| Posted on June 18th, 2010 by Randy Proto |
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Early in my teaching career, I thought I knew. Give me a week or two, an assignment, a quiz and I could tell who would do well, and who wouldn’t. Who wasn’t “cut out for this.”
Then I met a woman I will call Sue. I was teaching Computer Programming. Sue just struggled from the first. I was teaching day and evening classes. I would get to class at 8 – and Sue was there. I would often leave at 10 pm, and frequently Sue would leave a bit before me. All of this to get to a “C.”
I watched her do the same for her entire program. Sometimes, I questioned the process by which she was admitted. Surely it could have filtered Sue out and saved her the risk and work, I thought.
Right after her class graduated, I went in to our Placement office to speak to the Director – Patty. She informed me that there were several placements from the class already – the first of which was – guess who?
The State of Connecticut needed a maintenance programmer in one of its departments. It didn’t pay very well at the time, so most of our graduates wouldn’t be interested and the interviewers knew that – but the State had good benefits. The staffers just wanted someone reliable who could keep things going for them – competently. And Sue would. And did. It was the right fit.
I don’t know where she is now - but I do know that she changed my perspective on teaching. She, and many students after her taught me that ability, which clearly varies, is related to success, but that students’ determination and good teaching determine the true size of the pool of students who in fact will succeed.
It’s a difficult balance in regard to that admissions process. Does one filter out 100% of the Sue’s, where test scores and other indicators may not indicate their true potential, or give them all a chance so the 20% (or 10% or 30%) who have the determination can succeed?
Not a simple answer – one I wrestle with often.
But in terms of prejudging any student, well, lesson learned.
[...] but Mr. Proto writes that when it comes to prejudging students, “lesson learned.” Click here to read the [...]