4 ms·
Just get rid of GPAs and grading altogether. If a kid wants to learn algebra, support them. Why does everything have to be dumbed down to the lowest common den
by tapatio 3y ago
Just get rid of GPAs and grading altogether.
If a kid wants to learn algebra, support them. Why does everything have to be dumbed down to the lowest common denominator?
- xxpor 3y agoHow do you know who's doing well then? Seems like eliminating quantitative measurements will only make things worse.
- tapatio 3y agoA kid takes a French class. Can he speak French afterwards? Can he read/write in French? I guess that's how you'd know if he learned it. Is that a test? I guess so but I'd like to see grades take a backseat to actual learning. Maybe that's a bad position to take.
- threatofrain 3y agoBut now nobody can say whether any curriculum is better.
- pessimizer 3y agoLanguage curricula are not any more effective (i.e. pretty terrible) at teaching language than they ever have been. So since these data-driven improvements haven't shown up yet, we shouldn't be worried about risking them.
- xxpor 3y agoI think we have the same idea: stupid grades that don't measure actual results are bad. Not that I'm salty, but I always had poor grades because I rarely if ever did homework. But I aced the tests, so why bother?
- threatofrain 3y agoHow about eliminate grades but only have standardized exams? Standardized exams are less susceptible to the grade fiddling.
- vuln 3y agoThen they spend the whole year “studying” for the standardized test and learn nothing. That’s how it currently is and I don’t see that changing. Standardized exam scores are utilized for funding.
- jedmeyers 3y agoA lot of people in positions of power are currently obsessed with achieving equality of outcomes (aka equity) and dumbing down to the lowest common denominator is an only working way to achieve that goal for large groups of people.
- tapatio 3y agoWe practice equal opportunity in the USA. They should move to Russia or some other commie country to practice equal outcome.
- pessimizer 3y agoWe don't practice equal opportunity in the USA.
- tapatio 3y agoWhat do we practice then? In this country if you work harder/smarter, you are more successful.
- wolpoli 3y agoAre we going to see a transition to a pure pass/fail grading system then?
- tapatio 3y agoThat might not be a bad idea. But it still doesn't solve the problem of some people learning/advancing quicker than others.
- goatlover 3y agoWhy is that inherently a problem? Some people will always learn/advance quicker than others in just about any are of life for a variety of reasons. The only way to "solve" that problem generally would be some very dystopian form of social control.
- mr-wendel 3y agoAdditional food for thought from a educator's perspective: "I wanted to be a teacher but they made me a cop" https://www.experimental-history.com/p/i-wanted-to-be-a-teacher-but-they https://www.experimental-history.com/p/i-wanted-to-be-a-teac...
- alexb_ 3y ago>So if people need some extrinsic motivation to engage in my class, one of two things might be happening. Maybe they’re just not interested in what I have to offer. That’s fine! They should take a different class. More likely, though, the problem is me: I'm somehow subverting people’s natural curiosity. Maybe I’m doing that by inflicting evaluation on my students—rules! points! policies!—instead of just showing them what they came to see. This paragraph shows the difference between college and other education. This applies to college because everyone there paid to learn. This does not apply to public schools, ESPECIALLY if it's in an area where the culture is bad for education. There are a ton of kids who absolutely do not care at all about anything you have to say if there are no consequences for being apathetic.
- tapatio 3y agoWhy do we all need to be impacted by the "bad for education" areas? Maybe kids that are ready can just start going to college earlier or even skip high school altogether. Yes, they'll have to pay but a community college will suffice. They could probably just take the GED test and pass at 14 years old. I can only imagine how dumbed down that test is.
- markus_zhang 3y agoI have a thought that GPA as KPI are for teachers and schools, not kids.