The term unforced errors was first coined in 1982 by former tennis player turned sports statistician, Leo Lavin to describe an error in a service or return shot that can only be attributed to lack of skill or poor judgment or execution in the game of tennis. I think of this often as I see televised debates on the state of education in the U.S. or as I speak with teachers and parents.

Recently, after noticing a downward trend in my daughter’s 8th grade math scores, I got involved to see if I could work with her and her teacher to get her back on track. At the outset I must say that her school has a great academic rating and is one of the better schools in the county. I exchanged a few emails with the teacher who said that my daughter needed to practice more at home since he suspected that due to the late period of the class some students were not as alert as they should be. However, listening to my daughter explain the way the teacher conducts class it is clear to me that many teachers simply gravitate to the brightest kids. This may be in part human nature, but I can see how average kids can be shortchanged. If parents aren’t holding both kids and teachers to a higher standard the kids ultimately lose.

It is a fact that there are few geniuses among us and that most of us who become proficient at anything need to work 20 times harder. This is true for science, business, carpentry or basketball and applies to learning as well. I suspect that with a new commitment to rigor on the part of school systems we can take the 80 percent of average students and turn them into stars. I submit that teachers who don’t believe this should be encouraged to find a new line of work and that parents of kids who get lower than a B in any subject should be part of a formal solution for getting the child back on track academically. Let’s face it, kids today have memorized several dozen CDs worth of pop song lyrics which they recite flawlessly. Why then do tolerate the use of calculators as a substitute for simple times tables and estimation? Are we training future adults who would be unable to mentally compute a 10 percent discount on sale day?

With every discipline there are times when you really need to put on your thinking cap and figure out a solution to a problem. However, there are some standard scenarios that a competent person in that discipline needs to immediately recognize as rudimentary and foundational. When we fail to identify these basic scenarios and botch the execution this is in effect what Leo Lavin calls “unforced errors”. Mr. Lavin took it one step further and improved the performance of many athletes and teams by statistically analyzing errors categories.

In the popular culture there is also the notion that being honest with kids about their lack of performance ruins their self-esteem. If pride and confidence comes from mastery, what do we say to the students who display little mastery but demand accolades? Are we doing them a favor by shielding them from the truth? I say we demand better performance and provide by way of tools, not only the “hows” but the “whys” of getting there.

To address the “hows” with my daughter I performed an assessment to identify weak areas in addition to together reading ahead to upcoming topics. In each weak area she worked on a few dozen representative problems and solved the same set of problems each night for 3 nights in a row. For the “whys” I pointed out that the only way she will be able to travel and see the world as an adult is if she got her grades up, gained her confidence and got out of her own way. I am pleased to say that recently I have detected a new confidence in my daughter that I haven’t seen in the math department for some time.

Kids play-whether it is outside, in the car, pool, classroom or bathtub-it is just what they do. So even if your students or children are “overactive,” perhaps it is not because they do not care, rather that they are not engaged properly.

Educational Games, Engaging Children and Energy Expenditure

There is certainly a distinction between general games or outside play and educational games. Don’t make the mistake of confusing learning games with tomfoolery or time wasting, because it is imperative for students of preschool age to expend their energy and interact with their learning environment. Instead of placing limitations on the actions of students, try to incorporate their energy and curiosity into preschool educational games. Preschool games give context to skills that they practice for homework and learn in the classroom. Engaging students in such activities enables them to get a feel for applying their skills to real life-a paramount development at that age.

Interactive Books and Encouraging the Use of Imagination

Preschool books can be a fun and creative tool to capture the imagination of students. Interactive books can stimulate questions and allows students to discover objects and parts of the story on their own that may not be told explicitly on the page. In that way, the books are also like a game, because the children explore their environment to gain a better understanding. The Internet can provide a safe and compelling resource for kids, with online programs that offer everything from interactive stories to corresponding print-out pages. By embracing technology, your student could also become better equipped for higher level learning and, eventually, introductory computer skills training. Preschool games are presented in an attractive media form online with direct and immediate feedback and response. Books and stories are sure to mesmerize, as students venture into a story with their favorite characters and literally become part of the tale.

Online Reading and Promoting Problem Solving Skills

Online preschool books prompt students to help characters meet goals, find clues and solve problems. By entering the character’s world, students can gain a deeper understanding of the objects, systems and environments presented to them. It stimulates them to interact with things that they might not otherwise encounter. Visual, audio and responsive learning are combined into a fast-paced, high-energy learning tool. Tickets and reward systems are offered by some programs, which stimulate kids to progress and challenge themselves. This method reinforces their confidence and awards students a sense of accomplishment. Progress in interactive story games is tracked and presented to students in a fun and competitive way.

Do you remember when you were little? We eagerly anticipated being “big enough” to attend school. Sometimes it was because there were few other children around, but mostly because we wanted to learn, to be like those who were older and knew the mysteries of reading, writing and math. In the days before preschools being for everyone, we entered kindergarten for half days. We played house or store or with blocks, slathered paint on paper to create out masterpieces, mashed clay into ropes and blobs that became something to us, listened to music and danced if there was space, had a “rest” (but I think that was for the teacher instead of us), and the teacher read to us. Eventually, we began to learn to read toward the end of the year.

Schools still offer the magnet to the young of being able to be with others their own ages, to play in safe areas, and to learn. They still play with others, but most of their days are sitting at desks. They begin to learn to read and write at the beginning of kindergarten which they often attend for full days. But what has been lost?

I no longer see the “magic” of what schools could offer: using their creativity and imagination in play or art. To some extent, there is joy of learning, but the pressures of test scores makes it more work than joy because many students are not developmentally ready for what is presented to them. We used to desire to achieve, but now the expectations are so high that many give up before the end of third grade.

This push for educational “excellence” is supposedly to develop opportunities for individuals’ futures in the workforce. The actual result is that many are averse to and resist any form of school. Their poor grades and/or drop-out status make them ineligible for advanced training or higher education. In the logic of legislators who control education, everyone should go to college. The result is “watered-down” college preparation classes (which are actually useless in preparing students for college) and an absence of vocational exploration opportunities. Everyone used to take shop and/or home economics courses in high school where we prepared for independent living (taking care of feeding and clothing the family and learning how to safely use tools to repair things around the house). Those classes are rapidly disappearing, only to resurface in different forms at the vocational or technical college level. That is where many attend because they are forced to because they can get government assistance as long as they are in school.

The problem with the current goals for education is that it has lots a humanness that allowed everyone to be successful in areas of their interests, talents and skills. What is there for the artistically or musically inclined individuals? What is there for those who think multi-dimensionally and can create or envision structures, packaging, or machines?

Education teaches to the “average” – do you know anyone who is consistently “average” in anything? Education is not a product on an assembly line, so the quality control measures cannot be the same for everyone. The raw materials (student entering school) at any given point are not uniform and “perfect”, because we all develop at different rates and at different times.