Random Access

Do we want our teachers booking off sick so that they can write report cards? Or do we want them standing in front of their classes teaching what they should be teaching?
The unfortunate truth is that there are teachers so pressed for time, especially at the end of the year, that they take some of their seemingly endless supply of sick days to write report cards.
Which is bad enough.
What is worse is that those report cards are written in advanced goobledygook, so that parents have to try to break the pedantic code that is apparently intended to keep secret how your child is actually doing in school.
The System, which obviously provides some kind of master list of generic comments from which teachers can crib, should provide an accompanying translation for parents.
Of course, by the time your kid graduates you’ve pretty well figured out that, “Johnny is encouraged to contribute to class discussions more often in second term,” really means, “your kid slept through fall. Maybe you’d like to wake him up in time for Christmas.”
Anyone who has ever been the owner of a teenage son knows the real meaning of, “Johnny has a clear sense of the course concepts. Johnny should have confidence in his ability. Johnny should apply these skills to go beyond the assignment expectations. Johnny often works with little attention or care to detail. He must complete all assigned work and be aware of the finer details. Johnny is encouraged to take time to reflect on, and revise his work as necessary. Johnny can make valuable contributions to class discussions when called upon.”
Translation: Johnny is a distracted underachiever who spends too much time goofing off with his buddies at the back of the class. He’d better smarten up if he ever wants to make it to university.
Can you imagine how difficult it must be for the many parents whose first language is not English to discern that a comment on a report card that their child is, “approaching grade level” actually means they’re behind in school?
Ontario’s elementary teachers are expected to approve a motion today that calls for the number of report cards to be reduced from three to two.
Fine. However, the problem with report cards isn’t their quantity, it’s their quality.
Call me ignorantly and hopelessly old-fashioned, but I much preferred the anecdotal report cards of the past.
Since communication with the home is obviously so critical in the success of students, let’s start by speaking to parents in plain English.