Is it Okay to Be Average in Today's Schools?

Back in the 1950's Beaver Cleaver was just an average kid. In fact he often referred to himself as a "dumb kid" and that always bothered me a little bit. In my home and to my parents it was a pretty big sin to be average. I was supposed to be a good girl and get good grades. So I did.

In today's American classrooms there are many different ways of communicating progress to parents. You may get the plus-check-minus marks or the satisfactory/unsatisfactory ones. You may get 1-4 or 1-5 rubrics (scales) or you may even get the traditional A,B,C,D,F. Who knows what happened to E. No matter which sort of marks are used in your local schools, everyone knows when a student is doing poorly. So I'll ask you again, is it okay to be average?

As a parent and as a retired schoolteacher, I would say no. In today's schools effort and good attitude will go a long way toward earning a grade higher than the average C. Just turning all the assignments and participation in class discussions will improve the mark. True, in some subjects such as science and math a good attitude isn't going to necessarily lead to a good grade, but a conscientious student should be able to get B grades in many subjects with just a reasonable amount of effort.

The traditional bell curve would tell us that the large chunk of kids in the middle of the curve get a C with even numbers of students on either side. I'd bet that most American classrooms don't work that way. I'd say that the curve is skewed in favor of more C's, B's and A's than D's and failures. Teachers are willing to help students who truly can't do the work and will often give them extra projects or extra help to improve their grade if they show the least bit of interest in learning. Often a student who tests poorly on written exams is given the opportunity to do oral exams or retake a failed exam. What I am saying is that in our U.S. classrooms there are many ways to earn a grade higher than "average" without being a brilliant scholar.

So Beaver Cleaver was a goofy kid. He was just average or maybe a little worse than average in school. But he was entertaining to watch on T.V. and you had to like the guy. But if you are a parent I would recommend telling your children that average isn't good enough for them. They can do better.