Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

It's a bad thing when you come back from the feel-good Meet the Teachers night at the local, progressive public school and need a drink. After hearing what's in store for our 11 year old in sixth grade, Ann and I were shaken, angry and depressed.

After six blissful years of grading nothing, the school has decided to grade everything in sixth grade, in order to prepare the students for the "real world" of seventh grade. "When students know they're getting graded, their work just gets better," said the very fine teacher who educated our son's sisters. (No sarcasm: she's a terrific teacher.) How sad is that? And how's that for a meta-lesson: "Hey kid, want an extrinsic reward for doing schoolwork?"

On the positive side, I'm more sure than ever that I know what education is: Learning to love more and more of the world.

And before you accuse me of being nothing but a '60s dude (as if there were anything wrong with that), let me be specific: Education is learning to love the things we otherwise wouldn't know how to love, from Shakespeare to chemistry to Cubism to geometry to the history of Iraq. Learning how to do things — write in cursive, multiply numbers — is just a small part.

The culprits here are easy to identify since the staff of our local school is dedicated, loving, smart and thoughtful: It's raining stupidity from above. "Test and blame" is the message coming from the feds, the commonwealth and even the town.