"The education that is best for the best, is the education that is best for all."
There is a story making the rounds in education circles, about a now-retired public school teacher, Mrs. Dougherty. Mrs. Dougherty was a dedicated, highly respected Grade 6 teacher, who could always be counted on to bring the best out in her students.
But one year she had a class she found impossible to control. The students were rowdy, un-manageable, and seemingly unteachable. She began to worry that many of them may have had serious undiagnosed learning dissabilities. So, one day, when the principal was out of town, she did something teachers were forbidden to do in that school – she entered the principal’s office and looked into the special files that listed student’s IQ’s.
To her shock she found a majority of the class was way above average in intelligence. A large cluster was in the high 120's –128, 127, 129; several scored in the 130's; and one of the worst classroom culprits was in fact brilliant. He had an IQ of 145. Well, Ms. Dougherty was furious. She had been feeling sorry for those kids; giving them remedial work and always making excuses for them. Now things were going to change.
She returned to her classroom and a new era began. She read them the riot act. They would behave themselves like ladies and gentlemen. She doubled the homework load, raised the standards and expectations, and set clear consequences for poor behaviour.
Slowly but perceptibly their performance began to improve. By the end of the year, this "problem" class was the best behaved and highest performing of all the Grade 6 classes. The principal was of course delighted. He knew about this class and its reputation for incorrigibility.
He called Mrs. Dougherty into his office and asked her for the secret of this amazing turnaround. She felt compelled to tell him the truth and confessed that she had looked up children’s IQs in his files. The Principal forgave her and congratulated her. Then he said something surprising. "I think you should know, Mrs. Dougherty - those numbers, next to the children’s names, they’re not IQ scores, they’re locker numbers."
The moral for teachers is obvious: demand and expect excellence from students and you’ll get the best they can give. Be tough on them. Be like Mrs. Dougherty.
Some may think that this is self-evident, that it’s only common sense. So who then questions setting and enforcing high standards for students?
The answer: A lot of education experts.
Whether or not there really ever was a Mrs. Dougherty; we are indebted to long time colleague and South Australian School Governance Advocate, Graeden Horsell, for sharing this story with us.
New website resource.
We are always on the look out for new resources for you. This relatively new federal government
website is certainly worth taking some time to browse. It brings together a lot of sound information for parents, teachers and students.
And now a word from our sponsors.
The Victoria Teachers Credit Union became a Mutual Bank on 1st March, 2012.
There's a new name, a new logo and some great new banking products–but the commitment to schools and the education community is stronger than ever. Check them out at
victeach.com.au.
