Asset of the Week
High Expectations
Dr. David Payne, SHSU Provost and Huntsville’s Promise Board Member
When I was a young boy, I went to an experimental elementary school. The philosophy was: "Children will learn at their own rate. Don't push them." As a result, when I ended the third grade I still couldn't read, but I was very good at day dreaming and drawing rocket ships. At a parent/teacher conference, the principal said, "Mrs. Payne, you might have to face the fact that your son may never be able to read." Mother knew better. We moved to Iran for two years and my very demanding mother became my teacher. When we returned I was the best reader in my class.
What was the difference? I was the same young boy with the same lazy dispositions. While the Wasatch School had catered to and accepted low academic performance, the Mother Payne school would not. But, it was more than that. It was caring enough to provide the support and motivation that made the expected high performance possible. We took the Hardy Boys mystery books to the Middle East with us. Mother would read the few pages it took until it got really interesting then say, "I have to iron [or wash the dishes, or something else]. I know you can do it. Read a few pages and I will come back when I am done." At first, I struggled desperately to see what was next. Within a few weeks it was easy and mother moved to high expectations in math, and science, and so on.
As the parent of six successful and well adjusted children, we have learned and practiced this lesson over and over. As parents when we had high expectations we got high performance; when we did not make that clear and did not provide the necessary support, our children did less well. We saw the same as we watched them in school. Those teachers who lovingly demanded a lot got it, and others did not.
One of our sons is legally deaf from meningitis as a baby. At five years of age he had a vocabulary of perhaps ten words. His kindergarten teacher said, "Mr. Payne, you may have to realize that your son may never have the mental development to graduate" and he meant graduate from kindergarten. But I remembered my kindergarten and knew better. We had the same expectations of hard work and performance from him as we did our other children. It was hard for him and there were lots of tears, but he is a college graduate with better-than-average grades and is happily employed in his profession. As he served the deaf population in the LDS church in the state of Washington for two years as a missionary, many parents said "my child can't do that because he or she is deaf." His response was, "Of course they can do it; look at me. You have to expect it of them and then help them achieve it."
I have drawn examples here from the academic arena and my own family, but I believe the principle is general whether it is school, athletics, personal morality, helpfulness around the house, or just personal kindness. What our children and our students become is in large measure of what we expect of them.
Our children are wonderful treasures. They have boundless abilities. As parents and teachers we have the responsibility to help them find and develop abilities rather than make excuses, belittle, or neglect.
The thrill of achievement, whether academic, athletic, or ethical is something our children and students deserve. It is its own reward and produces more achievement. To deny our children and our students the opportunity to enjoy this thrill and expand their lives simply because we failed to ask for it is a tragedy which we, our children, and our community cannot afford. Achievement's imitator is the short and meaningless high of drugs, or improper sex, or violence, or the lethargic indifference of boredom which plagues homes and communities. In Huntsville we need to raise our expectations. Our youth are the promise of our future and they can make it a bright one if we expect it of them and of ourselves.
David E. Payne
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Sam Houston State University