Are Students Coddled? Schools Get Rid of 'F's

[PoliticalChic]

Some Fear Bad Grades May Encourage Dropouts, but Not Everyone Is Convinced

By EMILY FRIEDMAN
Dec. 5, 2008

For more students nationwide, the grading alphabet ends at "D," as school districts eliminate policies that allow children to be given failing marks.

At public schools in Grand Rapids, Mich., high school students will no longer receive "F"s but instead will earn the letter "H" when their work falls woefully short.

Superintendent Bernard Taylor told ABCNews.com that the "H" stands for "held," and is a system designed to give students a second chance on work that was not up to par.

"I never see anyone doing anything but punishing kids," said Taylor. "If the choice is between letting kids fail and giving them another opportunity to succeed, I'm going to err on the side of opportunity."

ABC News: Are Students Coddled? Schools Get Rid of 'F's

Once again the educrats come up with these ideas which to most logical minds would be completely asinine.

Does this sound like moving the deck chairs on the Titanic?

 

[Angel Heart]

UGH... At what point do we all march into the school board meetings and demand better?

Oh wait, I'm already doing that. If this pisses you off, get involved. The board meetings are open to the public.

 

[PoliticalChic]

UGH... At what point do we all march into the school board meetings and demand better?

Oh wait, I'm already doing that. If this pisses you off, get involved. The board meetings are open to the public.

If parents didn't need day care, they should go to the schools and protest. If most families had a single provider, parents wouldn't be so desperate to leave their children in some of these-God-forsaken schools. I don't mean the actual physical conditions -- I think you know what I mean.

The people running the schools are coming up with these "wonderful" ideas, kind of makes you wonder what kind of teachers we have as well. I don't mean to disparage teachers because I've known some great ones, and someone very close to me is a teacher as well. But most of them are no more educated than the students they teach.

There needs to be an education revolution and I hope that Obama would have the boldness and tenacity to take on such a challenge.

 

[Angel Heart]

You do know that there's more control at the state level when it comes to things like this. The school board level is even better. Only about 5% of school budgets come from the Feds. Most comes from state and local taxes.

 

[PoliticalChic]

You do know that there's more control at the state level when it comes to things like this. The school board level is even better. Only about 5% of school budgets come from the Feds. Most comes from state and local taxes.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any great leadership on the local level.

 

[Diuretic]

Students in Taylor's district can choose to retake the course, do extra work online or decide on a different remedial action with their teacher.

But if the work has not been rectified within 12 weeks, Taylor said the student will still receive a failing grade.

What's the problem? Do you think that a student shouldn't be given some help to achieve what they need? Shouldn't they be given some more time to get there? It's not an open cheque, there is a limit and it seems to be reasonable.

 

[Mr. President]

This is stupid. An extra twelve weeks to do homework. Well hell let me take a twelve week extension on every assignment I have laugh at the due date and tell the teacher I'll do it on my time not yours. Then when 30 students are turning in 3 months worth of assignments on the same day and the teachers can't get grades out we can go to the parent teacher conference and talk about the teacher's incompetence.

 

[Angel Heart]

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any great leadership on the local level.

Ever thought of being that leadership? I'm finding if there's inadequate leadership, it's actually easier to get things done. They don't know what to think when a real leader comes in and starts changing things.

 

[KGB]

another example of liberal hand holding run amuck.....no wonder kids today can't handle failure when they become adults.....

 

[Diuretic]

This is stupid. An extra twelve weeks to do homework. Well hell let me take a twelve week extension on every assignment I have laugh at the due date and tell the teacher I'll do it on my time not yours. Then when 30 students are turning in 3 months worth of assignments on the same day and the teachers can't get grades out we can go to the parent teacher conference and talk about the teacher's incompetence.

Problem with the article is that it's taking grabs from various districts and lumping them together. Yes, one of the districts is using this for homework (and I have to point out that the idea of "homework" is worth a discussion of itself) but in the first example - Grand Rapids - that doesn't seem to be the case. I don't see a problem with this approach if it helps students to get to where they need to be. In the article the question is along the lines of are students mollycoddled? That's so the rest of us who went through more rigid educational regimes and may well have suffered from them can look at today's students and tell them to "man up".

 

[PoliticalChic]

Ever thought of being that leadership? I'm finding if there's inadequate leadership, it's actually easier to get things done. They don't know what to think when a real leader comes in and starts changing things.

If my kids were older, I would consider it. Right now homeschooling them is a full time job. Taking a leadership role in this would mean having to deal with the frustration of dealing with the educrats who still believe that hand-holding is a good thing for kids. But you make a good point. Instead of bitching about it, why don't more people get involved. I know parents get involved in the PTA, but we need a major movement which involves changing the teacher's unions. Right now they have such a strangle hold on the system, I can't see getting much done.

I think children are born smart. They go through bad changes once they get into the system. The school system is the "dumb machine." I don't even mean just the academics. Kids are trained to be lazy in school once they realize how little they have to do to just "get by."

 

[Abelian Sea]

I got an F twice in high school, and in neither case would an extra 12 weeks have made a difference.

Failing grades don't catch students or teachers by surprise. They know there's a problem well before the end of the term. I think these extentions will be wasted in most cases.

 

[KittenKoder]

I have lost all faith in modern schools since many started the perverted "uniforms" policies (they still can't get it passed in the Seattle area for most schools LOL). The problem is though that now the students have taken more interest in cheating, though I don't think it's really because of the school structures but an abuse of technology. As for this particular change, the old way worked fine, my high school based graduation on credits anyway and I think they should do that for all schools. You get the credits, you earn the diploma, otherwise basing it on age is just plain stupid.

 

[Ravi]

I don't have a problem with this. In my kids' school district they have a grade forgiveness policy where classes that are failed can be retaken, often over the internet. Even classes with a score of D can sometimes be retaken to bring up grade point average.

Much better than the teachers just passing the kids without merit.

 

[editec]

I lost at least one teaching post for flunking kids.

Given another opportunity I'd flunked the little bastards again.

Of course given the opportunity to redeign the entire system of education, the whole issue of grades would cease to be problem in editecotoptia, too.

I'd DE-SCHOOL America, were it up to me.

The whole antiquated system for educating our children and reeducating ourselves makes like ZERO sense in today's world.

Its a system cobbled together from a early industrial model and it is ineffective and wastes everybody's time.

 

[Southpaw]

Just another move that this world is making towards 'positive' thinking.

Don't tell the kid he's fat. His feelings might get hurt.

Don't tell the kid he failed. His feelings might get hurt.

Don't push the kids to be the best. You might offend someone.

It's all ridiculous. Do people wonder why America is falling behind in terms of being competitive? Do people wonder why the products of our school system are earning less and less each year?

 

[Mr. President]

Indeed your eminence. Every grade is earned whether an A or an F. Some parents dont want to think of their kids as failures. But when the kid is failing so is the PARENT(S).

 

[Ravi]

Indeed your eminence. Every grade is earned whether an A or an F. Some parents dont want to think of their kids as failures. But when the kid is failing so is the PARENT(S).

A lot of parents do seem to feel that way. But the thread title is misleading. The grade of F isn't going away. Instead the kids are getting a chance to rectify the situation. If they can and actually learn enough to get a passing grade where is the harm?

 

[catzmeow]

I think children are born smart. They go through bad changes once they get into the system. The school system is the "dumb machine." I don't even mean just the academics. Kids are trained to be lazy in school once they realize how little they have to do to just "get by."

I guess I'm just lucky because my kids have been in good schools for their entire school experience. We've had a couple of bad teachers, but they have been the exception, not the rule.

 

[Paulie]

another example of liberal hand holding run amuck.....no wonder kids today can't handle failure when they become adults.....

It's ok, soon there won't be such a thing as failure anymore. There will be regulations to prevent it.