It's time for teachers to be honest about our children's school achievements Teachers, particularly those working in state schools, are hamstrung in what they can say and how they can say it. IT'S that time of the year when parents across the country eagerly await their children's school report cards. But the document, that once put terror in the hearts and minds of misbehaving youngsters is very different from what many of us remember from our schooldays. Students are now spared the annual dose of instant karma for a year's worth of shenanigans with the reports short on candour and high on jargon. School reports used to be an honest assessment of a child's achievements and behaviour in class, but they have degenerated into generic gibberish that are as frustrating for parents to read as they are for teachers to write. They have a homogenous tone that renders them largely useless. One can read every word in a report card and remain clueless about where the assessed child excels and where they struggle. No longer can they express frankly that little Jack is a tearaway who is disruptive in class and refuses to complete his work. That is deemed too harsh. Instead they must say: "Jack is an exuberant child with finely developed social skills who is working towards completing assigned classroom activities." Jasmine failing her times tables is expressed as, "Jasmine is working towards understanding the multifaceted world of multiplication." Parents are forced to decipher what teachers want to say. It is true some mums and dads can't cope with a teacher dispensing a few home truths, but the overwhelming majority of us want to know the facts without the sugar-coating. The pervasive "soft love" culture that sees schools mollycoddle not only students but also teachers and parents has no place in end-of-year reports. That is one area where brutal honesty should be non-negotiable. It is imperative to cut with the gobbledygook and tell it like it is; full disclosure is the best way to communicate with parents and involve them in addressing areas that need attention. The grading system is also cause for concern, with too many students, of varying ability, falling within the C grade that is deemed "the expected standard" for each year level. The lettering system is well known and popular with parents but the current execution is a problem; the mean is simply too wide. It also doesn't distinguish between a child who is trying their best and one who barely makes an effort but is naturally bright. The shaded area denoting a C grade is far too broad with students needing to be substantially ahead or behind to fall into any other level. Schools were previously able to assess children in smaller increments which better represented how they rated in each subject. Now they can only move a child out of the C level if they are at least six months ahead or behind. An "A" indicates a student is a year ahead of their contemporaries. Naturally that has caused teachers to err on the side of caution and instead of saying a child is significantly ahead or behind their year level, they are likely to place them in the almost all-encompassing C grade. THE uniformity of report cards is not limited to the language, which seems to be lifted from a manual or template, but also the final student rating or grade. There is greater freedom for educators in senior high schools but by then it may be too late for meaningful change; the pattern is already set. Parents who may have been oblivious to their children's academic and attitudinal failings can get a rude shock. But even in these reports teachers have to tread carefully for fear of affecting a student's employment prospects. In recent years we've seen schools ban everything from games of tiggy to the swapping of footy cards and even leather footballs have famously been given the boot in one Melbourne school. The bans have been sparked by fears that children can't cope with the stress of losing a game or making a poor trade. We are raising a generation of indulged youngsters who have never known criticism with unchecked parental praise duplicated in schools. The cotton wool approach has seeped into report cards that no longer tell parents how their child is doing. In the aim of having a standardised, non-subjective system of appraisal, the intrinsic value of report cards is being lost. In the past school reports may have been occasionally unfair, if you had a particularly tough teacher, but at least they were real and gave you a genuine sense of the student's achievements, deficiencies and personality. There are few insights now. A perfect example of the nonsensical language used in school reports is an explanatory note that most parents will see on their child's report card this year. It reads: "As new Australian Curriculum subjects are introduced and taught in AusVELs, your child will receive an achievement grade only at the end of the first semester and an achievement grade as well as a representation of six months progress at the end of the year." This is the very antithesis of the clear and concise language parents yearn to see.