"Why Tough Teachers Get Good Results" Reflection

Joanna Lipman discusses a former orchestra teacher of hers, Mr. K, who relentlessly taught the students without sympathy. She claims that his best compliment was "not bad" and that he often referred to his students as "idiots" when they made mistakes. Lipman argues that this teaching style is the best method and provides optimal results from students. The end product is ultimately and more confident individual who has been taught to try again when you fail. The traditional teaching mentalities that Lipman says should be implemented in classrooms today are "a little pain is good for you, drill baby drill, failure is an option, strict is better than nice, creativity can be learned, grit trumps talent, praise makes you weak, and stress makes you strong." She claims that studies show that these methods produce more successful students and adults with thicker skin.

Ultimately, I agree with the basis of Lipman and others' findings on this subject. However, there are key points with which I do not agree at all. The first is the lecture style classroom that Lipman so heavily encourages. She explicitly refutes the success of collaborative and active learning methods. I can say personally that I learn little to nothing from lecture, and I am a 19 year old college student. These elementary school kids we will soon be teaching want nothing to do with lecture. I would be amused to observe the "success" of such a teaching style. Secondly, I do not agree with the tests given to students in the subject titled "failure is an option". If you distribute problems that you know your students cannot solve, that does nothing but encourage lack of self esteem. Instead, we, as teachers, should implement the concept of a challenge. Challenging classrooms encourage success; impossible classrooms encourage defeat. I could go on with my list of disagreements on this article, but honestly it boils down to what kind of educational system America is striving for. If we aim to become like the Chinese, these principles are phenomenal. However, they cannot simply be incorporated into American classrooms and be expected to blend in with the curriculum. Policies like these involve evolving the entire American educational system.