Those who went to school back in the good ol' days may not have any idea about the debate over the minimum grade. As a former teacher and current counselor I can attest to how the debate is viewed within the classroom and at the district level. Most of you went to school before the days of the minimum grade. If you earned a 3 then you got a 3 on the report card. There was no effort to soften the blow as the report card went home to your parents.
This was also true when I began teaching, but some school districts chose to mandate their teachers gave their students a grade no lower than 50 on the report card. The idea behind this was two-fold. First, child psychologists were concerned that kids would have low self-esteems if they were given a 15. So, if we give them a 50 then it looks a lot better and makes them feel a lot better. Administrators liked this because it meant students could still mathematically pass for the semester.
That argument makes a lot of sense, but it does have some holes in it. The main hole is that if you have a kid that earns 65s in consecutive quarters, he or she actually earns their grade in comparison with a student that has a gift 50 and a 90. Intellectual honesty dictates that I point out that this doesn't happen very often. However, I have had a few students over the course of a decade that have made that kind of a comeback.
The state legislature determined that teachers now have control again. Like most laws in education, this one went overlooked. After all, who cares if Johnny fails with a 50 or with a 27? Well, I can assure that the teachers care. Education has slowly moved from a teacher-centered industry into an administrative-centered industry. When schools become recognized or exemplary the superintendant usually gets the most money. When grading time comes, administrators often put pressure on teachers to give certain grades and some have even changed grades (which is illegal). In particular, I have seen students walk at graduation when I know I gave them a failing grade in a core required subject.
This isn't to say that administrators and teachers always battle it out over grades. 99 percent of the time there is no incident. However, while most teachers don't want students to fail, they also want to maintain some level of standards for a student to be able to pass their course. Most administrators are more interested in graduation rates (one of the planks of the accountability system). Usually those two goals don't cross each other, but sometimes they do.
Being out of the grading business is the best part of my job. Still, I can recognize that both sides have points to be made. It is criminal how many children don't get their high school diploma. On the other hand, it is also criminal as to how easy it is to get a diploma these days. Students at top-notch universities are struggling with the basics of writing a research paper for instance. I want more people to graduate, but I also want that diploma to be more valuable than the paper it is printed on. Making students earn their 50 may seem like a small step, but I believe it is a good one. A bigger step would be giving up on requiring all students take a college preparatory curriculum when only about half will end up going to college.
The age old question. I boil it down to a few things. First, most people tend to forget that which they do not use. I'll give you a perfect example. We were taught to write in cursive when we were in elementary school. Yet, if you asked me to do it now I could only do my name. Simply put, we usually forget the skills we don't use. Of course, that begs the question of why we teach those skills in the first place. This is the reason why cursive writing is not as emphasized. That's just one example. If you asked me to do a quadratic equation now you would probably reduce me to tears. That's just another example.
In education, there is a debate between what I would call the "inch wide, mile deep" and "mile wide and inch deep" approach. I shutter to think that I am about to quote Karate Kid for the second time in a little more than a week, but Miyagi told Danielson to "trust the quality of what has been taught instead of the quantity." As we have moved on we have been asked to teach more and more. This creates a quantity situation, but not a quality situation. Students are expected to get it just enough to pass a TAKS test.
I think when we see common citizens that don't know basic historical, geographical, or political facts it isn't because they weren't taught. It's because they have no need to keep those facts in their mental database. They learned it, they regurgitated it on a test, and then left it behind. The unit wasn't long enough to convince them that this is important to them or interesting to them. So, like the cursive writing or quadratic equation, it disappears when not used. After all, why do I need to know the capital of Turkmenistan if I'm never going to travel there?
Perhaps we are trying to teach kids too much.I am 58 yrs old and grew up in HISD. I got a a good education despite my effots to the contrary.
I am not in HR but have been in a position of hiring off and on for some 25 years. There are WAAAAY too many kids coming out of school here in the Houston area that can't read or write sufficiently. Their knowledge of basic math (simple algebra) is poor and their knowledge of history and geography appalling.(2 p's in appalling, right???)
My son is 32 and graduated from Alief ISD. He falls short in all those categories too. So I know of what I speak.
What I don't know is what to do about this.
As an educator Aretemus I can assure you that the "no other teacher is doing this" is the biggest lie in the book. They want to get out of doing the work. When I was getting my masters I was also working as a teacher. Sure, if I could get out of doing something I would. However, I wasn't afraid of doing the work.
As for the age old problem, I would agree this is probably true. My problem with the obligatory 50 is that it doesn't tell parents the whole story. I had one kid in a class about ten years ago where I had to look at the yearbook to see what he looked like. He was on campus everyday, but not in my class. Yet, I had to give him a 50.
It's really funny. I am compassionate towards individuals, but collectively pretty draconian in my opinions about what should be done. We are giving too much away. I remember in the movie "Primary Colors" where the guy at the beginning says he got a "certificate of attendance" at graduation. I feel like we are giving away far too many of those and calling them diplomas. This isn't to say that everyone needs to do a quadratic equation either. Everyone should walk out of school with a set of skills that will make them employable. Whether that be advanced math or science, or carpentry, autobody, air conditioning repair, computer repair, ect.
LOL, so this problem with getting kids to learn something is new?
Fundamentally our approach to education is flawed.
I'm no educator, but my wife is. Teaches grad school courses.
She is just appalled by the number of graduate students who cannot write a simple declarative sentence, or present research findings in support of a position or argument. And it is not just a few, either. She's been doing this for years. We have gotten to the point where we actually look for the one student in each class who actually understands the assignments and writes papers that accurately addresses them.
And those who don't get it are often arrogant about their ignorance, demanding that they receive a better grade, often saying that no other instructor has found problems with their work. Which is probably true.