Now I will critique a construct that was (to the best of my knowledge) set up by the Third Level Sector – not the Primary or Secondary Sectors, to ensure that the entry to Third Level was fair in Ireland. That is, the points system.
The points system has been described as brutal and unfair, but I remember its apologists calling it brutal but fair many years ago – as if that made it okay.
Whether it is fair or unfair, I am sure that if a parent treated their children like the national education system treats them they’d be accused of emotional abuse.
This is because the points system, as the ultimate manifestation of the twin tyrannies of competition and comparison in education in Ireland, prioritises the populating of university courses with high academic achievers over the healthy development, growth, and indeed the healthy, general education of all children.
I don’t think that it is too much of an exaggeration to say that, from the child’s point of view, the physical pain of the bata [1] has been replaced by the psychological pain of the points system.
If emotional abuse is a child protection concern – like physical abuse – is the points system not just as bad as the bata?
The points system is designed by people with high academic ability so that children of the same ilk will prosper with no thought given to the effects it has on children who are high achievers in other areas of skill, for example, children who are very caring and who’d make very good teachers, carers, doctors, nurses or vets, or children who have spatial or mechanical intuition, children who are sporting, children who are musical but not in a formal academic sense, children who may struggle with academic learning but who have a natural intuitive, business acumen or, (most damaging of all) children who, for one reason or another, do not learn as quickly as others from ages 4-5 up to ages 17-19.
No, when all things are considered, from a very young age, (because the harmful effects of the points system reach back into primary education) the brutal but fair points system:
1. Induces anxiety, fear and the very harmful emotion, shame, among many children and, often, their parents.
2. Risks encouraging competition and (possibly) induces anxiety among teachers.
3. Discourages playfulness and creativity in the teaching profession in general, thereby inhibiting innovation in problem solving.
4. Affirms the belief that anxiety and fear should accompany how one is assessed – and that that is the norm in the world.
5. Risks the inculcation of low self-esteem and low self-confidence among a substantial number of children.
6. Perpetuates winner takes all and smarter is better type beliefs.
7. Encourages selfish individualism, as distinct from healthy individuality.
8. Concretises the belief that competitiveness is more exciting than cooperation, and is good for us.
9. Tempts children to be dishonest in order to be successful instead of encouraging them to honestly self-assess, or self-appraise their innate gifts.
10. Invites cheating (fooling others but really fooling oneself) as a possible option to succeed when under pressure. (And, linked to 1, people cheat, almost always, to avoid shame).
11. Prevents children who may have suitable traits needed for particular careers from getting them.
12. Encourages children who are brilliant academically to compete for careers for which they are not really suitable, because they get the points.
13. (Linked to 12). Causes high early drop out in 3rd Level Colleges.
14. Is probably a causative factor in perpetuation of unfairness and injustice in society in general – if we think about it!
15. And, above all, promotes the notion that to be successful, one needs to endure tension, anxiety, and fear in a continual striving towards high achievement – rather than trust in oneself, cooperation, collaboration, have a sense of community, and believe in one’s innate value and potential.
The characteristics listed above are harmful to all children, but are particularly harmful to children, many of whom fall through the cracks, as we have said already, and are in the families of the Focus Group,
Anti-bullying programmes are put in place to encourage children to be nice to each other in school – indeed, to promote cooperation, friendship, camaraderie and a sense of togetherness and community – and such programmes are very positive developments over the past few decades. However, such programmes would make a lot more sense to students if they were not continually undermined by the existence of the points system.
It’s a bit like huge multi-national drinks (or gambling) companies spending millions on ads to promote alcohol (or betting) and then having a little message in small print on their products advising us to drink sensibly or gamble sensibly.
And while I’m on matters of addiction and external mood alteration, the competitive nature of many of the above are particularly harmful to children who are born into families where there is addiction.
Addicts love the buzz of competing, the winning, the next conquest, the instant hit, getting away with it, even losing has a buzz! Some wise leaders in the world of sports are addressing this now – recognising that sports people, who are naturally competitive, have vulnerability in this respect.
This is where the points system can be just as damaging, in a different way, to some of the high achievers as it is to those children who do badly in academic exams.
Knowing what we nowadays know about child development it cannot be argued that the points system nurtures all children, of all abilities and talents so that they develop to their full potential – cherishes all the children of the nation equally – as our 1916 Proclamation of Independence optimistically promised.
Indeed it is the ultimate example of the regimentation of schooling that begins with wearing uniforms. In this regimentation, there’s a kind of unspoken filtering system from kindergarten on to ensure that the path that compliant children choose is smoother than the path chosen by non-compliant (or even individualistic) children.
I believe that grading and separating children according to their ability to regurgitate a host of facts and figures accurately in a heavily biased cognitive environment, while they are still developing and maturing, benefits industry and, perhaps, the egos of academics and teachers far more than it does children.
Now I need to say here that many teachers, being mindful of the stress caused by constant competition and comparison do their best to ameliorate the harm done to children in their classes. But at the end of the day, the power of the system works against their individual actions. [2].
I suppose most of you would think that it would be a bit over-the-top to describe the points system as criminal – though intentional emotional abuse of children is indeed a crime. (Like a lot of examples I give in the website, it is a measure of the extent of our conditioning that we don’t consider the points system to be emotional abuse).
But criminal or not, it is nothing short of tragic, and indeed self-defeating, because if children’s individual strengths and talents were honoured in an inclusive and trusting system it would result in children being a lot happier in themselves, pursuing what they are good at, having higher self-esteem, and ultimately growing into adults that are entrepreneurial and innovative, thereby contributing to the wealth of the country and reducing hugely the cost of time lost due to illness, stress, absence by unhappy workers in the workforce etc.
This is not unrealistic Utopian thought; it is very doable and would cost little, financially.
Now I have no expectation that corporate or political interests, both of whom need a regimented, docile, fearful half-happy workforce that won’t be assertive enough to challenge the dominance of their world view and interests, will campaign on behalf of children.
Education interests however should! Education interests should vigorously oppose any paradigm that has not the well-being of children, and in particular vulnerable children, at its heart.
Importantly, a holistic education system would protect children from their parents’ fears. This would happen because it would encourage parents to affirm their children’s talents rather than urging them to drive on to higher achievements because of fear that they will not make it in adult life, fear that they won’t get a good job, fear that they won’t be able to buy a house etc.
To summarise, a change in focus in our education system would, I believe, be of enormous benefit to enterprise, creativity, the arts, industry itself and the country in general – but would probably be very bad for indoctrinating the fear that is necessary to perpetuate the inequality, injustice, poverty, and unfairness that is part of the global corporate world.
And I have another important point to make while I’m on a roll!
In the brain, love, trust, hope etc. reduce levels of aggression whereas fear, anxiety and frustration/anger have the opposite effect. This has implications not only for learning itself (i.e. whether it is through trust based pedagogy or fear based pedagogy) – but for the levels of aggression and anti-social behaviour in classrooms – making teachers’ lives easier.
But, doable or not, I do not underestimate the challenge of getting the Pillars on board in this venture.
To end this long post – thanks for sticking with it – (and I really thought hard about this) I could not think of any circumstance where the benefits to children of the points system trumped the benefits of an holistic educational model. If any of you have I’d be glad to hear them.
[1]. This is a kind of short-hand, colloquial expression of the stick that was used to beat us in school. We also called it the leather – (an leathair) a kind of flexible stick.
[2]. Once again, our language reveals reality. The slang word for an intensive tutoring session outside school hours is called a grind. The word grind (to me anyway) conjures up images of crushing, or pressure, or harshness, perhaps using force and sharp-edged metal to make something smooth, or even anxiety (grinding our teeth).