Our students forget content but they remember language. It’s a big joke that people are hired to teach kids things that they will definitely forget after the test, things that will have zero use to them whatsoever. Why? Because the information is going to the wrong place. It’s like putting all the furniture into the attic and leaving the house bare. The conscious mind is an attic when it comes to languages. There is a national farce going on, involving tremendous waste of taxpayer dollars and a nearly criminal assault on the self esteem of kids, who have no way to defend themselves.
This is how Bryan Whitney puts it:
“This is the main reason we really shouldn’t stress about trying to “cover” tons of content. I know some teachers take a lot of pride in covering more content than anyone else, but if the students are only cramming the information into their short-term memories to be able to spit it out on a test, then what is the point? If the students are physically incapable of remembering all of that information then what is there to truly be proud about as a teacher? If they haven’t learned it for the long-term then have they truly learned it at all?
“The other aspect of this whole thing is that you then get a few kids who think they know everything because they can regurgitate information, and a whole lot of kids who just feel stupid and stressed out. This is not a healthy environment, much less a happy one. No thanks and good riddance to ineffective and spirit-crushing practices.
“It’s like the teacher that says, “Well, I taught it to them. I’m not sure why they don’t remember it now.” Compare this to a salesperson that says, “Well, I sold it to them. I’m not sure why they didn’t buy it.””
The kids forget content, but they remember language. We may be in daily arguments about this with others in our building. But we need not fret about defending our position. We cannot let those (largely unspoken but nonetheless real) conflicts dampen our enthusiasm. We’re getting into October now. A tough month. Time to gear up.