Jane Valencia's Empowering the Student
evidrine@linknet.net
Sat, 4 Jan 1997 07:50:46 -0600
I did not have the unfortunate musical experiences of many of you, but I
find these are general experiences not necessarily just related to the
study of music. When I was in elementary school, we did not have A-B-C-D-F
grades. We had Satisfactory (meaning you passed) or Unsatisfactory
(meaning you failed). The tremendous pressure put on kids today to have
that honor student bumper sticker or whatever (I have watched it
sorrowfully in my daughter who is now 16, even though it didn't come from
me) turns them in school just the way it did many in music--fearful,
trembling, so scared of doing wrong that they give up altogether, etc. I
didn't have that kind of pressure, in school or music. When I got to jr.
high, I was ready for the competitive atmosphere, and so was everybody
else. In jr. high you have reached a different level of understanding than
you had in elementary school. Little kids are not just little adults.
Treating them like little adults doesn't make it so. I am in favor of
doing away with grades in elementary school, going back to the system I was
in. The pressure put on kids in school also happens in Little League,
music lessons, etc. (See previous posts on The Parents From Hades)
Well, that is my little soapbox for today.
Bette