I'm a high school Biology teacher. Believe it or not, students sometimes flunk my class. It's actually a pretty rare event, but it does happen. In almost all cases, it is because the student has failed to do most of the outside-of-class work that is assigned throughout the semester.
Don't get me wrong. Sometimes there are legitimate reasons for a student's lack of success in the classroom. The challenge of being a teacher is to identify these obstacles and to assist the student in overcoming them. In the end, though, failure often simply boils down to a lack of effort. As a teacher in a public school, you can't force a student to do the work.
I have been teaching long enough to hear pretty much every excuse in the book for poor performance:
(Nevermind that it was assigned two months ago.)
"I couldn't finish my lab report because my backpack fell in a puddle."
(Nevermind that it hasn't rained in over a month.)
"I didn't do the reading because I left my textbook in my locker."
(Nevermind that the entire textbook is available online.)
"I couldn't understand the directions."
(Nevermind that you were text-messaging when we went over it.)
Then there's my personal favorite:
(Nevermind that teachers are too busy to waste such energy.)
Now, I'll be the first to admit that student behavior sometimes gets on my nerves and I might respond in a sarcastic or harsh manner. But I have never known a teacher who would use such frustration to justify flunking a student. I'm not saying that it never happens, just that such cases are certainly rare.
What does all of this have to do with the broader topic of REAL science and science education?
Keep reading to find out.
There are certain people in our society who have utterly failed to do the work required of them to pass muster within the scientific community. They have had access to the necessary resources, the support of influential people, more-than-sufficient funding, and plenty of motivation to succeed. And yet, they have flunked because of their total lack of production.
So what have they chosen to do in response to their failure? Have they re-enrolled and vowed to put forth the effort necessary to convince everyone that their ideas are fruitful?
Nope.
They are instead whining to anyone who will listen about how much the teacher hates them. Unfortunately, this excuse may work for those who choose to ignore all of those zeroes in the gradebook.
For the rest of us, it's obvious who dropped the ball.
posted by Jeremy Mohn
