Have you ever noticed that when marking all through elementary school they grade you with either an A+, A or A- and so on and so forth with the rest of the letters. I mean thats understandable correct? But why in the world would you have an 'F?'
'F' in school is suppose to mean 'Failure.' First, how is that suppose to help a kid in school by making him feel like a complete idiot that can do nothing right? No wonder suicide rates are so high. Seriously! However that's not my biggest issue at the moment. My question is if 'F' means 'Failure' then what is A, B, C, and D suppose to mean? Acceptable? Basic? Correctable? and Disposable? Grading systems are hard! Letting kids know that they are only mediocre. Mind you high school is not much better but I mean at least then you can take the classes your good at. Now maybe its just me, but all through elementary school I worked my butt off and still only pulled off a C or a D. It makes you feel like an idiot, really if you think about it. Once you get to high school though and your pulling off like 85-90% on projects it makes your feel pretty damn smart!
So whats with this lettering thing? Basically it comes down to the whole fact that elementary school grading is horrible compared to high school. They think they know what their talking about with the whole "Oh you better cursive write cause in high school you won't be able to do anything but cursive writing.' WRONG! They really don't care, most of the time a project is suppose to be typed. However why should we be listening to them in the first place? I mean obviously they don't know their alphabet! A, B, C, D,......F? what the heck happened to 'E?' Why was the grading system not A, B, C, D, E? It would make more sense, especially if 'F' doesn't have a meaning like all the other grading letters, and if it does why is A, B, C and D not special enough to have a meaning?
Anyways that my mind for today, and if it didn't make sense...... you really shouldn't be surprised.
I think there needs to be a 3 tier ranking system.
ReplyDeleteA= acceptable F= Failure, and E= Exceptional
Then you've got work to do, or you're getting the idea and going in the right direction, or BAM! you've got it, and you've got it good.
Totally! The educational system is rooted in an Indutrial Age mentality, and is growing into the Information Age way too slowly.
ReplyDeleteI like this rant! :)
ReplyDeleteWe discussed this, and now it's a blog, I like this blog :D
ReplyDeletehaha, why is it Jess that you never write your name? Is it so that I have to try and guess?
ReplyDeleteMaybe the letters are just easier to understand than a percentile system. I've noticed where most high schools seem to be going toward a 4.0 or 5.0 system and I don't know how it is now, but when I was in college grade was based on the 100% where below 75% was failing.
ReplyDeleteBut you're right--what the heck does A, B, C, and D mean?
Interesting post.