Some time ago I came across this funny cartoon that traced a caricature of the evolution of the exercises assigned in a class test. I found it funny because it was exaggerated.
In reality, the contents of the subjects taught are still substantial, despite the pressure that teachers, of all levels and grades, are subjected to so as not to generate performance anxiety in the student. I see this with my nephew who is about to start the third year of middle school. Every now and then I ask him to understand when that preparation gap begins to form, which I observe more and more frequently among my first-year students. For the moment, it is holding up well. Yes, let’s say it is holding up. So it is likely that the easing will occur later, during secondary school. Much will also depend on the type of studies he undertakes. The choice of path will be made very early, and I wonder with what criteria one can direct a teenager towards a high school, or a technical or professional institute. The desire to study that he has shown so far? The inclinations towards one discipline rather than another? Thinking immediately about preparing him for a job? The economic resources of the family that must be sufficient to support him at university? Or let’s let the teenager choose, perhaps pushed to follow in the footsteps of his closest companions. Of course it is an important choice to make at 13 years old.
I am of the opinion that if you do not demand application there is no incentive to do better. No forcing, obviously, but the bar must be kept high if you do not want to put the student in difficulty with the exercise that, in the cartoon, is assigned in 2018.
Leave your comments