“Progressive” educators have a huge number of clichés about ideal practices — most if not all of which have been shown to be rubbish. But rather than reject them, they keep coming up with new ones. A current education cliché is that teachers and professors need to “meet students where they are.”

Sounds nice, but exactly what does it mean? In today’s Martin Center article, David Phillips trains his eye on this cliché and he is not impressed.

Phillips writes: “To the extent that it is clear, following the dictate almost invariably involves expecting less and less from students and more and more from teachers. This is especially problematic (to reclaim a term) because where students are, academically, is quite simply not where they should be.”

What this amounts to is merely another excuse for low expectations.

Phillips nails the truth when he observes, “We no longer expect students to conform themselves to the ethos of the academy — not, at least, to the academy as it has been. Instead, the academy is conforming itself to the expectations and assumptions of ill-prepared students, transforming college into a ‘platform’ for activism and networking.”

Read the whole thing.