School to Punish Kids For Its Failures
Parents sometimes send us things they receive from their schools that set their teeth on edge. Sometimes the things are misunderstandings and other times the things make our blood boil. We received one such letter a few days ago that still has me wishing I’d cut out the caffeine. The letter was sent in December by the fifth grade team at an elementary school in Prince William County to the parents of all 5th grade students at that school (see attached pdf).
The team starts by explaining that mastery of multiplication facts is vital for a child’s academic success, that facts are an essential part of the 3rd grade curriculum, and that they’ve realized that many of their students “do not know their multiplication facts”. The team then explains that because this mastery is so important, they’ve developed a “reward and consequence plan” that they believe will ensure the appropriate level of mastery is achieved by every student.
Before we get into the “reward and consequence plan”, let’s stop for a moment and consider what we’ve just been told
