I remember someone here asking, a few months ago, whether it is as important for a high school- or college-aged student to experience success in school as it is for a younger child. Shouldn't they be tougher, we wondered, and able to stand up to adverse circumstances a bit better than younger kids?

What if a student encounters a teacher for a core course in high school -- in algebra, or in physics or chemistry -- who is the sort of teacher with whom a kid just can't win, no matter how hard he studies? The sort of teacher who asks questions on the final such as "here's some nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen. Invent life." He can get by in those circumstances, but he can't distinguish himself; noone in his class can. He studies like hell for a major test, and has no problems with it, in the sense that he understands the main points for the test and can do the assigned problems.

But then he gets a C on the test, and concludes that he is no good at this subject. He decides to quit trying. He vows that he will take no more of that subject, even though he started out interested in the class. Throughout the next six years in his life, he'll be making critical decisions about his future, but when he encounters that particular topic that gave him so much trouble in high school, he will sidestep it without even thinking about it. He's no good at it, his memories of it are painful, and he's closed the book on it.

Now suppose, in another parallel universe, the same kid gets another teacher for the same topic. The teacher plays fair, doesn't throw curve balls, and sticks to the curriculum. The kid does his work, studies for tests, and performs well. His grades make it clear that he has a knack for this stuff, and when the opportunity to continue with this material presents itself again, he is willing. Three years later, he decides to major in that topic.

Now here's my (run-on) question: is the fact that a kid's whole future rests on the uninformed decisions and assumptions he makes at the age of 17 enough reason to make an attempt to develop some kind of uniform standards for teaching methodologies for core courses in high school?

-- CarolynJohnston - 23 Apr 2006

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