“When Success Leads To Failure” In this article, the author, Jessica Lahey, argues “the pressure to achieve academically is a crime against learning.” Lahey opens the article with a personal experience. A concerned mother wants to know why her daughter doesn’t seem to enjoy learning anymore. Lahey admits that she has noticed the same thing about the young girl. She also admits to knowing the answer to the mother’s question. The author states the answer is that the girl sacrificed her love for learning to earn her grades. Lahey speaks of a symbolic ‘altar of achievement’. She implies that society has pointed the girl toward the altar, showing her that test scores are more important than
…show more content…
She does not want to come right out and tell the woman that her child is not receiving the right praise for her work. The girl is not receiving praise for her diligence and perseverance. Instead, she is being praised on her scores, and awards. The author states “Above all else, we taught her to fear failure. That fear is what has destroyed her love of learning.” Lahey claims “Her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar of achievement, and it’s our fault.” The author’s main point in this article is that children are beginning to focus more on getting good grades than learning the information, and enjoying it. In an article called “The Costs of Overemphasizing Achievement”, Alfie Kohn suggests “as motivation to get good grades goes up, motivation to explore ideas tends to go down.” One of the topics that Kohn brings up is standardized testing. He states “Standardized tests often have the additional disadvantages of being (a) produced and scored far away from the classroom, (b) multiple choice in design (so students can’t generate answers or explain their thinking), (c) timed (so speed matters more than thoughtfulness) and (d) administered on a one-shot, high-anxiety basis.” Many people who are opposed to standardized testing realizes that they may not be effective in determining how much knowledge a child has gained. It simply shows what they have memorized. This may be a contributing factor to the decrease in desire to
She does not want to come right out and tell the woman that her child is not receiving the right praise for her work. The girl is not receiving praise for her diligence and perseverance. Instead, she is being praised on her scores, and awards. The author states “Above all else, we taught her to fear failure. That fear is what has destroyed her love of learning.” Lahey claims “Her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar of achievement, and it’s our fault.” The author’s main point in this article is that children are beginning to focus more on getting good grades than learning the information, and enjoying it. In an article called “The Costs of Overemphasizing Achievement”, Alfie Kohn suggests “as motivation to get good grades goes up, motivation to explore ideas tends to go down.” One of the topics that Kohn brings up is standardized testing. He states “Standardized tests often have the additional disadvantages of being (a) produced and scored far away from the classroom, (b) multiple choice in design (so students can’t generate answers or explain their thinking), (c) timed (so speed matters more than thoughtfulness) and (d) administered on a one-shot, high-anxiety basis.” Many people who are opposed to standardized testing realizes that they may not be effective in determining how much knowledge a child has gained. It simply shows what they have memorized. This may be a contributing factor to the decrease in desire to