I Believe In Public Schools - Part 3 - Why 'C' Students Rule the World

I am a nerd and always have been.  I am pretty sure one of my school pictures features my brown, plastic-rimmed glasses, my hair slicked-back with the help of too much gel, and the only thing missing from the picture is a pocket protector.  By the end of high school, my transcript displayed only A's, a class ranking of 1, and an ACT composite that was well within the 99th percentile.  College was similar, with a solitary B that I earned while in high school taking a college class. (I still regret transferring that class.  I should have just taken the CLEP test and saved my transcript the embarrassment of an inferior grade.)

All of that is only important because of what comes next:  it turns out that good grades are not the greatest factor influencing success.

In my previous posts, I addressed the concerns that are raised, mostly by Christians, regarding the morality of the atmosphere in public schools.  In this post, however, I want to address the other concern: the quality of education.  I often hear parents claim that they can do a better job of teaching in their children in three hours per day the material than the school teaches in six.  Some parents insist on a private school education because of its superior curriculum and results.  After all, what good parent would not want their child to get the best education possible?  The assumption is that if their children are surrounded by higher-performing students, taught by better teachers, and led by better administrators, then they will get better test scores and have greater chances of success.  But is this assumption true?

In 1995, psychologist Daniel Goleman published a book entitled Emotional Intelligence.  A person's emotional intelligence quotient (their EQ) is based on 5 factors: self-awareness, self-regulation, social skill, empathy, and motivation.  He argued that a person's (their EQ) is a better predictor of success than is their intelligence quotient (their IQ).    Psychologists and researchers have hotly debated his claims over the predictive value of a person's EQ, but they do not question the significance of these factors.  Note that 2 of the 5 are social skills, and 2 more highly influence a person's social skills.

Related to education, we have assumed for years that the best and brightest go on to achieve the highest measure of success.  But it is just not true.  Why do so many scientists, inventors, business owners, and even world leaders have embarrassing transcripts?  Because it ends up that C students really do rule the world.  Why?  Because while the A students were sitting alone reading books and writing papers, the C students were hanging out with their friends, partying, playing sports and learning teamwork, conversation skills, leadership, conflict resolution, and a whole host of other social skills.  And now, in the real world, they are able to flourish because they work well with people.  Whether we like it or not, the work-a-day world is collaborating and working in teams.  Office walls are torn down and even managers are expected to work in open floor plans.  Students in Harvard business school are never alone even from the first day of entering the program.  Why?  Because success is really determined by how well we work with others.

This is not to say that academics are not important.  A diploma is not just a piece of paper.  It suggests that a person has been exposed to a class of ideas and has demonstrated a set of core competencies and understanding.  But that is about it.  After graduate school I was called to serve a church. (That is preacher-speak for, "I got a real job.")  And they never even looked at one transcript! 

I believe in public schools because they provide the greatest opportunities for social interaction and for building social skills.  Compared to private schools, public schools offer an unmatched range of diversity, pushing students to learn how to work and get along with others who are richer, poorer, faster, slower, popular, overlooked, of all different religions, native backgrounds and moral influence.  The public school, like no other institution, provides a place where our kids can best develop academically and socially.

I am not looking forward to the day one of my children comes home with tears inflicted by a bully.  But bullying is not reserved for minors.  Bullies grow up and learn sophisticated adult bullying techniques. Learning to handle a bully is not a social skill reserved for children.  But I am guessing that adults who learned to handle bullies in a healthy way while they were young  do a better job of it as adults.  Which brings us back to the idea of the secure base.  If we, as parents, will provide a secure base at home for our children, from which we launch them daily and then wait for them to return, they will be well-equipped to grow academically and socially while attending public schools.