On Sat, 09 Sep 2006 02:42:19 GMT, "nimue"
wrote:
toto wrote:
On 8 Sep 2006 13:06:37 -0400, (Herman
Rubin) wrote:
Parents want their kids to excel in school, and they've heard about
the illegal use of stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall for
"academic doping." Hoping to obtain the drugs legally, they pressure
pediatricians for them. Some even request the drugs after openly
admitting they don't believe their child has ADHD.
I suggest that grades be abolished, except for advisory
purposes. Also, it should be understood that getting a
high grade and learning the important material may well
be at odds with each other.
This is something I agree with. It seems to me that students who
focus on the grades are not focused on learning, but on pleasing the
teacher or doing the minimum to get the grade s/he wants.
Are you a teacher or are you just repeating a myth you have heard? I am a
teacher and I can tell you that kids who get As usually do so because they
love learning. How many times have you heard a kid say, "I failed that
class because it was boring?" What about "I passed that class because it was
fun?" Kids who enjoy learning do well in class. Pretty simple.
I am a teacher and ime, what you say is not true. I've taught both HS
math and preschool. The preschool kids who are *not* graded are
much more interested in learning everything. I grew up in the 60s
when the ungraded systems were going strong though my own school did
not implement them. All the teachers I talked to loved them, but the
administrations did not and the colleges were not very accepting of
them, so they eventually failed except in a few private schools where
they are in place today. My dgd is 4. She is in love with life and
learning and fortunately, she is in a school that she really loves
right now. I am hopeful that she will not have that love of learning
driven out by the school system. Too many kids start off loving to
learn and are turned off by the methods used in traditional schools.
Also, I was one of those kids who did well without much effort all
through K-12. I can't tell you how bored I was with my honors
classes. I often brought a book and read through them (keeping it
well hidden). I finished my work early quite frequently and finished
my homework in school. I worked 4 to midnight as a waitress in my
junior and senior years and still made As for the most part though I
did have a few Bs when I was just too bored to bother doing the
work to my capacity.
It is interesting to me that the younger kids are often much more
eager to learn than the older ones. And, that the kids who want the
grades are *often* focused ONLY on that and not at all on learning the
material for its own sake.
Furthermore, I see nothing wrong with signing up for a
course and then deciding it is not worth completing. I
see nothing wrong with collecting a lot of D's and F's;
the straight-A student tends to be weak and shallow in
the important things.
Again we agree, but the problem is that colleges do NOT want students
who have poor grades.
There's a good reason for that. Kids get low grades because they don't show
up and don't do the work. Why would a college want someone like that?
My dd had a class she earned a C in that she
says was the best class she ever took in her major. She struggled
with it, but learned more than she did in many classes that were
*easy* As for her.
You know, I LOVE learning -- English and history, that is. I love it so
much I couldn't stop and so I became a teacher. There is nothing like
talking about literature all day long -- FUN! As for math and science --
forget about it. NOT my thing. Anyway, I just ate up everything in all my
literature and history courses, but I would have had a heart attack had I
ever received a C. It's possible to love what you are learning and want to
get a high grade as well.
It's possible, but it's not common these days. The competition for
grades to get into college drives the kids much more than any love of
learning.
Note that you probably wanted the grade in math and science, but it
didn't motivate you to actually love the subjects, did it?
I got good grades in all my subjects. I loved math because of the
logic and that is why I majored in math in college and only went into
teaching it later on after I had my own kids and wanted to do
something with children that would also use my math background.
--
Dorothy
There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..
The Outer Limits