If I had my life to live over, I would perhaps have more actual troubles but I'd have fewer imaginary ones. ~Don Herold
Alice is scared of the EOG's. Terrified to the point that she's not wanting to start 3rd grade in 22 days. No child should be this scared of some stupid test! It's all because of schools putting such pressure on kids to pass this test, because of the ignorant No Child Left Behind crap. I'm sorry, but the pressure is too much. You know what? Sometimes, you have to leave a child behind, so that the rest do not suffer. That left behind child can be given tutoring, but it's not right to make the majority suffer for the few. Instead, you have half the class sitting bored, not learning anything new, because the school wants to "make the grade". It makes me long for Alices old school who didn't care about NCLB. They moved forward with the majority and tutored the rest after school until they were caught up.
Alice is stressing herself out because the school is making this test the be all to end all, instead of easing a childs fears that the test is nothing more than something long and boring that will be easy. Why not do that? Teach them that it's nothing overly important, that they just need to do their best and not worry about it? Instead, performance anxiety is through the roof in my house, and it's 9 months away! I think I will have to be "that" parent this year and make my views known. I honestly don't give a damn anymore, because I am looking out for the welfare of my child, not the good opinion of the teacher. I have to wonder about a school that has no child under the 4th grade level in AIG, save my own, anyhow. AIG should be fun, instead, the school sticks her in a room to do worksheets. She feels she's not learning anything and has went from a child who once loved school, to one who hates it. One year in this district did that to her.
If I were the teaching type, I would pull her out. Unfortunately, Alice has been screwed 2 ways. A crappy school system and a mother who can't teach. It's not that I don't know the stuff, it's that I don't have the teachers patience that I should. And that hurts her. I hate myself for it too. I wish I could be the mother that she needs when it comes to this. I wish the school system could be the school she needs.
I wish the EOG's would just go away.
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2 comments:
Why can't the parents tell their child how easy the EOG's are? If your child is having performance anxiety at this age, perhaps now is a good time to help her learn techniques to concur it. It's only going to get worse as school gets more difficult. I don't feel this has anything to do with the school. The EOG's are important, as your child will not pass her grade if they she can't pass the EOG. If you daughter is bored in school? She shouldn't be concerned with the EOG at all.
Of course parents tell their kids it's easy, but we are negating what the schools are telling them. Who are the kids going to believe, the placating parents, or their teachers who tell them day after day as they are forced to teach the test and not the student?
Also, this post is over a year old. She passed her EOGs. My daughter is an AIG student, and really doesn't have a problem with school, just anxiety over the thought of failing. It's a frustrating trait of gifted kids. They beat themselves up if they think they are anything less than perfect. It can drive a parent insane, but you just keep trying to make things more fun and light hearted to combat their seriousness.
To your point of stress and anxiety not having anything to do with the school, it has EVERYTHING to do with the school. NCLB puts too much pressure on the schools, which in turn causes that pressure to affect the kids. To say otherwise would be burying your head in the sand and ignoring a huge problem. A problem that frustrates good teachers every day.
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