How “Kicking the Can Down the Road” Happens in Education

It's the tragedy of the commons.

It starts with students passing a course without demonstrating sufficient mastery of the material.

In the next course, the instructor discovers that students are struggling to learn course material due to missing foundational knowledge.

The only true remedy is to hold the students accountable for learning all the material in the course including the prerequisite material that they are missing.

But this requires the instructor to work overtime to support students with remedial assignments / assessments and help sessions.

The students also have to work overtime to pay off their “learning debt” – a rude awakening that leads to tension when the instructor has to hold the line on what it means to pass the course.

So what usually ends up happening instead is everyone turns a blind eye and kicks the can further down the road.

The instructor just gives the usual lectures & assignments, curves or otherwise inflates the grades, students go along with it, and the problem is left for their next instructor to deal with (or not deal with).