Choate’s unique curriculum is defined by the independence and freedom that teachers have in creating their classes. Courses are not restricted to standardized curricula like the AP or IB. Rather, teachers employ their own teaching styles, personally crafting assignments and assessments. Sometimes, they even select their own texts for students to read.
In many ways, I value this curricular diversity. It’s helpful that I learn differently to my peer who’s in the same level of math as I am but has a different teacher. I can rely on her to help me with topics I’m unclear on, and vice versa. Hearing friends share experiences with different books in their English classes is interesting. It adds flavor to the way we learn.
However, many students deem this diversity unfair. To them, the system becomes somewhat like a lottery where students are assigned “easy” and “hard” teachers — teachers that grade more easily or harshly, teachers that give more or less homework, and so on. They argue that a student’s GPA is heavily dependent on his or her teachers. They believe that classes, syllabi, grading policies, assessments, and rubrics should be standardized. Only then, they think, will grading be more fair.
However, will standardizing classes change anything? Assessing students in English 200 by a common rubric doesn’t mean that teachers will suddenly grade the same way. If a certain teacher doesn’t like your work, no matter what grading policy they use, you most likely won’t get a good grade on it.
Standardizing classes is also impractical because it restricts teachers to teach in ways they are not as comfortable or effective in. Why should an English teacher teach her least favorite book when she can teach her favorite book so much better? Why have a math teacher give his students a standardized quiz if he wants to craft a test catered to each class’s strengths and weaknesses? Why must a history teacher give her students a prompt she herself doesn’t want to read about? Each teacher has her own methods, and judging whether her style is “good” or “bad” based on the grades she gives is simply illogical.
I have definitely felt wronged when a “harder” teacher gave me a poor grade. However, is it really the outcome that matters? I think that the process of improvement is far more important. Instead of bashing a “hard” teacher’s teaching style, look instead at how you can make the class easier. If you reach out and learn how to adapt to the teacher’s methods, you’ll find that your “hard” teacher may not be that tough at all.
