Today's educational system.

[+Warwagon MVC]

My niece got this email from her school! Unbelievable!

 

[farmeunit]

They did that sometimes when I went to school 30 years ago...  Nothing new there.  That being said, most people nowadays don't know how to calculate tax if a computer goes down.  Have seen restaurants give food away.  Can't do anything manually...

 

[cork1958]

Never saw that kind of crap when I went to school almost 40 years ago. They'll come up with anything to push kids through school now a days. Part of what's wrong with the educational system also. Schools aren't much more than tax paid baby setters

[+Warwagon MVC]

On 03/01/2023 at 12:25, farmeunit said:

They did that sometimes when I went to school 30 years ago...  Nothing new there.  That being said, most people nowadays don't know how to calculate tax if a computer goes down.  Have seen restaurants give food away.  Can't do anything manually...

 

I have never seen that before. I was never told that a test I took wouldn't affect my grade unless I did good on the test.

[neufuse Veteran]

uh the whole point of a final is to see if you held knowledge..... why would it not hurt you negatively if you did bad?

[Matthew S.]

God damned participation awards at its finest, especially with US kids..

[Michael Scrip]

First kitty litter boxes in schools.... now this...

😛 

[Slugsie]

On 04/01/2023 at 05:02, Michael Scrip said:

First kitty litter boxes in schools.... now this...

😛 

Huh?

[Michael Scrip]

On 04/01/2023 at 03:53, Slugsie said:

Huh?

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/urban-myth-litter-boxes-schools-became-gop-talking-point-rcna51439

😸

[Slugsie]

On 04/01/2023 at 09:09, Michael Scrip said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/urban-myth-litter-boxes-schools-became-gop-talking-point-rcna51439

😸

Yeah, I knew it was a Myth, I just wasn't sure *you* knew it was.

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

On 03/01/2023 at 13:25, farmeunit said:

They did that sometimes when I went to school 30 years ago...  Nothing new there.  That being said, most people nowadays don't know how to calculate tax if a computer goes down.  Have seen restaurants give food away.  Can't do anything manually...

 

I also went to school some 30 years ago but don't recall the final exam only counting unless it improved your score.

TBH I always thought the final exam counted for to much. Anyone can be having a rough day/week and do bad on a test which is what I believe the thinking is here. If one is getting A's and B's all semester/year (which would include tests) and does bad on one test on one day how much should it really affect your final grade?

One thing that has never changed about public schools since public schools have existed has been people complaining about public schools.

[shockz]

When I was in high school, the final exam was just that, the final exam. It was a pass or fail. I.e If you got a D-, you passed the class. If you got an F, you failed, no matter what your grades were for each quarter in the year. But the final didn't affect my GPA standing, the overall average of each quarter did. The final was separate from each quarter.

Sounds like this is similar.

My school district had pretty stringent percentiles for grading too, the state eventually got involved after I graduated and standardized them, but back when I was attending, 95% was a A-. Failing was anything less than a 72%. Now I think fails are 59%.

[+Warwagon MVC]

On 04/01/2023 at 11:45, shockz said:

 Failing was anything less than a 72%. Now I think fails are 59%.

I literally think in that school there is no failing. My neice had something like 7 assignments that were just never turned in and they still passed the class. That boggles my mind too.

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

On 04/01/2023 at 13:34, Warwagon said:

I literally think in that school there is no failing. My neice had something like 7 assignments that were just never turned in and they still passed the class. That boggles my mind too.

I used to have a good number of zeros on assignments because never did them but passed the class and that was some 30 years ago. Granted, I would usually have 90 or above on all the tests.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Good Bot, Bad Bot

[shockz]

On 04/01/2023 at 12:45, shockz said:

When I was in high school, the final exam was just that, the final exam. It was a pass or fail. I.e If you got a D-, you passed the class. If you got an F, you failed, no matter what your grades were for each quarter in the year. But the final didn't affect my GPA standing, the overall average of each quarter did. The final was separate from each quarter.

Sounds like this is similar.

My school district had pretty stringent percentiles for grading too, the state eventually got involved after I graduated and standardized them, but back when I was attending, 95% was a A-. Failing was anything less than a 72%. Now I think fails are 59%.

I forgot to add, the first year I was in high school, I got sent to remedial math, Algebra 1, this class was a little different, you didn't have to pass the final to pass the class. Your pass or fail was based on a point system, you needed 4 points to pass the class. Each quarter your grade was worth a set of points. E=0 (my school didn't use F's, they used E's for some reason lol), D=1, C=2, B=3, A=4. The big difference was if you only had 3 points for 4 quarters (i.e you got three D's and one E), but managed to get a D on the final, that counted as 1 point, getting you to four points to pass.

But, if you failed the final, but already had four points from your quarters, you still passed the class. Luckily i managed to have 11 points before that final, but that's the only time back in my day when my school was lenient on final exams.

This was in 2001. I have dreams to this day about this silly class, where I somehow failed the class because I only had three points, and my degress in college were revoked because of it and in the dream I had to go back to high school and pass the class. Wild. haha

Edited January 4, 2023 by shockz

[cork1958]

On 04/01/2023 at 13:46, Good Bot, Bad Bot said:

I used to have a good number of zeros on assignments because never did them but passed the class and that was some 30 years ago. Granted, I would usually have 90 or above on all the tests.

I did just about the same thing. School was always very easy to me so very seldom did homework but pretty much maxed out tests. Shouldn't really say very seldom, but there was a significant amount I never turned in.

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

On 04/01/2023 at 15:11, cork1958 said:

I did just about the same thing. School was always very easy to me so very seldom did homework but pretty much maxed out tests. Shouldn't really say very seldom, but there was a significant amount I never turned in.

Yeah, homework seemed like a waste of time to me and I rarely even studied for tests. I had an unusual system to be prepared for tests. i paid attention in class and DIDN'T take notes. Note talking just means you are not paying attention and most people take bad notes so are of little use later. i doubt my system would work well today with the distraction of mobile phones. I am not a big phone user as an adult but if was a kid today I probably be glued to it like my peers. TBH I have no idea how kids learn anything in class today. Kids should be required to keep their phones in their lockers.

[shockz]

On 04/01/2023 at 15:32, Good Bot, Bad Bot said:

TBH I have no idea how kids learn anything in class today. Kids should be required to keep their phones in their lockers.

They aren’t allowed to use them in class. At least here. The big distraction comes from their chromebooks, but even then school networks are very locked down 

Edited January 4, 2023 by shockz

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

On 04/01/2023 at 16:54, shockz said:

They aren’t allowed to use them in class. At least here. The big distraction comes from their chromebooks, but even then school networks are very locked down 

Being not allowed to use doesn't mean much. Chromebooks are much easier to monitor they are closed and yes school networks are locked down but not mobile networks.

[shockz]

On 04/01/2023 at 21:36, Good Bot, Bad Bot said:

Being not allowed to use doesn't mean much

It does actually.

I consulted for a school district here until about 2018, and they were very stringent on them, I can’t imagine they’ve become lax since then. 

If a student was caught with one after being warned prior to put it away, detention same day, then an in school suspension for ones that were repeat offenders, as well as that school keeping the phone for multiple days if parents consented after being notified.

Phones were usually confiscated on first warning and dropped off to the principals office on first offense until the end of the day and parents notified. Suffice to say not many took the risk after the first couple got caught. 

If a student was caught with one during a test, it was either an immediate suspension and/or Saturday school. 

They were allowed to use them in common areas/lunch halls only.

Schools don’t mess around anymore. The one I worked for had teacher aides alongside teachers watching.

Edited January 5, 2023 by shockz

[neufuse Veteran]

On 04/01/2023 at 04:09, Michael Scrip said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/urban-myth-litter-boxes-schools-became-gop-talking-point-rcna51439

😸

oh gawd, one of our local districts took it so seriously they had investigators hired to figure out what staff put the litter boxes in and sensitivity training...... wasted a ton of money on a rumor that was going all over without realizing it was everywhere.....

On 04/01/2023 at 15:11, cork1958 said:

I did just about the same thing. School was always very easy to me so very seldom did homework but pretty much maxed out tests. Shouldn't really say very seldom, but there was a significant amount I never turned in.

our tests were only ever about 40% of our final grades... 10% was participation in class, 30% homework and 20% projects... could never pass with just tests here

[FosterWest]

I have never seen such messages, although I have two children who are in high school.

[+Good Bot, Bad Bot Subscriber¹]

On 04/01/2023 at 22:27, shockz said:

It does actually.

I consulted for a school district here until about 2018, and they were very stringent on them, I can’t imagine they’ve become lax since then. 

If a student was caught with one after being warned prior to put it away, detention same day, then an in school suspension for ones that were repeat offenders, as well as that school keeping the phone for multiple days if parents consented after being notified.

Phones were usually confiscated on first warning and dropped off to the principals office on first offense until the end of the day and parents notified. Suffice to say not many took the risk after the first couple got caught. 

If a student was caught with one during a test, it was either an immediate suspension and/or Saturday school. 

They were allowed to use them in common areas/lunch halls only.

Schools don’t mess around anymore. The one I worked for had teacher aides alongside teachers watching.

I had to do a little more research to have as much information as possible before replying again since don't have kids in school myself. My finding...

A co-worker of mine's wife is a school teacher. According to her the kids use their phones in class all time. She can stop it when sees it but it's a losing cause. They have the option to take the phone away for repeat offenders but that is not a popular option because most of the kids will freak out. The school has literally gone into lockdown twice over incidents that happened when a phone was taken way. Now this is a public school in the inner city so dealing with a different type of kid and parent.

My wife has a lot friends who have kids in school so I asked if she knows if the kids use their phones a lot in school (mostly sub. She replied yep! I asked how do you know and told me her friends complain their kids are using their phones in class. She added the parents are often texting with their kids while in class aka part of the problem. LOL  I have noticed while parents are all about having rules and discipline in school but when it's their kid they will usually fight tooth and nail if their Johnny or Susie gets in trouble.  When I was kid I would be in trouble with my parents just for being in trouble in school.

I know you consulted with your school district but would they really tell you if the kids were always using their phones while in class if that was the case? Maybe your school is one that has a good handle on phone usage but I have no reason to believe that is common at all. I asked nieces and nephews in the past if they can use their phones in school and they all said are not supposed to but do (which is what my original comments were based on). Unless phones are required to be keep in their lockers I don't know how one teacher in a class can effectively really shut down the use of phones.

[Joe User]

So they're grading on a curve? That's not new or controversial.

I was fortunate enough to have several teachers that required mastery of the subject, so you had tests, but you also had projects and discussions.

If you were failing the tests but doing well on the projects the teacher would have a 1 on 1 and you had a chance to prove your knowledge with what was essentially a verbal test.

But then again, I went to school before 'no test left behind' was implemented.

[briangw]

On 04/01/2023 at 11:45, shockz said:

When I was in high school, the final exam was just that, the final exam. It was a pass or fail. I.e If you got a D-, you passed the class. If you got an F, you failed, no matter what your grades were for each quarter in the year. But the final didn't affect my GPA standing, the overall average of each quarter did. The final was separate from each quarter.

Sounds like this is similar.

My school district had pretty stringent percentiles for grading too, the state eventually got involved after I graduated and standardized them, but back when I was attending, 95% was a A-. Failing was anything less than a 72%. Now I think fails are 59%.

"D" was failing for us, which was less than a 70, back in late 80s/early 90s. My Dad was on top of my education: started taking away various things if I got anything less than a B. One year, I got a C in English at the end of the year and missed out staying with my Grandmother for the summer.