Give an A: Is It Entitlement...or Just Caring Too Much?

Last summer I had the privilege of attending the MIT-Lemelson EurekaFest as an Excite Award Recipient.  It was an amazing opportunity and experience that I will need to address at another time.  So why do I bring up this event?  Simple...it was the first time I heard that college professors were being contacted by students' parents who questioned (and possibly demanded higher) grades for their children.

As a high school teacher, I have see this such situation more and more (parents almost demanding higher grades for their children because it will affect their GPA)...but IN COLLEGE?  My first thought tends toward the negative: We (Americans) believe we are entitled to our success.  Success is not dependent on our accomplishments.  My child said she did the work and deserves the best grade.  

Of course, the first reason that pops into one's head isn't always accurate (or at least the only explanation).  So, I decided to find more information about this new phenomenon.  I definitely found that my first assumption about the motive behind parental involvement is not completely wrong as they could  be called "lawn-mower parents."  These parents are similar to what has been called "helicopter parents" but will "mow down whatever stands in the way of their child's success" (from the same article).

On the other hand, others had a more neutral rationale.  One article about this issue at the University of Florida noted that many Baby Boomers are parents now and have become very protective of their children.  The author recollects the "Baby on Board" signs that started in the 80s and parents requiring their children always wear bicycle helmets.  These parents wanted to ensure their children would never feel pain.  Another article had a similar take on the issue and quotes Dr. Sears, who says, "The protector instinct in all parents makes us want to rush and rescue the stuck baby."  So, maybe this intent is not necessarily about entitlement as much as it might be about protecting my child from any harm.

Unfortunately, this parental behavior, as all the articles note, does not help these young adults (and yes they are adults by 18 years of age) develop into competent adults.  They never learn how to handle these challenges on their own or how to solve the problem.  Of course, it is not necessarily clear if the child asks the parent to intervene or the parent is overly involved...but in either case, these young people really need to learn to deal with the issues themselves.  The student should be the one contacting the professor and trying to improve their grade, while parents can (and should) be available to counsel their college-age children.  An interesting view about extended childhood has been made by John Taylor Gatto.  In this audio clip, Mr. Gatto notes how childish our (American) society has become when even parents need a lesson on how to behave at their child's baseball game.

So, whatever the motive (entitlement, protection, or other reasons) parents should take the advice of the articles linked above and allow their adult-age children to learn and grow and even fail...because real learning cannot happen without real failure.

Hawaii College and Career(?) Fair

On somewhat of a whim, I decided to head to the Hawaii College and Career Fair this past Friday.  I thought it would be a good opportunity to really start moving forward on developing a high school internship program by making connections with businesses and/or apprenticeship programs...and I wanted to see if there was any interesting careers that might interest me personally.  So, off I went with high hopes.

As I entered the free event, I was handed a program listing all the organizations that had a booth at the fair.  I quickly scan through the list of organizations only to find that 91% of them are post secondary schools (see scanned program).  Furthermore, the "careers" is clustered with scholarships and financial aid organizations, which combined only had a whopping six organizations.  So, as you might imagine...I was frustrated and even dumbfounded.  How does a college and CAREER fair have only a very few career organizations!?  

To make the best of it, I decided to walk around and observe the event and fount that this event was really only about colleges recruiting students. Nothing more.  It really made me think about how commercial our society has become...and these schools are making some serious money as realized by noting the largest "booths" were occupied by two of the most expensive private schools in Hawaii (Chaminade University and Hawaii Pacific University).  Your telling me this event is for the students?  Are you sure it isn't a money making scheme for these schools?

I was about to leave when I decided I should actually go visit organizations that appeared to be a "career" related.  I head over to that area and see that one company (a helicopter tour company) is also selling their training program ("Learn to Fly").  The other booth that had potential (besides the military booths) was Hawaii Behavior Health...here was what I saw:

So...I guess they either never showed up or thought that the morning was such a bust that they didn't need to return for the night shift.  So, beyond the military booths, there was NO REAL career organizations or businesses that were not "selling" their training or schooling at this event at all.  

This was extremely troubling to me because the more time I spend in a school setting, the more I realize that a school is NOTHING like the rest of the world.  Numerous educators have noted the lack of adolescents interaction with adults is absurd when we expect them to leave high school ready to easily interact with adults.  I want this "adults-in-training" to be around adults more often so they gain the experience of working with adults and learn how "the real world" operates (not stuck in the bubble of high school).  Furthermore, as Tony Wagner noted in a recent speech at Microsoft (at about 27:40), the blue collar (but well-paying jobs) are not easily outsourced...such jobs like electricians, mechanics, and plumbers.  Why weren't these organizations at the College and Career Fair?  In Hawaii, we have  a Workforce Development Division that lists apprenticeship programs and other programs and a Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.  You would think either these organizations or some of the listed programs would be at this event, but they were not.  

Well, I guess there is a need to develop more opportunities for adolescents to get into the world of adults.  I now just need to take the initiative and make it happen...and be sure that such a program IS at the Hawaii College and Career Fair.