School is not a PGA Tour Event

 I love golf.

I love playing, and believe it or not, watching it.   There are not many things as riveting as watching the final round, and final holes, of a tightly contested PGA Major championship.   It is spectacular TV! 

There are some interesting similarities between a PGA golf tournament and a school year.     

PGA Tour Golf Event                                                     School 

4 Rounds of Golf                                                               3 Terms of School 

Individual and Group Work                                              Individual and Group Work

PGA Tour Official                                                             Principal

Caddies                                                                              Teachers

Scorecards                                                                         Report Cards

I’m actually not convinced there are many similarities between a teacher and a caddie but a student did ask if I could pass him his #2 pencil yesterday, so the connection is clearly warranted. 

After 2 rounds of a PGA tournament, based on score, the field is cut in a half (hence the phrase “making the cut”), and the remaining golfers left standing go on to compete in the final two rounds.  As the players make their way around the course, focused on executing their game plan, the leaderboard is ever present.   The leaderboard informs the player of where they stack up with the competition, and influences what their next move might be in order to progress up the standings.  Every player has their own scorecard they carry in their pocket but what really matters is where their score places them on the leaderboard. The leaderboard is much like the billboard eyes of T.J. Eckelburg in The Great Gatsby, ever watching and looming over those below. 

From tee off to graduation, students may place themselves, or may be placed by others, on a leaderboard that is detrimental to their learning and development.

In Ecclesiastes 3:7, Qoheleth, the teacher, laments that “all man’s achievement spring’s from envy of his brother.”  All human achievement is rooted in our desire to out due one another.  We desperately want to be higher on the leaderboard.  You can see this characteristic of the human condition at school.  Some students are indifferent about their assessment pieces until they compare their results with their peers. Tests are returned and before the teacher has the opportunity to comment on the results, some students are comparing their performance to their classmates. Their interest is not to compliment or encourage a friend but rather to assess their own standing in the classroom.  Every teacher has witnessed the flock of students comparing results on report card day.  Students can create leaderboards.

    Educators have historically praised students for being “top of the class”.  Report card comments have read things like “You are in the top 10% of the class”, or “Your score was higher than the class average,” which translates in golf terms, “you made the cut.”  I recall watching an episode of Saved By The Bell when Miss. Bliss posted all the students marks outside the classroom for everyone to read.  It was a literal leaderboard.   Teachers can create leaderboards.

  Schools print monthly honour roll list in their community publications that elevate students over others.   Schools are guilty of overemphasizing the importance of University attendance and devaluing trade and technical schools, thereby creating a sense of inferiority for students pursuing the trades. Mistakenly, school award ceremonies can lose perspective and honour the “crème de la crème” and unabashedly parade the same student time after time to the front of the school to be cheered by the runner-ups. We can mistaken envy for motivation.   Schools can create leaderboards.

   Leaderboards undermine the type of learning community we want at Unity Christian School.  We aim to have a learning community that operates like a family where each child is recognized for their individual gifts.  We want students to take responsibility for their own education and the education of their classmates; to be a place where we learn, collaborate, and explore together.   The success of an individual in a family does not take precedent over the well being of the family.  Schools need to recognize every student’s role and contribution to the school’s success.   

  Schools should avoid installing leaderboards within its walls; they are an unnecessary hazard to student learning.  Schools should not resemble a PGA tour event.  Education is not a competition nor is it a spectator sport.

Blessings