FutureWatch 4: Getting Rid of F’s– an exercise in idiocy!

A simple Goolge search for “getting rid of grades” will reveal something startling: RESULTS!!! As reflected by the ABC New’s article, “Are Students Coddled? Schools Get Rid of F’s,” there is a movement within education to get rid of the “F” in favor of “opportunities” like extra time during school hours, turning in any late work for credit, other means besides the work assigned to pass, and giving 50% credit for not doing any work on an assignment because a “zero” has such a negative effect on a grade. A year ago our English department was addressed by an administrator on the topic of lowering the D & F rate at our site. Did we talk about making inroads with students not receiving support and encouragement at home? Did we talk about tutorials or strategies to make unmotivated kids work? No. It was suggested that we manipulate how we calculate grades so that fewer kids would fail for not doing major assignments. Inspiring stuff. So what exactly is going on here? Why is re-labeling reality a solution at all? Why is rewarding lack of effort even considered? Where else in real life would this ever, ever, ever fly? How forgiving is a boss for an employee that isn’t performing well (aside from government workers, that is)? Run a Google search for “employee not fired for not working” and the results are all about how to fire an employee! How well would a wife receive a husband not picking up the kids from soccer practice, leaving them on the field for two extra hours? How long will your mortgage company allow you to not pay your mortgage before your house goes into foreclosure? Why do we want to promote the stereotype that elementary, junior high, and high school are not real life by adopting policies that don’t reflect real life!?!? And are kids so dumb that they won’t figure out that they are in a shell game of changing labels? The kid who is getting the cheapened, inflated grade, the kid who gets all the extra time he/she needs, the kid who re-takes the test ten times until it’s memorized is going to know eventually that they aren’t doing well– just maybe not as soon as the kid who gets a D or F right away. There are many ways a student can improve a grade– if he or she wants to. Let’s consider a couple. For one, do the work assigned. There is an amazing parallel between doing the work a teacher assigns and earning a passing grade. Weird, I know. For two, study for tests. Again, when one reviews and learns the material, test scores go up. Third, if one fails a class, make it up in summer school. In all three of these cases, it is an issue of making school a priority. In all of these cases, it is an issue of the student taking responsibility. In all three of these cases, real-world lessons are taught.