacher offer that will make a student want to learn? Well, there is teacher praise. But that generally appeals to kids who already care about grades. Alternatively, some teachers develop a token economy. They buy, typically at their own expense, affordable things that most kids would like to have. Then, using, say, poker chips, they establish and economy where those chips can be cashed in for prizes. That sometimes works, but it is costly, requires book keeping and can be regarded as bribery.

An alternative is for  teachers to make lack of effort, or outright opposition, prohibitively costly? That can be effective. Corporal punishment was used that way for centuries. An ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic even reads, “Learning comes with blood.” But modern pedagogues are forbidden to use corporal punishment as motivation. In fact, the authorities would punish them.

So what are teachers left with? In some cases, inner city schools for instance, a sizable, sometimes paralyzing, number of kids care less about grades. And they cannot be motivated by, or successfully threatened with, anything else. The net result is "students" who are impossible to teach because they lack motivation. And that breeds all kinds of trouble.

What it to be done? Not much. The present strategy seems to be just blame it on the teachers. That’s wholly unfair, but not for politicians. For them it works pretty well.

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