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One of my favorite memories from high school was from my AP physics class. One of the junior class valedictorians (there were at least 3 girls, all very liberal arts focused, tied for the position at the time) got a C on a test that accounted for a major portion of our grade. After class on the day we got our tests back, she approached the teacher and explained to him that she had never gotten a C before and was gene…
One of my favorite memories from high school was from my AP physics class. One of the junior class valedictorians (there were at least 3 girls, all very liberal arts focused, tied for the position at the time) got a C on a test that accounted for a major portion of our grade. After class on the day we got our tests back, she approached the teacher and explained to him that she had never gotten a C before and was gene…
In Wisconsin, the valedictorian gets a full-ride to anywhere in the UW system. Due to this, many valedictorians I've seen take easy classes and graduate with a 4.1, whereas many of those with lower GPAs--due to difficult classes--end up going to better schools. One year the valedictorian went to UW-Whitewater, and the Salutatorian went to Yale.
Note: not trying to editorialize in the title. In my opinion, the first sentence of the 5'th paragraph summarizes the article better than the actual title.
One of my favorite memories from high school was from my AP physics class. One of the junior class valedictorians (there were at least 3 girls, all very liberal arts focused, tied for the position at the time) got a C on a test that accounted for a major portion of our grade. After class on the day we got our tests back, she approached the teacher and explained to him that she had never gotten a C before and was gene…
I'm surprised that they were taking AP physics. In Wisconsin, the valedictorian gets a full-ride to anywhere in the UW system. Due to this, many valedictorians I've seen take easy classes and graduate with a 4.1, whereas many of those with lower GPAs--due to difficult classes--end up going to better schools. One year the valedictorian went to UW-Whitewater, and the Salutatorian went to Yale.
This is in no way anything new; not in the US at least.
"Should students be rewarded for being friendly, prepared, compliant, a good school citizen, well organized and hard-working? Or should good grades represent exclusively a student’s mastery of the material?" Because it would be tremendously difficult to grade the students on both things separately. One of the problems with schools and our society in general is the idea that you can take something complicated and dist…
"In addition to an academic grade, the 950 students at the school will get a separate “life skills” grade for each class that reflects their work habits and other, more subjective, measures like attitude, effort and citizenship." page 2
So why not have a comments section? Is it too much to ask that a subjective assessment be spelled out in a written sentence or two?
Failure does not exist in the U.S. public school system. Even if a student does not participate, they are "remediated," wherein they sit in front of a computer for 6 weeks in order to receive class credit.
Watch out, I am going to generalize here... In my experience, in the US, EMPLOYEES in marketing, sales, management, finance, and operations do much better if they have high "life/social" skills even when their level of intelligence or knowledge are lower than others. However, this pattern doesn't fit IT/software and engineering (hard sciences) where creativity and knowledge are required. Some of the best engineers ha…
K-12 education as we know it today was first mandated/implemented by the King of Prussia in the 1860's to jump into the Industrial Revolution. We sent envoys to study and copy his schools. He sought 3 products: Compliant citizens, efficent factory workers, and obedient soldiers. We in the US have added a 4th purpose: free day care so both parents can be productive workers.
Can't separate the tree from the seed. Talk of "reform" needs to remember origins.
I teach mathematics at a community college. Every year the administration sends to my department statistics on how many people pass our classes. We're told to come up with strategies to increase the passing rate. I haven't had a pay raise in over two years. My strategy for increasing the passing rate is to give points for things a well trained monkey could do. I give points for coming to my office. I give points for…
I attend a podunk university in southern Utah, where college life resembles an episode of 'Community', and the phenomenon you describe is apparent. 60% of the students are seeking acceptance into the nursing program. The school claims it is one of "the top nursing schools in the country". This claim is based on their graduation rates (for those accepted, around 80%). The school inflates their graduation rates by lean…