February 4
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Four weeks out of the year, we hear various versions of the following from students. Words that strike fear into the hearts of piano teachers everywhere.
It's the last week of the term, so all of the teachers are piling on assignments. So...yeah, I didn't practice this week.
The dreaded last week of the term. That magical time of year when just about every teacher deems it necessary to get more grades, data, and metrics in before turning in grades.
But, we never get to find out why. It's just expected that this will be a homework week from hell for students everywhere.
Did the teachers not give out enough assignments over the course of the term? Are teachers expected to meet a quota? Is this a teacher version of cramming? Will the most statistically-substantiated teacher win a vacation for four to Disney World?
As rhetorical as my questions sound, they are honest ones. Because whatever the answers are, our students certainly don't know them. And they are the ones bending over backwards for it.
Meanwhile, a collective month of progress in everything else is slowed down or lost.
We must put a stop to it.
This is a lighthearted call to arms, dear reader! Let us rally our voices together to put an end to end-of-term cramming forever. With the right moves, perhaps we can relegate it to the same category as insider trading.
In the meantime, if the workload is too much to manage healthily, don't hesitate to speak up!
Because I believe there will be long-term consequences.
Today, it's doing an insane amount of work for school because we've just accepted it's the last week of term.
Tomorrow, it will be doing an insane amount of work for an unreasonable boss because the end of the quarter is coming up and she needs good numbers to show the board.
Our children are worth more than that.
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For parents, students, and anyone else who believes that music can and should be a meaningful part of everyone's life.
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