“She’s an absolute genius,” the parent told us. “She doesn’t show it in school and not always at home but I know she can do it. I’ve told her she’s a genius and she could get full marks in any of these tests if she really wanted to.”
My jobshare and I shared a familiar look before gently re-explaining to the parent that, even when factoring in hidden genius, the fact remained that this child had scored well below 50 per cent in her termly assessments, was still working at least a year below age-related expectations and had to cover a fair bit of ground to catch up.
We then went on to explain in detail how we intended to help the child achieve this and handed over some books and sheets that she could use to help her daughter at home.
“Thank you, but I’m not worried,” the parent said, stuffing the sheets into a bag without glancing at them. “I know she can do it. She’ll surprise you all.”
“That’s great,” I told her. “Like you, we believe she is capable of more. The only problem is that if she doesn’t start surprising us all soon then it’s just going to become harder for her as she moves up the school. But if you spend some time every day practising those things we’ve recommended, that could make a huge difference.”
It’s getting harder to persuade children that skills and expertise are essential for top jobs, since across the Atlantic you can now run for president without any previous experience of politics
But my words fell on deaf ears. “I won’t tell her about the test scores,” the parent told us, heading for the door. “That would only dent her confidence. I’m going to tell her we all believe in her and she’s a genius.”
We sighed. This parent isn’t the only one to believe self-esteem is synonymous with ability. In her view, having confidence that you can do something isn’t half the battle; it’s the whole battle. You see it especially with maths when parents respond to news that their child has become more confident in the subject by ceasing all times-tables practice and shopping for frames for their A-level certificates instead.
It probably doesn’t help that their children inhabit a world of instant gratification. School may be ramming home the message that hard work and perseverance is the only way to go but on television children are confronted with individuals who are catapulted into 15-minutes of fame via the shortcut of TV talent shows, overseen by a pop svengali whose career advice is to forget school and rely on luck, instead.
It’s also getting harder to persuade them that skills and expertise are essential for top jobs, since across the Atlantic, you can now run for president without any previous experience of politics and in the UK, former education secretary Michael Gove has downgraded experts as something we have had enough of.
Presumably, in a few years’ time, anyone who really believes they can be a great heart surgeon will be handed a scalpel and sent off to live the dream and a typical maths lesson will consist of a quick YouTube video and then a rousing whole-class performance of S Club 7’s song that tells us to “reach for the stars”.
“Dreaming,” one of my teachers told us, “is procrastination.” “All time spent dreaming about your goal is time you could be working towards that goal.” Expert advice.
Jo Brighouse is a primary school teacher in the Midlands
