How do we get school communities past 150 years of academics as the primary focus of schooling?

In my experience, the teachers who have worked in schools for decades are frustrated by the competition for academic grades; frustrated by the focus in schools on primarily the academically talented; and frustrated by the reality that students do not need A grades to become successful in life after school.  Teachers want very much to talk about other parameters for success.

The first step is to engage teachers in discussion about their role in the lives of their students.  Teachers want to embrace that their role is expansive; that their impact on students is not just with the individuals who get straight A’s (or even just improve their grades), but rather that their impact is on every student in the classroom.  Even the weakest student in an academic setting learns the value of participating or not participating from the way a teacher encourages the responsibilities of learning.  By identifying elements of a strong and healthy character, teachers will have a clearer indication of the student’s potential for future success.

Not every school will identify the same elements of character success.  Some urban schools may develop different goals than suburban or rural schools.  Some traditional schools may have different elements from progressive schools.  However, all will benefit from serious discussion about ways to develop strong, success-oriented character.

Teachers will also need to specifically teach the character skills that will determine this future success- the topic for next week’s blog.

We welcome you to the conversation.  Please let us know that you care by liking comments, forwarding posts, or joining in our dialogue at johnzurn.com.

Coming Next Wednesday- How to Grade for Character

 From our first posting:

“As parents and teachers, we need to reclaim our traditional role as influencers of our children – not by shouting louder than the influencers our children discover online, but by stressing ideas that are more important than fancy shoes and snappy TikTok tunes. We need to emphasize traits that everyone agrees children will honor.  We need to convince our children that the people who are most important to them have a better understanding of what it takes to be successful in life.”

John Zurn began his educational career teaching fourth, fifth, and sixth grade children in K through 8^th grade independent school settings.   He went on to serve as Head of School for three independent schools over a twenty-eight year period.   John has written a book on a comprehensive school-wide character education program which was published in 2022 and updated in 2024.  He is currently working on a book directed towards teaching Traits for Success to students in grades 4 through 8.

#charactereducation #successtraits #parentingtips #homeschooling #teachertips