Blogocentric Formulations

Disservicing the children & The Little Mermaid

PROMPT: Are we doing kids a favor or a disservice by "not allowing them to fail" in high school? (make-up tests until they pass, extra credit, etc.) How does this affect their preparedness for college and beyond?


I think the level of disservicing is directly correlated to how the opportunities to make up the work are presented. If it's a situation (as it is in some classrooms) where it's just chance after chance after chance after chance... and the the teacher ends up passing them regardless of the level of their work just to keep their numbers up... that's a disservice to our kids. But if we're "not allowing them to fail" in the sense that we're encouraging them to find ways of amending their mistakes and succeeding because they have opportunities to take responsibility and course-correct their education... then I think that's actually good.

Like many things, it's all a matter of moderation. If we're just passing kids to get them out of our hair and hoping the next person deals with them, that's not doing the kids any favors because real world will come crashing in at some point, and whether it's college or the professional world after that, there will be a point where someone isn't going to lead them around by the nose and let them slack off time after time and expect someone to bail them out or give them a pass. At some point they're going to get hit with the hard reality that the world doesn't had you anything just because you're you... especially if you're not willing to put forth any effort.

But if we decide to help ensure our kids don't fail by encouraging them and helping them find solutions where they can make up for failed assignments and missed deadlines in some way, I think that promotes a lot of real-world situations where, yes, it's important to meet your obligations, but it's also equally important to understand how to cope with failure. And the "all or nothing" approach of some classes with assignments where they're either on time and accurate or awarded zero points, in my opinion, is a unrealistic way of preparing people for a world where success and failure aren't so absolute.

There was actually a great conversation about this topic in THANKFUL SONALI Now What? 's Notebook earlier this week where I also commented:

"Note: Am I the only one here who thinks that if the rule..."

The biggest disservice we can provide for our children is to not adequately prepare them for the struggles they'll face in the real world. The tricky part is that we might be ill-preparing them by coddling them too much just as easily as we might be ill-preparing them by not coddling them enough. It's a narrow line to walk, but one we nevertheless have to figure out a way to navigate... because someone's success is rarely determined by how many assignments they turn in on time, or how much hand-holding they've had; it's determined by the way they tackle adversity and how they overcome obstacles in their way.

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PROMPT: What's the first movie you remember seeing in a theater?

THE LITTLE MERMAID
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097757/

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that my first theater-going memories are from Disney movies. In fact, four of the six earliest movies I remember seeing were Disney animated features. THE LITTLE MERMAID was the first, RESCUERS DOWN UNDER (also my first experience with people demanding their money back because the projection was faulty), then BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, the HOOK, then ALADDIN, and finally rounding things out with THE SANDLOT (where my grandmother fell asleep in the theater) and JURASSIC PARK which was full of terrifying dinosaury goodness (right Diane ? ).

What can I say about Disney animated movies that hasn't already been said. Much like Pixar today, Disney Feature Animation ruled the silver screen when it came to family audiences in the 1980s and 1990s. THE LITTLE MERMAID was certainly no exception, with great songs, a compelling plot, and references that could be appreciated by both children and adults.

In retrospect, I'm kind of surprised that I saw so many movies when I was so young; my parents hate going to the movies and there was a time where our family didn't see a movie in the theater together for more than five years. (Seriously, my dad saw HOOK with us in 1991, then the next time he went to see a movie in the theater was ERASER in 1996!) I'm glad my mom and family friends took us to see movies, though, because they were unforgettable experiences sitting there in the dark with my popcorn and soda and watching a story come to life on the screen. I truly believe that there's a time in your childhood where you need to experience certain things... and if you miss it, while you can certainly appreciate those things later, you'll never quite appreciate them in the same way. TREASURE ISLAND is meant to be read as a kid; when you read it as an adult, it just doesn't have the same significance and impact. And I think movies are the same way. Yeah, we've all watched Disney movies on video and television, but there's something about being ten years old and sitting in a theater marveling at it, that you'll never truly get a chance to fully appreciate it if you see it later in life.