The Nature Of Learning

As promised in my last entry, I'm going to go more in depth about my son, his grades, and what I've come to believe about how we learn.

Zach is about to turn 12 and he is as sharp as a tack. He's such a cool kid to sit down and talk to! He has an opinion about pretty much everything and it's usually at least a somewhat informed one. He's good at math, loves science, and can play hammer out tunes by ear on the harmonica, piano, or guitar...and this despite never having a formal lesson on any of them. Sounds like an intelligent kid, right? So how on earth could a kid like Zach be failing sixth grade? When I say failing, I don't mean that he just isn't doing well. No, I mean failing. He currently owns four F's out of six classes, including math and science!

Again, how on earth could this kid be failing so miserably at school???

First A Little Background

Zach having grade trouble first started showing itself in 3rd grade. He had a particularly demanding teacher that year and regularly had work missing or not 100% completed. We sent him to school with a full set of supplies only to hear that, less than 30 days into the school year, he had lost all of his pencils. His desk was just crammed full of old kleenex, wadded up papers, and lots of other things. His teacher hinted that we should have him tested for ADD or ADHD. Now, anyone who's ever spent 30 minutes with my son will tell you that there has never been a clearer cut case of a child not being either of those things. We rejected that immediately and, instead, focused on his organizational skills.

Throughout third grade, fourth grade, and the beginning of fifth grade we had more of the same. We tried everything to get him more organized and to be responsible for himself. We begged his teachers to not let him just make missing work up with no penalty. For the whole time, we could always sit down and talk with him about what they were learning in class and without fail he could talk intelligently about it. His grades always came out alright despite these problems because his teachers have always cared about him and loved having him in their classes. Basically, they cut him breaks all of this time because he's such a good kid. It was like watching a train barreling down the tracks straight at us...we knew sooner or later it was going to run us over.

And Then Came Sixth Grade

When we went to middle school orientation for sixth grade parents, we were told up front that it was going to be a different experience. We were told that our children would struggle through the first part of the year as they would now be having to migrate from class to class every hour, would no longer be allowed to carry a backpack or any type of bag with them, and would basically be responsible for themselves. In other words, the hand-holding was about to stop.

What we didn't realize was that the school staff was going to go completely to the opposite extreme from what the elementary staff had done. It's almost like they don't really care at times. Friends of Zach's who have always been straight A students are now C students. Others who have always done decent but not great (like Zach) are now failing or close to it. It hasn't gotten better as promised in the orientation and the staff doesn't seem likely to ease up on them at all.

We recently called for a meeting with the principal and all of Zach's teachers. We wanted to talk more about why his grades are still just as poor and see what we can do about it. What we got from them was that Zach is a well behaved boy who mostly pays attention in class but sometimes has trouble remembering to put his name on his papers. Apparently, this is something the entire sixth grade has trouble with which results in their poor grades as the teachers just count a zero and toss the nameless papers aside. I'm the first one to say that these kids should know to put their name on their papers, but they've been reminded and babied along about it in elementary school so isn't this to be expected? Couldn't the sixth graders be weened off of that without just failing them?

The Nature Of Learning

I've come to change my thinking about how we learn. I know it isn't an earth shattering revelation or anything, but I never realized before how many different ways there are in which people learn things. I never understood how much impact a child's environment has on their ability to learn. Some kids are very independant and will learn just about anything simply by reading a book. Others do well if you sit down in a one on one environment and explain things to them where they are free to ask questions. Others do better in a group where they can just sit back and listen to other's questions. Yet others only truly learn by experience (ie. failure).

The bottom line I think is this...you are only going to learn something when you are interested in learning it. Thinking back to my school days, there was much that I memorized long enough to take a test on it only to forget it shortly thereafter. Then there were the things that really interested me that I truly learned and carry with me to this day.

The challenge in public schools to effectively teach rooms full of kids that are all going to learn things differently. Is this really a recipe for success? Could this be a contributing factor to why more and more kids are being home schooled or sent to private schools?

We are seriously considering home schooling Zach. Some initial research into it on the internet has returned a wealth of information. There are literally hundreds of support groups, sites with curriculums and information, and forums dealing with all things home school.

Given that our kids are increasingly exposed to the worst that the world has to offer, that we have no control over what they are exposed to while they are at school, and that there are so many varieties of methods of learning, it seems reasonable to me that this is a legitimate and viable alternative to public school for kids who aren't learning well at school and whose parents can't afford a private school where kids can get more individualized teaching.