Two recent news stories involving schools here in the Northeast puzzled me.

Timberlane Regional High School in NH is doing away with mid-term exams and final exams. Too much pressure. Too high-stakes. They’ll still be tested. Just on smaller chunks of material.

I don’t know about you, but I want to know that the doctor with my life in his or her hands, has fulfilled basic requirements. And, how would I know? They’d have passed a test to assure they’ve acquired – and retained – essential knowledge over a long period of time. Not just the most recent two weeks. (Skills are another issue for another time.)

The same applies to lawyers, teachers, police, financial brokers, and countless other professions.

Working hard on a task is different than accomplishing the task.

In another story, Lincoln-Sudbury High School in MA no longer has captains for its sport teams. Rather they will have a rotating council of students who lead each team. Anyone and everyone can choose to be on the council. No prerequisites. The premise appears to be that every student-athlete is a leader.

In education, as in life, I’ve encountered leaders and followers. In fact, leaders would not have a “job” if there were no followers.

Does this mean that tests are the be all and end all of education? No. Or, that followers will never become leaders? Of course not. But to put into place practices that assume all individuals have equal academic abilities or equal leadership skills seems a bit utopian to me.

To be sure, schools are a place to experiment and try new things. But schools are also a place where the wheat separates itself from the chaff. Just as in life.

What are your thoughts?

I came across this wonderful (and accurate) post from Talance, a Boston area non-profit website company, titled, “15 Ways To Create a Horrible Non-Profit Website.”

I work with private schools and this list resonated with me. Here are just a few of the items:

1. Let everyone on your staff and board give feedback on your design, and apply everyone’s preferences.

5. Hide the donation forms. It also helps to make it really hard to use.

7. Make sure you don’t look “too polished,” because no one will give you money unless the site looks like it was built on a shoestring.

10. Design for your board members (or yourself) rather than your audience.

Take a gander at the rest of the list here.

Had similar experiences? Post your thoughts.

A recent post by fellow educator Faustin N. Weber on his blog “Catholic Educator” and a fascinating story “What Happened To Losing?” in Sunday’s  (8/22/10) Boston Globe Magazine both refer to what many call “sanitizing our kids lives.”

The former post speaks of a child who is not willing to “struggle” to achieve.  Self-esteem, Weber notes, is not about “being told you are great and wonderful. It’s obtained when you fight through something which is hard or challenging and come out the other side with success.”

The Boston Globe Magazine story addresses a society where scores are not kept and everyone not only wins but receives trophies merely for participating. Sooner or later competition enters into their life and many children just can’t cope.

Similar stories abound.

Recently I read where a college English professor notes that he spends 30-minutes meticulously marking each of his students’ papers in his freshman writing class. He’s attempting to improve their writing skills. Except that his  students argue with him about not getting the ‘A’ they deserve because “I worked hard on that paper!”

Even George Will when discussing NYC’s mosque controversy on ABC TV’s Sunday morning show This Week With Christiane Amanpour noted “…there’s no right to go through life without your feelings being hurt.”

Are we sanitizing our children’s future? Will they have the roll up my sleeves and get dirty attitude necessary to compete in an ever more competitive global economy?

What are your thoughts?