How would you fare on a social category that kindergartners get graded on
There’s so much to talk about these days, I almost don’t know where to start this week.
The government has been shut down longer than ever. The repercussions are beginning to compound quickly, both nationally and right here at home in Columbus.
The filming of “Grounds” was a great success last week! I was utterly exhausted by the end of the three days, in which we packed about 40 active working hours, but thrilled by the incredible talent and kindness of the local artists and technicians that helped film. I’m eager to see what post-production bears for this series.
On the home front, this week’s latest is my daughter’s kindergarten report card. I am proud to say she’s doing very well, and that we’ve been able to speak constructively about the areas for continued growth and innovation.
The report card was divided into multiple areas. Many are to be expected: Science Standards, Language Arts Standards, etc. But a couple of the areas stood out to me, and lingered in my mind the rest of the evening. One was Approaches to Learning, which assesses a student’s strategies and instincts when confronted with new or challenging tasks. The other was Social Development.
Social Development covers topics like “expresses emotions appropriately,” “treats others with respect” and “works cooperatively with others.” Standard elementary school fare, right? Except the more I thought about those topics, the more I wondered how many adults would be failing the Social Development area if they were to be assessed today.
The current moment — politically, socially, and otherwise — seems to necessitate a degree of edge in our interactions with others. We sometimes feel we ought to avoid controversial topics altogether, which causes our ability to “express emotions appropriately” to atrophy. Or we feel best when working with a like-minded group, where we don’t have to “work cooperatively” with others who disagree with us. Whether scrolling through heated online threads or overhearing disrespectful water cooler chats, I am really left to wonder whether many of us would be scoring a “P” for In Progress or “N” for Needs Improvement in these Social Development categories.
My sense is not that the way to meet these standards is to simply shut up and shut down. On the contrary, expression seems key in this area. The place where I feel a deterioration has taken place is in the ability to express oneself with forethought and humility. None of us agrees on everything, and so a disagreement shouldn’t beget disrespect. Otherwise, we will find ourselves holding our own views high above everyone else’s and unable to see any common ground for discussion. In thoughtfully and humbly debating our views, we can score “M”s and Meet the Standards of Social Development. And when we fail, we can apologize and exercise growth — there’s always another report card coming.
Natalia Naman Temesgen is a playwright and professor of creative writing at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia.