by Patricia Rockwell

Created on: January 21, 2009

In answering the question of whether it is better for schools to be rigorous or nurturing, I would argue that school systems should reflect the degree of rigor that students will encounter at each moment in their lives. Although I spent many years teaching at the college level, both of my children made it through the public school system and both are college graduates. I have tremendous admiration for public school teachers and for parents whose children are going through the educational system.

School should reflect the degree of rigor that students will experience during their daily lives. What does this mean? It means that students in elementary school, for example, do not encounter many pressing demands in their non-school lives. They may have some chores to perform at home and they may need to work a little at behaving in a civil manner if they want to have friends. On the whole, their lives are fairly easy and simple, which is as it should be. The rigor of their in-school work should reflect their age and abilities.

On the other hand, seniors in college have almost graduated and are almost out on their own in the world; many have part-time jobs already. These students have much more complex and complicated obligations at home and to their friends. Academic demands on these students must necessarily be greater to prepare them for the next stage of their lives. If they cannot handle an appropriately rigorous curriculum, they will not be able to survive in their careers or in graduate school.

From these few examples, it can be seen that there is no definitive answer to this either-or question. Schools should be as rigorous as necessary to produce well educated students. However, the degree of rigor must develop progressively as students adjust to various educational demands.

Also, in answering the question of whether it is better for schools to be rigorous or nurturing, I would suggest that these two concepts are not mutually exclusive. An elementary teacher can demand that her students learn the multiplication tables, but she can still care about them and give them encouragement to do the best they can do. A college teacher can demand that his students write the best research papers possible and be horrified if they don't do their very best work; he can also rejoice when those same students graduate and get wonderful jobs in fields of their choice. Some of the most rigorous professors I have ever had were some of the most nurturing (and, contrarily, some of the least rigorous were not at all nurturing).

Let's think about rigor and nurture in a new way. Let's demand appropriate rigor for our students at each step of their education. Without appropriate rigor, students cannot not learn. Let's also demand that teachers provide this rigor with a nurturing spirit and loving care.

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