“I wish I was a normal kid, but it’s so hard!”

What medicine cures “achievement disease” in education?

My friend has 2 children, 1 girl and 1 boy. Because my eldest daughter went to a specialized school, it was too stressful and difficult, so when my son entered middle school, my friend chose the school for her child simply the school closest to home. There is nothing like a school that is 200 meters away from home, next to a cultural house, next to a mini football field, the school has just been repaired, has a swimming pool, a football field… There’s nothing like a dream after every lesson. can play soccer, learn to swim, walk home by themselves without having to pick up. Because of that simple dream of wanting her child to be a normal child, my friend didn’t put too much emphasis on choosing a class, choosing a teacher, and entering that class in whatever class she was placed in.

But life is not like a dream

Last night, texting me, my friend was bitter: How can there be an educational environment for ordinary children? They just want superhero kids, 8-pointers, 9-pointers.

My friend said, in your child’s class, these days, some students have quietly left the class without saying goodbye. Those who stay only know you’re off when the number on the board is a little short. They are disappointed, worried but do not know who to ask and what to ask? Parents only know this when in the “chat” group, suddenly a mother says goodbye to leave the group – that is, a student has transferred schools. There is a transfer student when the 2nd semester exam is only a few days to start. After that, the atmosphere in class these days was so heavy, parents’ hearts sank when they saw their children’s eyes filled with anxiety and low self-esteem. My friend said, these are “hidden migrations” and there will continue to be “migration” in the coming days. House by house, house by house “escapes” from the dream of letting their children be a normal child.

Students have the right to choose a career path and establish a career for the future.

A parent in Hoang Mai district once told me that, when her daughter was in 9th grade, one day when she came home from school, she threw herself into her pillow and sobbed. I kept asking until I said that I couldn’t take the 10th exam because of my poor academic performance. The homeroom teacher told her to “do ideological work” first with her parents, then she would talk to them. If you insist on registering for the 10th grade exam, you will fail, but with your academic performance recorded on the report card, it is unlikely that you will be able to take the exam. That parent sister could only hold her child in bitterness and helplessness, because she was a weak person, unable to come to her to “claim for her child’s rights”.

Understanding and sharing are things that teachers should give their students.

Yesterday, when public opinion broke out that some secondary schools in Hanoi “forced” poor students not to take the 10th exam, but should go to vocational training according to the 9+ model, the authorities, from the Ministry of Education & DT, Hanoi People’s Committee and Cau Giay District Department of Education and Training got involved quite quickly, requiring verification and clarification, if there is such a phenomenon, it must be strictly handled. That move of the State management agency partly helps people “calm down”, hoping that they will find out the truth anyway. But information from the Department of Education and Training of Cau Giay district said that, “through the examination of records, there is no phenomenon of forcing weak students not to take the 10th grade exam as reported on social networks”.

When I read these lines, I feel salty in my heart. Maybe the Department of Education and Training in Cau Giay district they did the right thing, reacted quite quickly to the incident, but there are no records and books to prove that the teacher “forced” the students, the school “forced” the students. “Teachers, proving that the behavior of “anti-education”, “anti-kindness” is happening silently in many high schools. There is no evidence for “silent migrations” (as my friend used the words) when it is always attached to a “voluntary” application that I believe, when signing that application, many women father was in tears.

Also, the Deputy Head of the Education and Training Department of Cau Giay district said that there may be cases where the parents of students do not understand the teachers’ intentions correctly, leading to the fact that teachers may think about their children’s learning results. forcing, orienting children to attend certain schools. But please, if it was just that, there would be no way the child would come home and cry on the pillow. No matter what, the children seem to be quieter when looking at the place where you study, where there are only empty seats. Just last night, a parent sent me a message saying, “Journalist, my child’s homeroom teacher even spent 2 hours criticizing the children, making my child sad, not wanting to play football, go straight home.” .

Why does this happen? There are many explanations. It is possible that because of the emulation and reward criteria, the school is afraid that poor students will affect the overall achievement of the school, including that of the homeroom teacher. It is possible that, if we remove students who do not study well, the total score of the 10th grade entrance exam of secondary schools will be higher. Today, Ms. D.H, a colleague of mine, said that her friend told her that the incident of “forced” students not to take the 10th grade exam is real, because behind it is also the story of popular schools. Once established, vocational colleges receive students, they will pay the school 1 amount/student, including some for the management board, some for the homeroom teacher, so the homeroom teacher is sometimes “forced”. students must be encouraged not to take the 10th grade exam. If this is true then it is a grossly counter-educational act!

Obviously, if it weren’t for the disease of achievement, not even for material benefits, it is not foolish that some secondary schools would do such anti-educational and anti-human things. Therefore, the root of this story is still “achievement disease”. This disease distorts and distorts the pedagogical environment, deprives students of their rights, and they themselves distort the State’s policy of streamlining education in a very humane career-oriented direction. An education expert told me that a vocational school is a place for vocational training for students, not a “bag” to contain weak students. And to treat the root of the “achievement disease”, the best way is to renew the work of emulation and commendation. Should eliminate achievement competitions, remove emulation criteria. Innovating the test and assessment to assess the intrinsic capacity of learners. Those are solutions from state management agencies.

As for me, the most important thing is still the mind and love of the teacher. When teachers understand the rights of children and set the interests of children as the highest goal in their teaching profession, they will behave differently. They will both advise and inspire students, helping them to be excited about many ways to start a career, not “criticizing”, drawing a bad path if they “try to make a career”. In fact, many families were determined not to sign the “voluntary” application, resolutely allowing their children to take the exam into 10th grade, and many children were considered “incompetent”, “ignorant”. passed into public schools with pretty high scores…

According to Thu Phuong