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Except that very few people heard about this. Most schools were not shut down that long. Students and teachers should've been able to function online for these periods of time. What it pointed out was the lack of motivation of many students to do any school work at all when they are not in class. Some just disappeared.
The gap between advantaged and disadvantaged only widened. Society's losses were grievous. The Covid death numbers are greatly inflated. Nothing good happens from pulling the plug on civil society.
Except that very few people heard about this. Most schools were not shut down that long. Students and teachers should've been able to function online for these periods of time. What it pointed out was the lack of motivation of many students to do any school work at all when they are not in class. Some just disappeared.
My impression is that they were rather common, but mostly the upper-echelon in education. It definitely worsened the class divide.
I think it is irrelevant what the grading scale is and I don't know why school feel a need to have grading scales. There has been a thread on here about that topic and I didn't bother looking at it. A comparison of grading scales between schools would only be relevant if all students were taking the same objective tests on the exact same material, such as with the SAT or ACT.
And that is exactly why we need standardized tests, so that everybody is graded on the same scale. Since you admit that every teacher uses a different scale, how can you compare kids from one class to another? And, how can you objectively say that the kid you described with the 92 average deserved a full letter grade lower than a kid who had a 93 average?
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Teachers will typically adjust grades up so that most students actually receive a higher grade than they earned. This is done with extra credit, bonus points, grades on subjective tests or other assignments, or changing the weighting.
Many teachers do that, but others do not. Many teachers make it clear that there are no extra credit opportunities, and that an 89.9999 does not round up to 90. Again, that's why we need standardized tests, so that everybody is judged based on the same standard.
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In the school where I went to high school, an A was 94% -100 and 69% and below was failing. Did that mean students at my high school got lower grades than other schools? No, they did not. In fact, some teachers used a different grading scale where 90%-100 was an A.
So if teachers do not even follow the school's grading system, then you may as well just assign completely random grades.
And that is exactly why we need standardized tests, so that everybody is graded on the same scale. Since you admit that every teacher uses a different scale, how can you compare kids from one class to another? And, how can you objectively say that the kid you described with the 92 average deserved a full letter grade lower than a kid who had a 93 average?
Many teachers do that, but others do not. Many teachers make it clear that there are no extra credit opportunities, and that an 89.9999 does not round up to 90. Again, that's why we need standardized tests, so that everybody is judged based on the same standard.
So if teachers do not even follow the school's grading system, then you may as well just assign completely random grades.
I'm in favor of standardized tests. I've seen too many teachers take the easy way out and not even give tests.
Not following the school's grading scale is totally different than giving random grades.
No child or teenager should be considered a "lost cause", and to treat them as such will only cost society more in the long run. I have known many students who turned themselves around after high school, sometimes long after, and the education they received was part of their 'recovery'.
I agree in principle, but, there certainly are some students who can't really be educated in the "mainstream" or if it can be done I never saw it when I was a student.
One problem I perceive is that most high school classes are taught just as academic topics in a vacuum, as opposed to applied. Consider a kid who's dad owns an electrical firm, say he has around 5 employees, so it's a small business but the son (or daughter) is expected to step into a role in the firm, possibly going on to college for something like business administration. Let's assume the kid is at least OK with this if not actually quite excited at the opportunity. This kid does not need to know about diagramming sentences or exotic math. The kid does need to be able to read and write with comprehension, how to do cost estimates, and in many areas of the country being at least able to "get by" in either Spanish or French would confer practical advantages. It would not be hard to fill up 4 years of study with classes that would actually be useful to this kid.
Like it or not, the public schools in America are working with kids on both sides of the bell curve. I can't see trying to educate 20th percentile kids with 80th percentile. They are on two different trajectories moving at quite different speeds. The idea that "every child should get to go to college" is ridiculous.
I agree in principle, but, there certainly are some students who can't really be educated in the "mainstream" or if it can be done I never saw it when I was a student.
One problem I perceive is that most high school classes are taught just as academic topics in a vacuum, as opposed to applied. Consider a kid who's dad owns an electrical firm, say he has around 5 employees, so it's a small business but the son (or daughter) is expected to step into a role in the firm, possibly going on to college for something like business administration. Let's assume the kid is at least OK with this if not actually quite excited at the opportunity. This kid does not need to know about diagramming sentences or exotic math. The kid does need to be able to read and write with comprehension, how to do cost estimates, and in many areas of the country being at least able to "get by" in either Spanish or French would confer practical advantages. It would not be hard to fill up 4 years of study with classes that would actually be useful to this kid.
Like it or not, the public schools in America are working with kids on both sides of the bell curve. I can't see trying to educate 20th percentile kids with 80th percentile. They are on two different trajectories moving at quite different speeds. The idea that "every child should get to go to college" is ridiculous.
When I grew up in PG County MD in the 70's and 80's there were magnet schools dispersed with varying programs. Kids with a votech trajectory could go to the votech high school that addressed not just vocational skills, but the appropriate math and English for that field. There was high school that had math and sciences. The high school I went to had horticulture and languages (that's where I took Russian language).
I think that concept is still around in certain places, but boy did it work well in PG and Montgomery County back then.
I agree in principle, but, there certainly are some students who can't really be educated in the "mainstream" or if it can be done I never saw it when I was a student.
One problem I perceive is that most high school classes are taught just as academic topics in a vacuum, as opposed to applied. Consider a kid who's dad owns an electrical firm, say he has around 5 employees, so it's a small business but the son (or daughter) is expected to step into a role in the firm, possibly going on to college for something like business administration. Let's assume the kid is at least OK with this if not actually quite excited at the opportunity. This kid does not need to know about diagramming sentences or exotic math. The kid does need to be able to read and write with comprehension, how to do cost estimates, and in many areas of the country being at least able to "get by" in either Spanish or French would confer practical advantages. It would not be hard to fill up 4 years of study with classes that would actually be useful to this kid.
Like it or not, the public schools in America are working with kids on both sides of the bell curve. I can't see trying to educate 20th percentile kids with 80th percentile. They are on two different trajectories moving at quite different speeds. The idea that "every child should get to go to college" is ridiculous.
At some point not all academic disciplines are about job applications. There is more to life, the world, the universe, and the human race, than work. A lot of it is understanding the world, yourself, and helping you find your place in it.
Covid should have made that clear to us all.
Every time I hear this kind of thing, it shocks me how people don't seem to appreciate the advantages of a liberal education that they themselves probably got.
At some point not all academic disciplines are about job applications. There is more to life, the world, the universe, and the human race, than work. A lot of it is understanding the world, yourself, and helping you find your place in it.
Covid should have made that clear to us all.
Every time I hear this kind of thing, it shocks me how people don't seem to appreciate the advantages of a liberal education that they themselves probably got.
Apply to any big Tech company and see what they have to say about that.....
Apply to any big Tech company and see what they have to say about that.....
Education is not solely for their benefit. IF you want to work for them, then you learn what it takes to make them value you.
Which, if you are a well educated, well rounded person, can accomplish is reasonably short order. Education is also not a one and done thing, it is a lifelong process.
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