lkm:
“(H)uge numbers of lagging students were offered a free tutoring option, often in the school they already attend, but only about 10 percent signed up, and even then, most dropped out after a few sessions. (…) If only 10% of our students, whether by nature of nurture, have a desire to learn more”— Stop right there. Wrong conclusion. The fact that only 10% of all lagging students showed up for even more school when they were failing in regular old school in no way implies that these kids had no desire to learn more. It simply means that school sucked for them, and that they didn’t feel like getting more of it than they absolutely had to. I was never a “lagging student”, but I hated going to school, and I sure as hell didn’t sign up for any extra classes, ever. That doesn’t mean I had no desire to learn more, it just means that school utterly failed at fulfilling my desire to learn stuff. Every kid I’ve ever met was curious about the world; this is a failure of schools, not of children. Big Contrarian → You’re just not paying attention.
Agreed. At 826 Seattle, the kids love being there. It’s free tutoring, but it’s not like school at all. Sometimes it gets rowdy enough to drive me nuts, but that’s obviously part of what brings the kids back. This summer, I’ve talked one struggling 5th grader into continuing to show up every week—all summer!—to work on reading and math. I’ll need to provide the books and come up with stuff to work on, but she’s agreed to keep studying all summer voluntarily because it feels nothing like school.
Post Notes
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ampersandean reblogged this from lkm and added:
Agreed. At 826 Seattle, the kids love being there. It’s free tutoring, but it’s not like school at all. Sometimes it...
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