Here is a story from Miami that a friend sent to me recently. They have stopped giving students Midterms and Finals, so that the students won’t be stressed out by them:
He wrote to me to encourage teachers at Veritas keep pushing forward kindly noting:
Ty, to you and your team of extraordinary teachers at Veritas, stay focused on your meaningful work as educators; rare educators as it would seem from such a headline news article.
I wrote back:
Thanks for the encouragement. I am afraid that our culture is going to unburden students of things like hard work, responsibility, accomplishment, and (ironically) self-esteem (which is a result of doing something well and not the result of doing nothing and being lied to or doing something poorly and being told that you have done well).
Hey, I have a book for you. When can I get to you? I tried to drop it off when you were away. It is a little thank you for your work on the board.
As we enter the seasons of midterms, we monitor the work our students are doing. They work hard, but it is not because we are trying to harm them—we are trying to prepare them. Failing to do so is damning to an educator because that is failing to do exactly what we are supposed to be doing. People have known this for a long time. My favorite story about it comes from Diogenes the cynic. The story goes something like this: Seeing and ill-behaving and ignorant youth, Diogenes took up a stick and beat his tutor saying “who taught him to be thus.”
The scary thing is that our culture has increasingly embraced the idea that we can serve our children by making them happy and that they themselves are the best guides toward happiness. At Veritas (and as a father), I deeply desire that my students and daughters would be happy. We are taking steps now that will make them happy for the better part of this century.
