The educational system in the U.S. has some major flaws, one of which is ever decreasing expectations. The “no child left behind” business does, in reality, disadvantage every child equally. I can’t speak for all people, but it has been my experience that, from those who ~can~ perform, which is most children: when much is demanded, much higher performance is displayed. Some people ~DO~ have legitimate learning disabilities and should obviously receive the special attention that they need to succeed, that’s fine! Even in helping these children out, expectations should be high for what they are capable of, thus their performance will be as high as it can be. Let me give you a couple of specific examples from my own education.
I have known far too many “special-ed” kids who take advantage of their situation for the purpose of being lazy, I mean it really happens! The law almost protects them from doing anything they don’t want to do, which is sad. “A.D.D. is the greatest thing ever invented, I can ask for an extension and they HAVE to give it to me by law!” said one friend of mine, who shall remain unnamed.
On average, the classes that didn’t require very much of me, got much less attention, and a whole lot more “I don’t care.” My last semester in college I had one class that was just a bear, Communication Research Methods. Required a buttload of work from everyone in the class, but on my big final project I passed with flying colors. Compare that to Group Communication, wherein I did the minimum work required, missed a large part of the emphasis of the class due to scheduling conflicts, and whipped out the final paper in an afternoon/evening. In that class I’m sure I didn’t do as well, just because the level of expectations was so low that I didn’t pay attention to it.
I’m NOT a fan of overloading students, which leads to depression, excessive anxiety, and suicide when students don’t feel they can measure up. All I’m saying is that if you don’t expect anything, you’ll get nothing.
Well I agree from the other end of the college spectrum.
I’m sure ADD exists, but probably in 20-30% of diagnosed cases.
I think higher expectations will most certainly lead to higher reward, at least that’s how it works in business!