I teach 6th graders, so they are basically really tall infants. They still own matching pajamas. They throw a fit if their chair is two feet to the left of their table. If you let them bring in a single stuffed animal, they will agonize all week over which one to choose. Recently, an 8th grade teacher asked my team to assign our students more homework to prepare them for her class ⊠so that she can prepare them for high school.
Itâs not that the kids arenât academically competent. Most of them are reading at or above grade level, and theyâre reasonably proficient in math. Even if that werenât the case, thereâs no evidence that homework actually helps. No, the purpose of this request was to get our 11-year-olds in the habit of doing the hours of homework that might be required when theyâre 17. Because 17-year-olds have to get ready for the level of rigor required in college.
In our drive to constantly prepare students for what comes next, we ignore the fact that theyâre children.
These are not adults in a career for whom additional challenge and responsibility is a natural step forward. Their brains are changing rapidly, and whatâs developmentally appropriate for a 10th graderâlike using a lengthy checklist to independently complete a two-week projectâis light-years beyond the capability of your average 7th grader.
And itâs not only the workload. Our expectations of studentsâ executive-functioning skills have gone wild, too. Once upon a time, students were in a classroom with the same teacher for all subjects until their teenage years. By the time I was in 5th grade, we had a team of two teachers and switched classes several times a day. My son started changing classes when he was in the 3rd grade.
Think for a minute about the skills a kid needs to navigate multiple classes.
- They have to be able to organize their materials and bring the right supplies to each classroom.
- They have to be able to switch focus according to the bell rather than natural transitions or pauses between activities.
- They have to have the physical dexterity to pack up their stuff, move it across the hall, and unpack it quickly.
- They have to code-switch between the preferences, expectations, and pet peeves of teachers multiple times a day.
Thatâs a lot to ask of an 8-year-old.
And the major problem with age-inappropriate âcollege and career readinessâ is, of course, that it doesnât work. First graders canât do worksheets for an hour, even if theyâll have to do that in 4th grade. A 5th grader canât choose the important information from a video, write it in their own words, and organize it into a thoughtful response, even if a 9th grader needs to.
And we canât make kidsâ brains develop faster.
Itâs like when people potty-train their 6-month-old. You can (maybe?) teach them to let you know when they need to poop, but they still canât get to the bathroom and do it themselves. The parents train themselves, not the child. But you can certainly make yourself crazy in the process.
Our focus on âcollege and career readinessâ is training teachers, not students.
Itâs training us to push performance over process with kids who are nowhere close to ready.
Itâs training us to force boring, ârigorousâ activities on curious, active kids because âtheyâll need to know how to do this next year.â
Itâs training us to discipline our way through too little recess, too few breaks, and a shortage of joy in the name of increased instructional time.
Itâs training us to battle little kids incessantly as we try to coerce them into tasks their brains arenât ready for.
This training doesnât result in kids who are college and career ready. It results in kids who are anxious, bored, disruptive, and unhealthy.
This isnât a problem individual teachers can solve; itâs systemic in our K-12 schools. As teachers, we have to speak up for our sanity and our studentsâ childhood. Age-inappropriate instruction isnât working for anybody.
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