Grading changes in local high school..a minor rant

[fdeck]

The school system in my area is the polar opposite. My kids are in a "Blue Ribbon" school. I'm amazed at the homework my 1st grader brings home. From what I can tell, the socioeconomics of the area dictate the quality of the school system. To state the obvious, this isn't the way public schooling should work.

Homework for grade schoolers has its pro's and con's. The con is that unless the work is substantive, it is purely a waste of time, detracts from other activities, delays bedtime, and teaches the attitude that homework is dumb and boring. And the problem is that the homework has to be geared to the lowest common denominator in the class, which means that it is (in my observation) often one or two full grade levels below their ability. To me it seems like just one more example of the boring drill work mandated by standardized testing.

I would rather let the kids be free of homework, or let it be at the discretion of the parents, until the kids are old enough to receive assignments with real meat on the bones.

 

[shadowtippy]

My neice home schooled her kids and they are both well educated and well adjusted. They had friends and activities in their neighborhood. The parents have done a good job of "parenting" by being involved with the kids without being over protective of them. I'm not a real fan of teenagers in general, but these were nice to be around.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

I'm still a little foggy on how the new system in the article works. So are they just using a 4 point grading scale? I'm still not sure how well a system other than this has been thought out. What good is it if you're applying to college, or the rest of the country. So if someone asks a student what their grade was what do they say, that they got a 6?

 

[shadowtippy]

When I was in school many years ago our grading scale was tough. The breakdown of test scores to letter grade was as follows:
96-100=A
90-95=B
80-89=C
76-79=D
75 or below=F

 

[WashburnBasser]

When I was in school many years ago our grading scale was tough. The breakdown of test scores to letter grade was as follows:
96-100=A
90-95=B
80-89=C
76-79=D
75 or below=F

Being currently enrolled in a public highschool, ours is
94 - 100 = A
90 - 94 = A-
87 - 90 = B+
84 - 87 = B
80 - 84 = B-
77 - 80 = C+
74 - 77 = C
70 - 74 = C-
I'm not a hundred percent sure of the D grading, but I think it's
64 - 70 = D
0 - 64 = F

 

[sloasdaylight]

When I was in Middle School (in high school they changed the grading scale here in Hillsborough County in Florida) It was, as best as I can remember:
94-100 was an A
86-93 was a B
78-85 was a C
69-77 was a D
Then everything at 68 or below was an F.

Now it's every 10:
90-100 = A
80-89 = B
70-79 = C
60-69 = D
0-59 = F

 

[baba]

Homework for grade schoolers has its pro's and con's. The con is that unless the work is substantive, it is purely a waste of time, detracts from other activities, delays bedtime, and teaches the attitude that homework is dumb and boring. And the problem is that the homework has to be geared to the lowest common denominator in the class, which means that it is (in my observation) often one or two full grade levels below their ability. To me it seems like just one more example of the boring drill work mandated by standardized testing.

I would rather let the kids be free of homework, or let it be at the discretion of the parents, until the kids are old enough to receive assignments with real meat on the bones.

I'm with you on this. It actually seems to be turning her away from school. The upside is it IS challenging stuff. She struggles through the math work occasionally. I can't imagine how the slower kids are handling it.

 

[sloasdaylight]

Homework for grade schoolers has its pro's and con's. The con is that unless the work is substantive, it is purely a waste of time, detracts from other activities, delays bedtime, and teaches the attitude that homework is dumb and boring. And the problem is that the homework has to be geared to the lowest common denominator in the class, which means that it is (in my observation) often one or two full grade levels below their ability. To me it seems like just one more example of the boring drill work mandated by standardized testing.

I would rather let the kids be free of homework, or let it be at the discretion of the parents, until the kids are old enough to receive assignments with real meat on the bones.

Thing is though is that without some of that fluff homework that you do in elementary school, you might not have the tools necessary to do some of the more substantive assignments later on.

It's like playing bass. Running scales and digital patterns, right hand techniques, etc can be some of the most boring things you can possibly do with an instrument, but they develop the groundwork to allow you to do other things that sounds awesome, and they sound that way because you've got the technical ability, which you learned by doing some God Awful boring practice and warm up routines. I think a bigger things with homework is that a lot of kids' parents simply aren't involved, and don't help to make that stuff seem like a sensible waste of time. I have a very vivid memory of me being in 1st or 2nd or 3rd grade and not wanting to do my spelling words (had to write them in print 3 times and in cursive twice). My dad came up to me and showed me why it was important that I learn how to write them and spell them correctly by showing me a letter he'd written to his dad just an hour or so before hand, and how easy it was to read.

 

[MatticusMania]

My neice home schooled her kids and they are both well educated and well adjusted. They had friends and activities in their neighborhood. The parents have done a good job of "parenting" by being involved with the kids without being over protective of them. I'm not a real fan of teenagers in general, but these were nice to be around.

I can only hope that if and when I homeschool my kids, the outcome goes somewhat like this.

 

[aborgman]

Thing is though is that without some of that fluff homework that you do in elementary school, you might not have the tools necessary to do some of the more substantive assignments later on.

Plus it also helps educate you a little about real life.

Real life involves lots of busy work, pointless tasks, and drudgery - so you'd better get used to it.

Consider it a lesson in dealing with the DMV...

 

[jrthebassguy]

Wow, where are you guys getting this from?? I know several people home schooled and none of them were/are the stunted social misfits that you're describing. Were they maybe home schooled for a reason?

Perhaps this is just anecdotal - but I have three cousins that were/are homeschooled. One just entered college and the other two are still in "high school". None of them know how to talk to people at all, unfortunately.

The older one graduated at 17, and is probably much more intelligent than me, however, when I ran into him at the local community college (I had one freshman level class I needed to kill and wanted to do it a discount rate) my attempts at conversation with him were completely futile. He can barely get a "Hi, how are you" out at a family reunion as it is, and in public it was even worse. At this rate, he'll never be employable, and likely will never have a girlfriend either.


For me, they are perfect reasons why if I have kids I'll never homeschool them.

 

[XtreO]

Like the OP said, todays grades are already screwed, todays Bs are yesteryears Cs, and it is almost impossible to excel.

I really don't think so. What my sister did a few years back at Oslo's best high school, have been of little worth to me. Twice we've been set identical assignments, and I've gotten a worse grade on her work than she did. Serves me right you think, and I wouldn't say you're wrong

On the big assignments we've had this year (in Norwegian and Gym (PE I think), all highschool third graders get these assignments, which are usually 20-40 Word-pages long), I doubt her work would not have been good enough even for a C, while she did get two Bs on them.

I think it's moving the other way. We have more information available, thus teachers expect much more of us in terms of discussions and smart reflections. Choughing up knowledge only gets us so far, applying the knowledge seems much more important to the teachers than it did a few years ago.

 

[karrot-x]

Being currently enrolled in a public highschool, ours is
94 - 100 = A
90 - 94 = A-
87 - 90 = B+
84 - 87 = B
80 - 84 = B-
77 - 80 = C+
74 - 77 = C
70 - 74 = C-
I'm not a hundred percent sure of the D grading, but I think it's
64 - 70 = D
0 - 64 = F

That's about accurate for my university.

When I was in Middle School (in high school they changed the grading scale here in Hillsborough County in Florida) It was, as best as I can remember:
94-100 was an A
86-93 was a B
78-85 was a C
69-77 was a D
Then everything at 68 or below was an F.

Now it's every 10:
90-100 = A
80-89 = B
70-79 = C
60-69 = D
0-59 = F

Some professors choose this scale as well.

The best is when I get a 34/100 on an exam and it's a B+. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

 

[fdeck]

I'm with you on this. It actually seems to be turning her away from school. The upside is it IS challenging stuff. She struggles through the math work occasionally. I can't imagine how the slower kids are handling it.

In my observation, the quality of the homework varies greatly from one teacher to the next. I have cajoled my daughter into doing her math homework by offering to let her do some harder problems that I write myself.

Thing is though is that without some of that fluff homework that you do in elementary school, you might not have the tools necessary to do some of the more substantive assignments later on.

No. I was never given homework in grade school, and very little in middle school. We did our lessons in class. I got through a substantive assignment later on, called a doctoral dissertation. If the homework is fluff, then it's a waste of time, and detracts from activities such as music lessons, sports, playing outside, reading interesting books, and so forth. Those things are much more beneficial to young minds than endless worksheets and dioramas.

I think homework can be an easy way to create the illusion that the school curriculum is rigorous.

Plus it also helps educate you a little about real life.

Real life involves lots of busy work, pointless tasks, and drudgery - so you'd better get used to it.

Consider it a lesson in dealing with the DMV...

Is that the message we want to give our kids about education? I think not.

 

[Deluge Of Sound]

The school system in my area is the polar opposite. My kids are in a "Blue Ribbon" school. I'm amazed at the homework my 1st grader brings home. From what I can tell, the socioeconomics of the area dictate the quality of the school system. To state the obvious, this isn't the way public schooling should work.

My hometown is filled with upper middle class types, so I got a wonderful education out of public schooling. Unfortunately, there was an ingrained overachiever (what some might call Type-A) mindset that came along with all the parents who were doctors, lawyers, CEO's etc. After all, if Jimmy's going to follow in their footsteps to Stanford, West Point or Harvard, he better be spotless on paper.

Needless to say, that sort of workaholic environment can be pretty toxic for the kids involved. Hopefully your first grader doesn't fall into that.

 

[fdeck]

That's about accurate for my university.

Some professors choose this scale as well.

The best is when I get a 34/100 on an exam and it's a B+. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

I think this raises a good point. Regardless of what letter grades are correlated to what numbers, teachers are going to nudge the numbers up and down based on how many of each kind of grade they want to give out. This is especially the case at the college level, because you can't always guess how hard an exam or assignment will be until you get it back from the students.

 

[baba]

My hometown is filled with upper middle class types, so I got a wonderful education out of public schooling. Unfortunately, there was an ingrained overachiever (what some might call Type-A) mindset that came along with all the parents who were doctors, lawyers, CEO's etc. After all, if Jimmy's going to follow in their footsteps to Stanford, West Point or Harvard, he better be spotless on paper.

Needless to say, that sort of workaholic environment can be pretty toxic for the kids involved. Hopefully your first grader doesn't fall into that.

I don't think she will. Her parents are pretty balanced and cool. I'm more worried about pushing her too hard with music at this point.

 

[aborgman]

Is that the message we want to give our kids about education? I think not.

I think it absolutely has to be PART of the message... because it's reality. It shouldn't be overdone, but it is something everyone needs to learn to steel themselves to.