Someone stands up too.
What I am saying here is that his story has an under current that connects it, no different than any other news story, to other stories.
Mr Dorval has been suspended by the Edmonton Public School Board with pay for the crime of what?
He is not some child predator, he teaches physics and he seems to be a person who has a beef with the way he must grade his students.
He has looked at his profession as something that has a long term impact on the behavior and perhaps success of his young charges.
He has what seems to me a very realistic view of what "the system" is creating in the way of a work mindset and he questioned the wisdom of the system and was as he puts it, considered a firebrand or maybe a hold out to the old school and was shut down.
Here I take license and make conjecture thinking that more than anything this teacher wanted a debate and some disclosure on this policy.
In the end he simply defied the EPSB and did the thing that seemed to him wise.
He gave a zero to a student if they had not completed an assignment. I applaud the fact that he put his job on the line for what he believes is right. He respectfully refused to do as commanded it may lead to a debate or perhaps his dismissal I hope for debate the subject but in
Let's take a closer look at this issue.
First the assumptions made by Mr Dorval and EPSB.
Mr Dorval believes that students who do not complete work should come to him to make arrangements to complete the assigned work or have a grade which reflects the amount of work missed through the year. He maintains that this will help the student prepare for university or at least be transferred as work ethic in the blue collar work a day world.
The EPSB feels that some courses should be allowed to pass students who do not complete the work but do achieve a passing grade percentage on what is handed in. Giving the student a zero will hurt his or her self esteem
I will look at it in terms of a student who simply wants to get out of high school and into a trade.
While having a grounding in Physics can't hurt is it necessary for Larry Lunchbox to be able to have an in depth conversation on quantum theory after graduation?
The teachers view would be...No you don't have to be a physics guru but if you don't get work done it should be commented on and if not completed the grade should reflect that. He defends his stance commenting on work ethic and what kind of individuals are we producing and what about personal responsibility?
The point is virtually moot when we look at students who want to go into the sciences of course those students will try to do all of the assigned work.
But here's a question, does this type of grading affect the focused individual who has the brains and luck and hopefully personal interest in a subject to do well at it?
What about the student who plans on university but is interested in the humanities who doesn't need a strong science grade?
Would it not make more sense to have students devote the majority of their attention to the discipline they are going into?
Here is another question: Has anyone asked the kids what they think?
This story illustrates the dichotomy I see in the education delivery system the tug of war between old school school and new school school.
So here is a policy that is going to be reviewed, it will be reviewed by the key parties, there will be graphs and charts and mounds of typed text and it might even have a public input session or two!
Thus this story has now linked to yet another post I won't bother with the title but it commented on crowd sourcing of policies in government in general and how Iceland accomplished this in particular.
That is what should happen with policy questions such as these that relate to something as important as the education of a new generation.
The scribe in the corner jotting things down and the town hall style meetings worked real well in the last century but not when you have a population of a million or so who are directly affected by EPSB policy.
I hope this debate goes to a national level and hope that these folks use the technology available in order to craft something of value to the people and not just a board of trustees.
Personally I think you will find little basis for Mr Dorvals assumption that the work ethic is undermined by this non-punitive way of dealing with missed assignments.
You will find that any dysfunction in the student come adult is a culmination of factors and the marking policies of high school will be on that list but not as a catalyst for bad work ethics.
But that doesn't mean that this conversation should end.
The conversation should be encouraged it should be lively it should be inclusive it should be relevant and it should be fearless.
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