Rigor vs. Vigor

Today's Washington Post Education blog has an article by Joanne Yatvin, The most important element of student success? in which she discusses the difference between rigor and vigor in education. She gives examples of two different teachers giving two different lessons intended to elucidate that difference. In the comments, a retired teacher suggests that the most important difference lies in the students, their character and desire to learn. I disagree and comment as follows:

I don't think this has anything to do with the character of the student but with the passion of the teacher, and the degree to which the school allows that teacher freedom to be him or herself. Passionate teachers can teach through different models, and children, as a whole, will resonate with the energy and enthusiasm the teacher conveys. Because of that, we need to look at factors that constrict teacher passion more than get overly concerned about differences in approach, perhaps some more rigorous and some more vigorous. The two factors that I think interfere with teachers are external standards emanating from outside the profession as a whole and outside of the school systems in which teachers work, and homework policy. Both distract teachers from their primary goal, which is to create a learning environment in direct relationship with their students.

*****

Dr. Kenneth Goldberg, is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Teachers, and Students, published by Wyndmoor Press.