Re-tests, extended due dates, no homework expectations…what do these have in common? Some educators claim that these are breeding a generation of coddled students. In February, 2016, CBC News launched an article discussing the frustration a community college in Nova Scotia has over what is known as the “coddled students” phenomenon.
A professor from that community college has taught for 30 years, and in the recent decade started noticing a change in attitude and the level of preparation for post-secondary education.
So what is this “coddled students” phenomenon? According to difference sources, this is what is described:
Students expected to get rewarded for every single little thing they do
Students show disappointment when they are critiqued
Students appeared to not care about making improvements in their performance
Students have difficulty making deadlines and submitting assignments on time.
In some teachers’ opinion, the above stem from low level of consequences when students make mistakes. For example, flexibility in assignment deadlines in school is one of those.
I work with K-12 students from an education centre and teach college students at the community college level as well. And I do notice the link between coddled elementary and secondary students and college students’ learning attitudes. Grade 6 students are provided with make-up assignments when they perform poorly on a test. Grade 3 students are not given any time limit to complete a test. A Grade 3 student simply told me, “it’s okay if you don’t finish, you’ll get recess time to do it”. Unfortunately, this wave ripples to students in post-secondary education as well. Too often, college professors like myself, find students requesting for test rewrites when they perform poorly, missing deadlines and asking for submission opportunities weeks later, and asking for free marks when they are 10% away from passing the course.
A retired social worker, who worked at Children’s Aid Society, mentioned that students need to experience something known as “reality testing”. The formal definition: “the ability to see a situation for what it really is, rather than what one hopes or fears it might be”. Reality testing will allow kids to growing up learning failure and how to grow from not succeeding at something the first time. Reality testing must be part of the growing process. Sheltering children from reality does not help.
Amanda Ripley, the author of “The Smartest Kids in the World”, stated that evidence showed that American parents tend to treat their children delicately compared to parents in other countries. According to a Columbia University study, 85% of American parents using praising as a way to assure their kids that they are intelligent. This could have a detrimental effect as research shows that excessive praising would discourage hard work and perseverance as a way to succeed at a task.
“A coddled, moon bounce of a childhood could lead to young adults who had never experienced failure or developed self-control or endurance – experiences that mattered as much or more than academic skills” – Amanda Ripley
Written by Mandy Lam
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