For years now I have followed various trends affecting the “supply” of labour to the working world. From trends in style/preferences/expectations, to concepts like helicopter parenting, to labour/skills shortages and demographic trending. Well, I guess in this day and age, with everything else the government seems to be sticking it’s nose deeper and deeper into, I would say we are beginning to see more and more “helicopter governing”.

I recently read an article about the public school system in Manitoba, and how the governemnt is “strongly discouraging” teachers from reducing grades on assignments that are handed in late. The argument is that the quality of a late assignment still holds the same quality, and the student is being penalized on that quality – thereby not allowing the assignment to be assessed fairly against its peers and national standardized benchmarks. It goes on further to say that for assignments not handed in at all, a zero is not a fair representation because a zero should represent the quality of the assignment and given that it was not even assessed, a zero is not a fair representation. (the article also touches on the concept of not failing students or holding them back a grade – but that is a topic for an entirely different day)

I don’t know about you, but here in the real world, I can tell you that if I have a project deliverable at work and I decide not to do the project at all, my boss is not going to be all that lenient. If I deliver it a month or so late, depending on the project, I can tell you that it will have significant impact on any number of other parts of the business. AND, if I continually choose not to do my  work projects, I can likely expect not to be employed much longer. I trust that I do not need to draw the parallels here between school assignments and projects, and failing a grade and getting fired.

People. Wake up. If we are not setting the bar at a young age and building a foundation of work ethics for life when our students are in those impressionable years – then we are not setting them up for success later in life. Yes, there are arguments against failing students like stalling their social development if they are held back to repeat a grade with a younger peer group, but then, why do we still offer split classes if this is so wrong. Here’s the article from the Leader-Post if you are interested in reading more:

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s NDP government strongly discourages teachers from deducting marks from students who are late in submitting assignments.

A letter from former education minister Peter Bjornson sent on June 22, 2009 to Tory MLA Blaine Pedersen says students shouldn’t be deducted marks for missing deadlines. The Tories released the letter Thursday.

Bjornson said that if a teacher deducts 10 or 20 per cent because a student turns work in late, then that mark is not “an accurate indicator of what the student has learned or achieved.”

He said that while it is important to learn personal responsibility and good work habits, the lateness of assignments should be reported separately.

Bjornson told Pedersen that provincial marking guidelines and a desire for uniform approaches to marking dictate that “. . . marks should reflect the student’s achievement and should not be distorted as a result of work habits, attitudes or behaviours.

“If a required assignment is missing, a zero is not an accurate indicator of what the student has learned or achieved; the teacher simply has no evidence on which to make any judgment about that learning outcome,” wrote Bjornson.

The letter will further fuel public debate over the so-called no-fail policy in Manitoba education — it does not exist in writing as provincial policy, but many teachers and parents believe that it is practised widely across Manitoba.

Several teachers who have contacted the Winnipeg Free Press have said, under condition their names not be used, that their division requires them to find ways to pass kids, including by not deducting marks for late or missing assignments.

One teacher said there is pressure to accept assignments even after the semester has ended, and apply the mark to the previous semester’s grade.

Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen has demanded that students be promoted based on academic achievement.

A Manitoba Teachers’ Society poll showed that 76 per cent of 800 adults surveyed oppose having a no-fail system. MTS will receive a teachers’ task force report on workload issues — including a committee study on no-fail — in late May at its annual convention.

Veteran Seven Oaks School Division superintendent Brian O’Leary said Thursday that he agrees with the government — don’t dock kids for late marks, he said.

A student could do very well on a provincial math or English exam worth 30 per cent of the year, but potentially get a failing grade for late work in class, O’Leary said.

O’Leary said the education system’s focus should be on keeping kids together with their social peer group, and helping those students who are having learning difficulties. “The focus should be off a (no-fail) policy, which doesn’t even exist,” he said.

Holding kids back “almost invariably leads to dropping out,” he said, urging schools to do “everything we can to keep kids together.”