Every schoolday, the rating: a sticker, some codes, or even a note. Teachers now are required not only to offer the usual "3 Rs," they have to provide an incessant stream of information about each student in the class. Years ago, parents got 'feedback' about their child's school performance in 2 forms: 1)the Report Card; and 2)the note from the Principal. No more. In this info-driven era, parents demand complete and timely updates on their heirs to the throne.
The dreaded BINDER comes home each day in the backpack, returns to school the next morning. In it you will sometimes find friendly reminders ("Your daughter's lunch balance is $-1.90"), extremely detailed cries for support ("Can you act as a Parent Volunteer for the library reading program"), or just bits and pieces of schoolwork (a self-portrait, scrawly handwriting practice). The Binder is so complex, it has as its first page a laminated instruction for the parents in case we are too stupid to be able to figure out what the obviously-labeled sections designate.
Each day in the Binder, the Teacher rates the child (parent?) by marking a simple daily calendar. Smiley sticker = good; no sticker = bad. Of course, there is a very complex legend explaining all the secret codes that the Teacher uses to quantify and qualify the "no-sticker" block; here we see that #3 means our sweetheart "didn't respect others' property" and #6 means "talking during quiet time." With a little more room, perhaps they could expand the legend to include #53 "refuting the theory of evolution" and #27 "operating from a win-lose perspective."
So every day there is a rating, simple yet evil. Instant daily judgment, requiring either celebration or an act of contrition to Father and Mother. No more chances to make up the difference, catch up by the end of the race, pull an all-nighter to meet the deadline. Forget the mid-term and final exams: in this new world you have a daily score, one that stands alone. Sticker = good; no sticker = bad. How many sticker days do you need to average out a single no-sticker day? Don't worry about it, because it doesn't work that way. Every day you start out with a clean slate, and at the end of the day you are what you are.
In college, I had friends who did extensive research before signing up for a class: they wanted to know how the grade would be figured (weekly quizzes? homework required? bonus points available?). Aside from the math aspect of the grade, they needed specifics on feedback as well (quarterly progress reports? teacher-student conferences? study groups?). With all this information in hand, they selectively planned their semester.
Me? Give me the Final-Exam-Only option. I'll wander aimlessly through the semester, always with the option of catching up/digging in/turning it around. I like the mystery of who will pass and who will fail, who will come into the homestretch with a final burst of speed. Can't the Hare jump up from his nap and zoom past the Turtle after all?
Maybe I should add some notes of my own to the Binder. I can explain to the Teacher that the BINDER is draining the life-force out of me! I can't take the pressure of opening it to the page where the sticker might be (must be!), the defeat if there is in fact no sticker but instead, code #1 "not following instructions."
Skip the daily rating, if not forever then perhaps for just a week or two---? I can be like my parents, blissfully ignorant of the daily minor infractions of the kindergarten set. Just like college, can I sign up for the plan where you only tell me how my child did in May when the school year ends (a single giant sticker, perhaps)?
Guess not.