Higher Expectations

This week I told two freshman students the truth. We have lied to them long enough. What I told them was harsh and unexpected. "You're not special." The words almost hurt to say each time they came from my mouth. You could visibly see their faces change each time I said it. Both students have goals of being the first from their family to attend college. Both students were not meeting the expectations of their teachers or of any student that I would consider college bound. I said it again. "You're not special. Why would a college want you?" Again I saw their faces drop. 

We spend a great deal of time from Kindergarten through Senior year telling students that they can be anything that they want to be and that they can go anywhere that they want to go. The truth is that unless they distinguish themselves in and out of the classroom, that is a lie. The other truth is that it is our fault. We spend so much time generating positive relationships in the classroom and motivating students to try, that sometimes we short change what they can produce if we pushed them to do more. 

This week our teachers did professional development on generating higher level questions in their classrooms. That is a tough job when sometimes you worry about the students that cannot show success with mid or even low level questions. The other side to generating higher level questions, is generating higher level expectations. That process is not easy or quick, but it is necessary. It's true, average students with average or even good grades are not special. They are average, and they will be competing with all other average students for college admissions. Higher expectations and a strong push can provide them a pathway toward showing abilities and that is how our students can stand apart from the rest. That is how they can be special.