Why Your Child Isn't Making the Grade

One of, if not, the most important topics in education today revolves around differentiated instruction. The educational world is working toward meeting the learning needs of all different types of students --whether they learn best visually, aurally, tactilely, or kinesthetically. However, education is not moving toward the next level of differentiation. Corporations and sports teams subscribe to differentiation themselves. How many times have you noticed organizations ensuring they have the right mix of personalities on their teams? These industries realize the importance of harmony amongst people to ensure strong cultural environments. Considering these various organizations value the need for all parties being on one accord, why isn't the same practice modeled in education? Shouldn't the personalities of students in a classroom mesh well? Shouldn't the personality of a teacher mesh well with the students? Given the advances in psychological research, many tests and gauges have been put in place to assess the personality types of people. I argue that students need to take simple personality types at the beginning of school years and semesters. Students are given a whole host of other diagnostic tests at the beginning of semesters of education. Why can't the same be replicated for assessing personalities? Imagine a classroom that functioned seamlessly just because someone took the time to ensure that students function as a whole --and better yet, when involved in small groups. While personality tests do not define one perfectly, they provide great insight into how groups of people will most likely function and interact together. Due to the fact that many students struggle with “getting along” with others, especially in small groups, the level of focus and academic achievement could ascend to new heights with the implementation of personality tests. Class rosters could be constructed based on personality tests to provide further security in regards to the harmony of a class environment. When so many schools and classes struggle with levels of discord or poor culture, why not make the small investment up front to improve classroom culture --and most importantly, student achievement! Similar to the necessity of ensuring class compatibility as it relates to personality, schools and classes need to formulate class rosters based on student learning styles as well. Coupling the power of personality compatibility and learning style needs would revolutionize every classroom environment. Instead of trying to make teachers instruct to many different types of learners, allow them to focus on delivering a great lesson based more on one rather than several. Students that learn best in the same fashion, collected in one class, would learn at the highest level possible. They would feel comfortable being around the same type of learners and more open to learning from their peers. If our society is sincerely attempting to become serious about education, then we will invest in providing more resources to schools. Districts must be empowered to hire the staff to instruct classrooms that have varied personality and learning styles. Too often in education, everything comes down to money. However, everything in life is not about money --although society seems to focus on it far too often. Money cannot be an object when the state of our future is at stake. The educational attainment of our students today solidifies or destroys future possibilities. As the song says, “The children are our future…” As cheesy and cliché as it is, students truly are the future. In order to ensure the security of our world at large, we cannot fail to provide every opportunity to teach at the highest levels possible. Our students deserve it. We deserve it. And our future depends on it.