I have been away to Seattle for most of the week at an Arts School Network meeting. Teachers from all over the country were attending to learn, swap stories, and advocate the hell out of the meeting hall. The break was nice on several levels. I got a chance to step away from my day to day and catch my breath – – perhaps thinking how Monday’s return would clear the air and start anew. This trip also made me very grateful for what I have. One of the best features of the conference is the ability to go to other high schools in the middle of a school day and just witness how their classes go down: the kind of expectations, camaraderie, and rigor they contour up. Sometimes I am a bit nervous going to these events – worried that I am going too find that I have been doing wrong all the time.
But that is not true – – I feel quite comfortable in my skills. One very interesting issue that I find handled quite differently in schools around the country is the value of competition. I see both the extremes of schools that simply let students explore and create without any sense of standard – a school without competition – a school where everyone gets an “A” (if grades are even a reality in these schools). And then I see schools a bit choked from competition where every class has winners and losers. In these classes you can feel the fear as an “A” might begin to sink down to an “A-“. Yecch!
I am thinking that the force of competition is a good one and particularly helpful for students in high school. I agree the in the freshman year, the success is the ability to get in front of your peers and to play freely – but gradually by the senior year. Student need to feel the teeth of those chosen for a project/scholarship/part in a show and those not chosen. The “not chosen” is a valuable part of the upperclassmen education – and a not-negotiable to seniors.