Are Students Coddled? Schools Get Rid of 'F's

reply to post by deadline527


A LOT of it depends on the school when considering difficulty. Minnesota is known for some of the "best" schools and education systems but in the suburb I went to school in, it sucked and most kids had a similar impression. They worked to prepare the students for Harvard pretty much, lol. So they make it a pain in the butt and people have an awful time in school. College has been many, many times easier for me when compared to my experiences in the public education system.

Comparing, I have cousins that live out in the country and they all got A's in middle and high school and when they got to college, it's a huge increase in difficulty for them.

Saying a blanket statement like, "All students these days are coddled" is stupid. And these are the people that know how to fix the education system? Right....next opinion please. What makes people think they are the end all, be all, when it comes to fixing each person's individual educational needs? Broad statements and plans are sure nice and easy to type out, but try applying that to a single person because that's what you're dealing with when it comes to education, individual students.

What bugs me is that we judge a student's educational progress without the consideration of the student's desire in the matter. What is the purpose of the school and education system to be honest? Is it happiness, is it numbers, is it even relevant to their life? Students are tired of being grouped into one and managing their way through a rigid, impersonal system.

[edit on 10-12-2008 by ghaleon12]

Originally posted by HunkaHunka
reply to post by asmeone2

 

I'd argue that it's not the students who are being coddled, but the teachers.

If you get rid of F's, there is no way to measure the result of the teacher.

Teachers should be fired when they don't perform well, and given raises when they do. Until that occurs, expect more of the same.

Then you'd be making an argument based on ignorance. Think about it, if a teacher was paid by the performance of their students grades, then guess who's grades would all go up. If you based their pay on the performance of students on standardized testing, then teachers would teach to the test and insure that the students received higher test scores so they would get paid more.

The bottom line is that teachers teach to the state standards of any given subject. Student expectations are set at the beginning so that everyone knows what they are responsible for in order to pass the class. When the students choose to fail they should be held accountable for their actions and not given credit. They already have a second chance anyways...it's called Summer School.

Originally posted by asmeone2

Sorry but at the graduate level that isn't an excuse. They know the deadlines months in advance and at that age they should know better than to take on more than they can chew anyway.

Isn't an excuse? clearly you've never had to do it, I dont know what its like in the US but in the UK the deadlines arn't known months in advance, more like 1 week or 2 depending on the size of the assignment, sometimes work takes priority over college, and the lecturers at college understand this.

Originally posted by xbranscombex
This guy shares my EXACT viewpoint..

www.youtube.com...



This guy always says it best...
Hilarious, and true.

That was the coolest thing i ever seen on this topic, thanks for posting that.


Not one line

Just to add... In the UK, an F is not the lowest grade you can receive.

A*
A
B
C
D
F
U

We lose the plus and minus once serious grades are involved such as GCSE and A level. F is the same as it is from America, a fail. But if you do very badly you may get a U, or ungraded.

I really can't believe America is changing the F in held...

my previous comment hasn't gotten any stars or responses....
I'm not bitter, because i don't care that much, but the fact that I haven't received any accolades actually supports what i was saying. That no one has the cajones to own up to the real problem...THERES TOO MANY KIDS! i can tell everyone in this thread was educated by the same system they are knocking...

foolish humans....

[edit on 11-12-2008 by liquidsmoke206]

Originally posted by Finn1916

Originally posted by xbranscombex
This guy shares my EXACT viewpoint..

www.youtube.com...



This guy always says it best...
Hilarious, and true.

That was the coolest thing i ever seen on this topic, thanks for posting that.


Not one line

All his videos make sense..

You wanna know why we are in a recession? THE MEDIA.
Why Barack won? THE MEDIA

LET WALL STREET BURN

My daughter was on the high honor roll all through school. She discovered scholarships are no longer available and student loans will put her into debt before she even knows whether or not she will get a job. The company she had her eye on packed up and shipped to Mexico. The company I work for just did a company wide cut in pay and my boyfriend has been laid off from a company he has been with since he graduated high school. Her last grade report showed all F's. I asked her what's going on. She said "what's the point?". By the time she graduates, there will be no place to work anyways that will pay enough to live on. She says she may as well cut out the middle man and go straight to work flipping burgers. All I could tell her was that I would like to add more high honor roll notices from the paper into her scrap book and put her diploma in a fancy frame to hang on the wall.

Could there be an epidemic of disillusionment in our future generations? and the schools offering second chances are merely responding appropriately to the lack of motivation because really... what do our children have to look forward to once they graduate? It has already been proven that hard work gets you nowhere but cut in pay or unemployed.

Does anyone have the answer as to why our children should not get second chances in school? What do they have to look forward to that will motivaate them to make good grades?

Darn right they are!When i went to school if you failed you repeated the grade.Time to bring that back.Increase the driving age to 19 since the message of not drinking and driving isnt getting through.

Originally posted by Justice11
Darn right they are!When i went to school if you failed you repeated the grade.Time to bring that back.Increase the driving age to 19 since the message of not drinking and driving isnt getting through.

Huh? On drinking and driving, it's going to happen no matter what. You might as well raise it to 30 if you want people to get that through people's heads.

As for some more thoughts on this whole H/F thing? It's not that bad in the long run. When college's get transcripts they still see they originally failed the class, you still know you failed it, you have to spend your summer trying to re-correct a mistake. I'm much more concerned over schools getting rid of things like Algebra, Physics, and Chemistry from required classes.

Originally posted by liquidsmoke206
my previous comment hasn't gotten any stars or responses....
I'm not bitter, because i don't care that much, but the fact that I haven't received any accolades actually supports what i was saying. That no one has the cajones to own up to the real problem...THERES TOO MANY KIDS! i can tell everyone in this thread was educated by the same system they are knocking...

foolish humans....

[edit on 11-12-2008 by liquidsmoke206]

Yeah or maybe we just don't agree

I think it is BS that we seem to avoid putting these kids to goals and we never make them winners when they win and we don't help them when they lose...guess what kids...you DO lose sometimes...learn to grow up and take responsibility...own your loss and make it a win again...yeah I went to summer school once...once...did it one time...lost my summer and never failed again

-Kyo

A student with autism who does not take formal classes is ranked sixth in my class. I have a 4.3 GPA, and I get no recognition. When I did no homework, I had a 3.6. If you do the work, hand it in, you will pass classes at my school.

The administration is quick to deny graduating credits if a student is late to class or misses school enough times. However, as a second semester Senior, I am taking 7 classes and was threatened that I would not graduate unless I took more classes than everybody else.

But if you take all general level classes, and you take the ones that you are "told" to rather than interested in (electives, even academic electives like Anatomy or Psychology), then you will graduate perfectly fine.

Poor me did an independent study and took more math classes, science classes, literature classes and electives than I needed to, and needed to continue taking classes that I don't really need. I will graduate with about 30 credits and I need 23, but if I do not take these classes now I will not graduate.

Oh, and because of NCLB in my school, students with "plans" can go to the resource room and get assistance from teachers and computers on homework, quizzes, and tests. Hence the students who don't have to do work because of whatever reason or students who have extra help getting better GPAs than students who do lots of work.

A friend of mine is a teacher. The other day he passed out quizes to his students. After they were distributed, one kid got up, brought the quiz back up to the teachers desk and threw it down and announced to the class "I'm not going to take this."

Under the current school administration rules, it's almost impossible for the teacher to give the student a zero on that quiz. Forms have to be filled out; parents have to be contacted; meetings with subject coordinators or deans of the school have to be held. All when it's clearly obvious if the kid doesn't take the test, he deserves a zero on it.

That's messed up.