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My kid was allowed to retake tests last year. She came away with the mistaken impression that she had "gotten 100% on all her tests" because that was the grade

My kid was allowed to retake tests last year. She came away with the mistaken impression that she had "gotten 100% on all her tests" because that was the grade that was written down in the gradebook, sometimes after a retake. She thought this meant that she didn't need to be more careful with her work because she was already getting the top grade. I explained to her that this is not how the real world works, and that she should not expect retakes to be available in the future. Sadly, it seems that perhaps I was wrong — this may be the new normal for students (up until the doors of the operating room, at any rate).

skywhopper 2y ago
In the real world you don't get to correct your mistakes and improve on something after you get feedback? That's not my experience.
- gnicholas 2y ago
  Sure, you can do that. But if you turn in a project at work and it is not good, but then turn it in later and it's better, your boss doesn't magically forget that what you handed in on the date it was due/required was not good. No one is suggesting that if you get a C on the midterm you shouldn't be able to get an A on the final. But if you get a C on the midterm you shouldn't be able to retake it multiple times and overwrite all but the last grade, as if they never happened. There are also practical considerations, like the fact that this is unfair to students who are in different classes: imagine if you have a biology test and a history paper on the same day. If your history teacher doesn't let you rewrite papers indefinitely, then you can't blow the paper off and focus on the bio test. But if another history teacher (or teachers of other subjects, which your bio classmates are taking instead) do allow for rewrites/retakes of their assignments, they can blow off everything else and do much better on the bio test. It's also hard for teachers to have to keep coming up with new test questions. If they re-use the same test questions, it becomes trivial to get a good grade since students know what the questions are (this is especially true for multiple choice, but is also true for other question types).

skywhopper 2y ago

In the real world you don't get to correct your mistakes and improve on something after you get feedback? That's not my experience.

gnicholas 2y ago
Sure, you can do that. But if you turn in a project at work and it is not good, but then turn it in later and it's better, your boss doesn't magically forget that what you handed in on the date it was due/required was not good. No one is suggesting that if you get a C on the midterm you shouldn't be able to get an A on the final. But if you get a C on the midterm you shouldn't be able to retake it multiple times and overwrite all but the last grade, as if they never happened. There are also practical considerations, like the fact that this is unfair to students who are in different classes: imagine if you have a biology test and a history paper on the same day. If your history teacher doesn't let you rewrite papers indefinitely, then you can't blow the paper off and focus on the bio test. But if another history teacher (or teachers of other subjects, which your bio classmates are taking instead) do allow for rewrites/retakes of their assignments, they can blow off everything else and do much better on the bio test. It's also hard for teachers to have to keep coming up with new test questions. If they re-use the same test questions, it becomes trivial to get a good grade since students know what the questions are (this is especially true for multiple choice, but is also true for other question types).