School Boards lowering passing grades

School Boards lowering passing grades

Be warned that the video below is a George Carlin video, and is filled with some of “The Seven Dirty Words you can’t Say on TV”

If you are offended by  raw language, please don’t watch it.

Okay, now I’m mad. I’m reading an article in my local paper about how the school board may lower the passing grade.

At the moment the passing grade is 75%. Most schools in this area have already succumbed to the stupidity of lowering the passing grade to 65%. This school is one of the hold–outs.

The bullshit argument is basically that the local schools are handicapped when sending their kids to college because it appears that they have lower grades than kids from other schools. Also that it will help when the local schools are compared to other schools in this state reporting.

I think the latter part is what’s really at work here. It’s about how the administrators look. It’s not anything remotely about students.

Instead of sticking with their guns, and doing what is right, they are like schools across the country, succumbing to the dumbing down of The education most public schools subscribe to.

The article said that the principal said that the change should not be considered a lessening of standards. I don’t know the principal, who might be a fine person otherwise, but that statement is just a load of crap. Lowering the same grade is exactly a lessening of standards. It is practically the definition of a lessening of standards, and any statement to the contrary is just mealymouthed horsefeathers.

The lessons that student get from this is that you should do what’s expedient, and who cares about the consequences of your decisions. Nothing matters, just do what makes you look good – you don’t actually be any good. it’s just another example of how our society values appearances above substance.  And it is a pitiful commentary on us.

So how do they think this is going to play out? They know how it will look to the colleges, they know how it will affect their funding, they know how it will effect their graduation rate, and they know how it will affect how their school’s rating looks compared to other  schools that have dumbed-down standards.

What they don’t know, haven’t mentioned, and obviously don’t care about is how it will effect student’ s learning. Think about it – the vast majority of students exist in the B–C–D  realm. Those slackers  (and I know them well, because I was one of them) who were sliding along at 75%, will now feel free to slide along at 65%. Same grade, less work, and all happily sanctioned by the school. You’re basically giving them a license to learn less. Great freakin’ lesson!

Those students who actually excel will get the message that it’s okay not to do as well in general, because there are no apparent consequences. The consequences are not apparent, because the damned school board members never consider them.

You know, the more I’m exposed to public schools, the more I feel for the parents  who have to send their kids to them. There used to be a lot of things about public schools that you could like. At one time they were even a jewel in society’s crown. But those days have pretty much gone the way of  the stegosaurus, bell-bottom pants, and eight–track tapes.

And one time you could be proud to send your kid to the local public school. Now you probably worry about your kid all day when you send him or her to one. I don’t know the answer to this. But I do know that there is no reason at all to leave your child’s education up to a public school.

It’s a sad fact, but nowadays parents  have less time than ever to spend with their children,  but more reasons than ever to spend time with them. So they have to make each moment count.

It’s a shame that it’s so hard for parents to help with their children’s education, because curriculum and standards get changed more often than partners at a square dance. One of the things Math Mojo would like to help you with is your child’s math education. I try to put out no-nonsense, encouraging material to help you teach your child, and possibly learn something as you do it, so you share in the learning experience, have some fun, and have some meaningful time together. (Imagine that!)

I’m working on a new, nuts-and-bolt e-booklet about how to get great at addition. If you’ve signed up for the Math Mojo Monthly newsletter  (the sign-up  form is at the top left this page) you’ll be notified as soon as it is available  It will be inexpensive, and have a lot of material that you have probably never seen.  It will help you turbocharge your addition skills, and give you insights into speed math and mental math that you would use for the rest of your life.

I wish you all the best with your child’s education, whatever form or shape it takes.

Hotcha!

Brian (a.k.a. Professor Homunculus at MathMojo.com )

Afterthought: If schools would get a little bit creative  with their public-relations, and maybe create a social networking campaign that would extol the legitimate virtues of their schools, maybe institutions would give the individual score a little more weight assessing their student admissions.

If a school legitimately was known for its high standards, it could set the bar for other schools, instead of the other way around.

Of course this is naïve of me. As soon as it was known that a school could get a higher rating because of its  higher standards, others schools would start faking it, and rely on public relations more than actual facts. Same old same old – it’s about appearances, and not substance. What have we become?