by R.A. Scott

Created on: January 13, 2009   Last Updated: April 24, 2010

"School days, school days Dear old golden rule days"

Are you familiar with that little ditty? Maybe if you are over a certain age you do, man that makes me feel so old. School days are fun times in the lives in kids, I remember mine with fondness. Sure I had trouble learning some things and I would get in trouble on occasion, I was like most kids and didn't do anything outrageous but I had my share of problems. Still, when I look back on those days it was fun, maybe it's because my mind is going and everything is fuzzy so it all looks good.

In my day, boy that makes me sound like an old curmudgeon, students were responsible for their failing grades. One result of failing grades was to be held back while your peers progressed a grade. For me that wasn't an issue but I did know 1 kid who was kept behind in grade 4 because of poor grades. The upside of that was that by the time he got to high school he was an honor student.

It seems that now students don't have to be responsible for their schooling. Why should they be any different than anyone else in society? Parents are no longer responsible for the actions of their kids, alcoholics and drug users are no longer responsible for their conditions because they have a supposed disease. So many folks are no longer responsible for their actions; there is always an excuse that relieves them of whatever responsibility they may have otherwise had.

Today students are not held responsible for their failing grades. Falling grades get blamed on things like a poor background, lousy parenting (for which the parents take no responsibility). Falling grades get blamed on teachers or the idea that students just have too much school work to do. There are as many excuses as there are kids. It's a sad state of affairs.

Little Johnny can't read but no one is responsible, least of all poor little Johnny who does everything in school but apply himself. So the government throws together another committee, the school boards go into meetings, teachers unions circle the wagons and exclaim that it isn't their fault Johnny can't read, counselors of all stripes rally around little Johnny claiming the world is expecting too much from him.

If little Johnny isn't going to take responsibility for what he learns and does not learn then who should? Nobody should. In the end the student must be responsible for his or her own education. Students must be held accountable for their schooling, especially in the higher grades. It all starts with school, if they are not accountable for their education then how can they ever be accountable for anything else in life?

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