It’s terrible that kids have to face challenges like hunger and poverty. I believe in universal free lunch, and find it abhorrent the way this basic human rights issue has been politicized. I find it abhorrent that there are disparities in access to quality education. None of that changes the fact that people need skills to be employable, get accepted to a legitimate college, etc. Making school easy with squishy standards is not doing anyone a kindness. It’s preparing people for a life of mediocrity.
Readit NewsNoam Chomsky went to a Deweyite high school with no grading and turned out more than fine (he actually enjoyed it). I am opposed to grading, I would replace it with a levelling system - you would have to show certain proficiency to gain a level.
I think that’s a great idea. I’m not necessarily advocating for a strict grading scale, just an objective yardstick for gauging progress towards achieving proficiency in critical subjects like math, language arts, etc.
Rising class sizes, a ever expanding college-industrial-complex, and income inequality necessitating very specific career decisions, stop this I think.
Education-first initiatives don't seem to be popular in American politics.
Great point. It brings to mind an aphorism from Charlie Munger: “Show me the incentive, and I’ll show you the outcome”
A decade ago my high school had two buckets:
* students in mostly AP classes who were college bound
* students in no AP classes who were mostly not college bound, or were at least limited to community colleges and state schools (Which are great choices! But often have lower success rates and career outcomes)
For the AP students grades were a joke because all the teachers would happily give out extra credit to any student who wanted it, all in the name of college admissions.
For everyone else grades were a joke because all the students cared about was passing, and teachers REALLY wanted students to graduate, and would give grade bumps to any student who needed it.
I believe most schools suffer from this sort of grade inflation, to the point that grades are at best useful for loose categorization (i.e. A+ students, A-C students, F students) and thats it. It never was and never will be a true meritocracy at scale.
That’s unfortunate. Twenty years ago I attended high school in a working class suburb. I was fortunate to get selected into a gifted program and had teachers who challenged me to work hard and overcome my surrounding. Changed my life and inspired a career as a data scientist and entrepreneur. I hope the younger generation can have the benefit of adults who care enough about them to challenge them to succeed, because the real world does not grade on the curve.
I’m sure every generation feels like the next is going to turn the world to hell… but what the hell? I find it absolutely bonkers that gifted classes, math, homework and objective performance assessments are suddenly under fire as instruments perpetuating inequality. Does our education system leave much to be desired? Absolutely! Let’s pay teachers more and improve access to quality education for all students, not cognitively handicap the next generation.
"Black Americans receive about 7 percent of the doctoral degrees awarded each year across all disciplines, but they have received just 1 percent of those granted over the last decade in mathematics."
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/us/edray-goins-black-math...
And this is the current production! You don't want to see the statistics regarding the number of African American faculty members in mathematics!
So what else is our current system perpetuating besides inequality? What exactly are we "weeding out" in calculus? Or college algebra?
We don't let kids trust themselves intellectually in the classroom.