Dallas School District Lowers Standards Once Again (Howe: university, wage)

[loves2read]

OK
thanks Lakewooder--that explanation does sound more responsible
but I still agree that giving a 50 as max lowest grade on report card just is not right nor effective--it just is a pallative to the parents more than anything...

and frankly have discretionary approach to what/who can receive a 0 sounds like a passing-the-buck situation to me
meaning if you decide it, you have to defend it--we aren't going to have your back if parents get hostile...

[Lakewooder]

I think we are going to have to revist many state and national policies e.g., do we want to follow the Jeffersonian idea that everyone should get a public education? Most people didn't go back then, however - I would say the mission has really been expanded. Should we really force people who don't want to be in school to go? Should we make the unmotivated, captured kids who are being babysat a reason to torpedo the reputation of an otherwise fine school?

BTW G, if you read my posts I did not say the entire DISD is best, I named five high schools.

[tycobb2522]

Do some children who are unmotivated become motivated through one or more special teachers that care? Are children old enough to make a rational decision on whether or not school is for them?

[loves2read]

the move to let kids drop out at 16 has an economic bite for most school districts that serve any populace that is not committed to college for their children/students...
most districts don't have enough of a trade school/commercial program to hold the students who want/need to go to work...
if 20% of students dropped out after 10th grade the district would see a 20%+ drop in state/federal revenue which amplifies the amount of local taxes in the budget...

want to have your taxes raised more than 20% to compensate for the difference...
because I know the state is not going to continue to fund MORE money for teaching fewer students...
most people think they pay too much now...
and frankly if those kids don't have minimum skills for business communication, math, reading and writing--they are just going to be a drain on the economy---
the military won't take them at 16--what are they going to do?
Most of them have min wage jobs at best--can't support themselves--they want "freedom" and ot have to obey rules---
it is a two-yr-old temper tantrum happening in a teenage body...
they need a good dose of CCC--Civilian Conservation Corp--let them work off some of their enui with sweat and blisters...girls too--doong something positive for the community...
but they are not used to the hard work and don't have the physical skills that most of the boys/men in that situation then grew up with...

I am so tired of many of these teen today that think using a cell phone or a computer means that they are educated--that reading an internet web page run by another teen means they know how to assimilate and discern bias, propaganda, true insght, and fact from fiction...

many of these kids are smart and given the opportunity they can make a positive impact on the planet
but they are totally swamped by the ones who do not give a flying flip about anything but getting smashed, having fun (sex), putting off being responsible as long as they can... but let them have all the freedom they think they are entitled to...
they are dangerous...not only to themselves but to the future of this society...

the best asset a dictator/fascist regime has is a population that is either too dumb to know better or one that is totally brainwashed to believe propaganda is truth...
and either one achieves the same result...
maybe we won't need too many intelligent people to run an increasingly automated/mechanized world but what do we do with the rest????
Put them into rockets and shoot them off to colonize Mars now that we know it has water?

[loves2read]

to give you an idea of how ridiculous some of the educational behavior is---
HEB had their convocation meeting last Friday--the kick-off general meeting to start their inservice and new school year...
one of the featured speakers was a wonderful teacher from California Andy Molnar who uses Shakespeare and drama/performance with his low-socio-economic students and achieves great results..otuside the classroom curricula--he is also great with teaching during class--

Mr. Molnar came to convocation--spoke-- and brought 5 of his students. The entire point of his presentation was how important it is to have freedom in the classroom as a teacher to be flexible, to NOT be tied to a curricula that forces every teacher to be on the same page every day in what they teach so that they can adapt to the needs of their students...
now HEB ISD definitely DOES NOT have that program in force in their classrooms from elementary up through secondary for the most part---but especially in elementary...there is a daily course of study that is to be covered in all the areas--
the ISD superintendant was sitting on the stage listening to this condemnation of how his district runs its business and smiling--

the super just did not get it--either he was not listening, thought no one else was listening, thought no one realized how stupid and hypocritical having this speech/speaker so diametrically opposed to what the district has spent money and time and effort to enforce...
my friend who was there as a retired teacher was just amazed that they would pay this guy to come from CA and speak as a model of what a great teacher should do--what it takes to get through to students who are in danger of giving up on school and themselves
by motivating and reaching his students and getting them to be the best they can be--when they (HEB) have no intention of doing any of this...
now whether Andy knew how anti-message HEB was I have no idea--and HEB would probably say that they expect teachers to BE that kind of teacher within the jacket they have wrapped around them...
but basically it was like trying to teach Hitler how to cook kosher...

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by austinnetx

Once again, DISD normalizes deviancy.

Read the whole sorry story.

Dallas schools plan to ease grading standards angers teachers | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/081508dnmetdisdgrades.48e6cc22.html - broken link)


Dallas public school students who flunk tests, blow off homework and miss assignment deadlines can make up the work without penalty, under new rules that have angered many teachers.

The new rules will be distributed when teachers return to their campuses next week. But many who have already seen the regulations say they are too lenient on slackers, and will come at the expense of kids who work hard.

For example, the new rules require teachers to accept late work and prevent them from penalizing students for missed deadlines. Homework grades that would drag down a student's overall average will be thrown out.

....

This doesn't surprise me as I know other school districts that do this as well. But I don't agree with it, because like the OP said, it is NOT fair to the kids who are hard workers and do all their homework and make good grades.

[fratermus]

Originally Posted by austinnetx

If I spent 4 hours+ a week, I got 95+ or better. If I spent 10+ hours prepping for the final, I usually got a 100.

Granted, though it sounds like a "decreasing returns" situation to me.

[loves2read]

Life is not fair--A students who understand that getting an education is about improving their own individual minds/abilities/futures are not bothered by kids who get a free 50...

that is why I never gave free 50 in class work--always the real grade/real average
but on report cards I would over-ride the avg for the district's policy 50...
kids knew the least their avg could be was 50...

[austinnetx]

Originally Posted by Lakewooder

I think we are going to have to revist many state and national policies e.g., do we want to follow the Jeffersonian idea that everyone should get a public education? Most people didn't go back then, however - I would say the mission has really been expanded. Should we really force people who don't want to be in school to go? Should we make the unmotivated, captured kids who are being babysat a reason to torpedo the reputation of an otherwise fine school?

BTW G, if you read my posts I did not say the entire DISD is best, I named five high schools.

Not everyone needs college prep, but our schools are one-size, fits-all. Both the lower end and the upper end get screwed.

Much of the population should be on vocational track that prepares them for mostly manual jobs such as carpentry, welding, fire, corrections officers. Once they hit 9th grade, they should go into a trade school and emerge from HS with the ability to work in industry.

The middle group should be aimed at a 4 year degree for professions such as accounting, police, and nursing and teaching.

The upper group should be aimed at higher professions such as general practice medicine, engineering, government, military officers, etc.

The very top tier should be aimed towards a very broad and deep education that aims them to be the leaders in their fields - whatever they will choose to do. These kids are mostly self-taught after a certain point anyway, but they should not be held back by being put in with the other groups that are not their mental peers.

All these groups can be in the same school and take many of the same classes such as art, PE, band, etc - but the tracks for the other classes have to be different.

All kids should be tested and moved into intellectual-peer groups as noted above. I also think that kids should be allowed to move between the tracks given that they perform at the level expected in that track.

Finally, all kids should be held to a very high standard for both their class work and their conduct.

[austinnetx]

Originally Posted by fratermus

Granted, though it sounds like a "decreasing returns" situation to me.

When the there will only be 10 A's out of a class of 100 students, those who did this were the ones who got the A's.