Is This Really Still a THING?!
- 9 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Kind greetings, snackers! Sincere thanks for clicking and reading.
Seriously...what's going on?
Given all of our hard work around differentiation, why are we still using this insidious binary:
Good. Bad.
REALLY?!!!
Unfortunately, I still hear these words used by students and adults to describe behavior and achievement.
Which is interesting, given how quickly we can rattle off a copious list of valid reasons for why people who do things way less important than education don't always achieve what we or they expect:
"...the other team's tenacious defense really threw our players off balance today..."
"...it's probably AI..."
"...this storm wass notoriously hard to predict..."
But we use the G-word and the B-word with students?! In 2026?!
We spend so much time compiling and analyzing data about academic outcomes in our buildings. We know that
age-appropriate brain development
physical and mental illness
frustration caused by social/emotional/reading/writing/math skill gaps
neurodiverse brains
trauma
and more are often the root causes of why our students say, do and act the way they do. We explicitly teach, use strategies to mitigate, and have specialized plans in place to support all of the above.
Why is it bad (see what I did there?!) to oversimplify?
First, we teach other kids that this language is valid. Second, our brains believe the words we use.
What's wrong with saying that a child is good? For younger kids, it can be confusing if they are praised for certain things and reprimanded for others.
Maybe it's just that our brains seek simplicity when we struggle? In that case, it's better to pause, invite the children to breathe deeply with you, and choose another word. Good or bad are no longer relevant in education.
Snackers, be sure to choose all your words carefully...not just those two. Your brain and the children are listening.
Chef Charles
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