"Failure is impossible for High School Students! (No Really!)" A news article about the grade system

[sheic99]

What's the big deal. My school already uses the an "I", it's reserved for the real fuck-ups who can't get more than 40%. They're just bumping it up a bit.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

I think George Carlin explains my feelings on this.

 

[Delta 3 Actual]

Who cares, high school is what you make of it. If you are an idiot, you don't go to college. If you're smart, you go to a good college and get a good job.

What motivates you?

That is the way the system is designed but these days, as long as you pass high school you can go to a junior college (which is essentially high school for adults) and still get a degree, all based on the previous assumption you were able to pass high school.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

Pirate Kitty is right -- some people really do have lots of trouble in school no matter what they do. I don't believe this is the norm for people who fail out, but in these people's case, they should be getting special teaching or else training in something they're better at. Many people who aren't good at straight-up school have skill in other areas (crafting things, art, music, what have you). These people should be treated with respect and helped in whatever way is best.

The people who just laze around and don't care -- those are the ones I don't respect.

 

[ThreeDogsToaster]

If you got an F, you meant to get an F, it was not because you were just mentally incapable of doing any better, it's because you didn't try

No. Some people are simply not terribly bright.

To say that it is because they didn't try is to spit in their face.

Again, the U.S education system is practically designed so that you cannot be stupid enough to fail it. Some people may not be at all academically inclined and thus fail classes and the like, but that is still a matter of effort, not intelligence, regardless of weather or not it's a matter of the culture in which they exist or possibly just a rejection of the whole idea of academics.

EDIT: And regardless, if you are in fact not of the mental capacity to be able to pass your high school classes, there are generally programs for you in public schools, although the prevalence of the programs I do not know, as I do not attend public high school.

 

[Slick Samurai]

Doesn't really matter what they call an "F" these days. So long as a student gets out of high school, he can skip college and still have a decent chance at landing a good job. High School graduates get such a bad reputation.

 

[Zenode]

We didnt have F grades at my School we had E Grade instead

A - Top Students
B - Slightly above average
C - Average
D - Below Average
E - Your retarded

It still indicated the same thing that basically you fail at life and/or that particular class

 

[General Vagueness]

Marking with an I already existed and it has a place, it's for when a student hasn't done the necessary amount of work for a grade to be fairly figured, and even then often, if not usually, it's because of something that isn't the student's fault, as opposed to simply refusing to do it. There's no good reason to change it.

 

[Drexlor]

I'll probably have a different opinion then most people on this. You see, if it were up to me, I either wouldn't have any sort of conventional, standardized, linear grading system, or at least one that is forgiving and doesn't have a huge impact, with other methods of evaluation that encourage and nurture intellectual growth be focused on instead that create a more positive, organic atmosphere in school.

But that's just my super-idealistic-never-gonna-happen viewpoint that I don't need to get into.

But there are some more practical benefits to such a grading system. I remember back a few years ago I took Spanish class, and I really hated it, and quickly fell behind the rest of the class, and my grade suffered greatly. The more my grade dropped, the more depressed I got about the class, the more hopeless the whole thing felt, and I more I felt like just saying "fuck it." And eventually, I did, because even if I worked ridiculously hard, my chances of getting a decent grade, or even passing the class, were slim.

My point is, the threat of not failing the class would have taken much of the pressure and depression out of that situation. I think it may have benefited, although I can't say for certain, and I definitely can't say for other people.

But school is stressful, and I think our growing focus on strict grading and standardized testing is frightening. People don't need constant threats of failure, not achieving, low test scores and people being disappointed in them to learn. People learn all of the time when they develop a love and passion for it, yet that's exactly what our public school system is taking out of learning: The fun, the passion and the exploration. They have turned learning into a chore, a job that needs to be done - or else you won't be successful.

I say we shouldn't be afraid to experiment with different methods of education, learning and grading, because, obviously our current ones are failing the students.

I'm speechless. I could not agree more. As long as schools fail to provoke interest in the students, education will not work.

 

[thepyrethatburns]

This will only further exacerbate the increasing levels of depression and other mental illnesses in people between ages 22-30.

One thing Millennials can be reliably counted upon to do in life is fall apart at the first sign of adversity. It makes them impossible to manage, difficult to work with, and not worth a damn when they become "adults" (and I use the term loosely).

Mostly QFT. I hate to sound like my parents did when I was that age but, sometimes, it does build character to let someone land on their face. Millennials in the U.S. are facing a future where the U.S. is in decline and it's going to take a lot of hard work to turn it around. Letting kids experience hardship and failure in small doses helps prepare them for a future which will be largely characterized as "Sink or Swim". Coddling them until they get out of high school leaves them ill-prepared for the hard slap across the face that the real world will continually deliver on a regular basis.

 

[DPutna17]

I didn't think this was anything new. At my high school you if your percentage is less than 50% you get an "I" and if you fail to catch up by the end of the term it is changed to "F" and that becomes your final grade.

 

[Tsaba]

Let the people who dont do work fail and drop out. I have nothing but contemp for them. If you put in even the slightest effort you will be able to scrape by with a D. In my school you do the work you get (usually) at least a C. If you're smart you get an A. Especially in high school kids should learn that you have to work to suceed. No Fs just pushes them farther from reality and just sets them up for a crash either in Colledge or IRL. (I'm in 9th grade btw)

Lol@tehfreshmen. NOOB.

I worked 40 hour weeks starting my sophomore year and I did homework at school in my classes unless it was a long report I had to type out, I graduated with a B average, and I graduated 6 years ago, I think I spent more time playing my PS2 than I did reading my school books, the stuff is so freaking easy and is nothing but a bunch of senseless dribble. Right before I graduated they started to go to a multiple choice system which just made it that much easier. High school was a joke then and it sounds more so now.

 

[scorptatious]

I think George Carlin explains my feelings on this.

Wow, that was hilarious. Thanks for posting this vid.

This guy does make some good points as well, imagine what someone will feel growing up thinking he's special, than find he really isn't special somewhere in his 20's?

 

[Double A]

I think it's a bunch of bull, and schools are trying to protect kids from the real world as much as possible, until it painfully smashes into their face and leaves them with a nosebleed.

 

[scorptatious]

We didnt have F grades at my School we had E Grade instead

A - Top Students
B - Slightly above average
C - Average
D - Below Average
E - Your retarded

It still indicated the same thing that basically you fail at life and/or that particular class

Not to mention it's consistent! F doesn't come after D! I thought we learned that in preschool practically!

 

[lacktheknack]

Quite frankly, I would have done better in school if the teachers ranted at me about how much I suck each time I got a "D".

Oh yeah, there is no "F" in Alberta, it bottoms out at "D" (which is technically a fail anyways, they're fooling no one).

 

[Nexus424]

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/momentsofmotherhood/failure-is-impossible-for-high-school-students-no-really-2410739/

Basically, this one school has decided to replace the "F" grade with the letter "I" for Incomplete. The reason why they did this is because they believe it can get students to "learn their lesson and catch up over the year." Naturally, there are people who oppose this new system and say it just coddles the students, making them believe that school and grades aren't a big deal.

The thing I'm confused about is the "I" grade supposedly convincing students to catch up. Isn't that what the "F" grade was basically designed for? From what I see, all you're doing is changing the letter of the absolute worst grade you can get, how is that going to change anything?

What do you guys think?

You know what I think...I'm pissed that they did this 3Years after I effin' left West Potomac...That would made me way more laidback...Deadlines kill as much as they help FOR ME...This would have worked perfectly FOR ME...but would most likely would screw other kids but I don't care about them.

 

[Abengoshis]

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/momentsofmotherhood/failure-is-impossible-for-high-school-students-no-really-2410739/

Basically, this one school has decided to replace the "F" grade with the letter "I" for Incomplete. The reason why they did this is because they believe it can get students to "learn their lesson and catch up over the year." Naturally, there are people who oppose this new system and say it just coddles the students, making them believe that school and grades aren't a big deal.

The thing I'm confused about is the "I" grade supposedly convincing students to catch up. Isn't that what the "F" grade was basically designed for? From what I see, all you're doing is changing the letter of the absolute worst grade you can get, how is that going to change anything?

What do you guys think?

The absolute worst grade you can get here is a "U" which is where you've done so unbelievably bad at a subject they thought they needed to give you a grade which said you've done pretty much nothing.