Learning 'isn't always fun, and that's OK'

Educated in traditional, structured schools, Beanie embraced progressive ideas as an education student. She was enthralled by the idea that "school could be fun" without rules, structure or adults in charge.

After years as a teacher and a parent, she realized that a structured education is "better for most children," she writes. "It may not be flashy, but it is effective."

"Students from all walks of life thrive when there are consistent routines, clear expectations, explicit, teacher-led instruction, and a content-rich curriculum," Beanie writes. "Knowing how to read, write, and solve math problems makes life fun, but learning how to do those things isn’t always fun, and that’s okay."

Children need to learn how to fail, writes Naomi Schaefer Riley in Deseret News. It's not just parents coddling their kids. Schools have gone along.

Many elementary schools don't give grades for achievement, she notes. Teachers are told to minimize quizzes and tests so students aren't stressed. "If you want tests to feel like they are low-stakes occurrences, give a lot of them," writes Riley. "You may do poorly on one, but there’s another one next week. Try again."

Sports can teach failure. But school sports leap from no stress to overwhelming stress, she writes. In elementary school, children play "cooperative games in which no one ever seems to win or lose." In high school, "parents are shelling out thousands of dollars for private coaching so their kids can get college scholarships."

Finally, schools should support teachers who give honest grades, Riley writes. Students complain, parents threaten and the teacher decides to go along with the everyone-is-special culture.

Her children's favorite elementary teacher was demanding, she writes. Every assignment was graded. Expectations were clear. "Kids knew exactly why they got the grade they did," so there was no point in arguing, no excuses and no whining. Few parents were willing to cross her.