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Graduation
Jeff Utz wrote in message ... My cousin had his a few weeks ago. It was pretty nice. When the kids walked in descending order of GPA for those who got honors and highest honors (those who did not get honors came in alphabetical order after those with honors). I liked this. It let those who worked harder stay near the front. High grades does not equal working harder. No one works harder than my daughter and she will never be a consistent A student. My son does nothing at all and gets As. I would rather see her honored for her effort. |
#2
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Graduation
Kevin Karplus writes:
There is very little public recognition given to students who do well academically (unlike sports stars or cheerleaders). Why take away the very small recognition they do get (in this case getting their degrees a minute or two earlier)? There is very little public recognition given to children who are taller than their peers. Should we give them prizes based on their height? David desJardins |
#3
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Graduation
Jeff Utz writes:
When the kids walked in descending order of GPA for those who got honors and highest honors (those who did not get honors came in alphabetical order after those with honors). I liked this. It let those who worked harder stay near the front. Do you really think there's a positive correlation between working harder and getting better grades? If there is such a correlation, it's very weak. I'm not even sure that the correlation isn't negative in many cases (i.e., the brightest kids don't have to work hard at all, to get good grades). David desJardins |
#4
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Graduation
x-no-archive:yes David desJardins wrote:
Kevin Karplus writes: There is very little public recognition given to students who do well academically (unlike sports stars or cheerleaders). Why take away the very small recognition they do get (in this case getting their degrees a minute or two earlier)? There is very little public recognition given to children who are taller than their peers. Should we give them prizes based on their height? No they get basketball scholarships. (Or bugged to play basketball) There are lots of things that aren't recognized in school and the things that are recognized (perfect attendance) may not be worthwhile. My kids did things OUT of school that weren't recognized and I doubt if they should have been. They were recognized in their own venues. One daughter was a high point winner at Preliminary level (one star international event) for her region and she got a trophy for that - why should she get extra HS recognition as well? Her reward was in competing well. One daughter graduated 3rd in the class and got an appointment to the USAFA (Air Force Academy). It wasn't even mentioned at the ceremony. [When she went to apply for admission to the Naval Academy (her first choice) the person in the guidance office (not the counselor BTW - just a facilitator) asked if it was a 4 year school. They'd never heard of it. This is somewhat surprising since we live in Maryland in the same state as the Naval Academy.] grandma Rosalie |
#5
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Graduation
On Wed, 2 Jul 2003 18:45:48 EDT, "Rosalie B."
wrote: As a middle school teacher I had to grade on effort expended. In elementary school the kids were graded on whether they achieved grade level standards. In middle school it was were they 'working up to their potential' whatever we perceived their potential to be. I thought this was a horrible idea. The kids who were bright and didn't have to work were given poor grades for getting the material easily and the kids who worked hard but couldn't get it were given good grades because they tried. Then when they got to hs, they went back to strict numerical grades - if you didn't get the numbers you didn't get the grades. I thought this was very confusing for the kids. I don't think it did anything for their 'self-image' to go from 'If you work hard you will succeed' to 'If you don't get 65% on your test you will fail'. It didn't inspire the bright kids to work harder for sure. The year that I finished primary school was the year they decided to not award a Dux of the school but instead a "Most Improved" student. Considering that I'd topped my class (there were only 2 classes in each year group) every year of primary school I had a great chance of getting dux but absolutely no chance of getting most improved. It's no fairer a way to grade than the other and can actually do some damage to students if they decide to go the other way and not work at all because you don't get any reward for it. This is in effect what I did and my end of high school results suffered for it. Cheryl |
#6
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Graduation
In article ,
Rosalie B. wrote: x-no-archive:yes "Mary Ann" wrote: Jeff Utz wrote in message ... My cousin had his a few weeks ago. It was pretty nice. When the kids walked in descending order of GPA for those who got honors and highest honors (those who did not get honors came in alphabetical order after those with honors). I liked this. It let those who worked harder stay near the front. High grades does not equal working harder. Agreed, and the above came out as poorly worded, IMO. However, I do think that graduation is a perfectly appropriate occasion for giving some recognition to those who have achieved high grades. As a middle school teacher I had to grade on effort expended. In elementary school the kids were graded on whether they achieved grade level standards. In middle school it was were they 'working up to their potential' whatever we perceived their potential to be. I thought this was a horrible idea. The kids who were bright and didn't have to work were given poor grades for getting the material easily and the kids who worked hard but couldn't get it were given good grades because they tried. This reminds me of high school where a math teacher put a comment on my report card to the effect that I wasn't putting forth much effort in her class. They had eliminated the enriched level classes at this grade level and I was dying of boredom in this class. I would have killed to have been given even a shred of work that would have required some effort on my part. Since the teacher acknowledged that she wasn't providing any opportunity for me to make an effort, I wondered what the point of the comment was! Acknowledging when a student is making an exceptional effort even though the results don't necessarily show it is a good thing. Pointing out when little effort is expended because the requirements don't stretch the student's abilities seems silly to me. It is more a comment on the inadequacy of the course for the individual student than anything else. --Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/93 and Matthew 6/96 and Evan 3/01) |
#7
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Graduation
"Mary Ann" wrote in message ... Jeff Utz wrote in message ... My cousin had his a few weeks ago. It was pretty nice. When the kids walked in descending order of GPA for those who got honors and highest honors (those who did not get honors came in alphabetical order after those with honors). I liked this. It let those who worked harder stay near the front. High grades does not equal working harder. No one works harder than my daughter and she will never be a consistent A student. My son does nothing at all and gets As. I would rather see her honored for her effort. I know what you mean. At least at my cousin's graduation, I think the majority of the people at the front of the line worked hard to get there (I know my cousin worked hard to get where he was, but, given his talents, if he worked harder, he would have been closer to the front of the line.) Not all. But academic achievement is what it is all about. And when it comes to measuring academic achievement, grades are what count. I do like the suggestion of you honoring her for her hard work. She earned it. Jeff |
#8
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Graduation
"Kevin Karplus" wrote in message
... In article , Mary Ann wrote: SNIP High grades does not equal working harder. No one works harder than my daughter and she will never be a consistent A student. My son does nothing at all and gets As. I would rather see her honored for her effort. Then you should so honor her. There is very little public recognition given to students who do well academically (unlike sports stars or cheerleaders). Why take away the very small recognition they do get (in this case getting their degrees a minute or two earlier)? -- Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels) Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed) Professor of Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics Affiliations for identification only. NOT TRUE, look at all the scholarships good grades can get you! speaking from experience, I worked very hard in college, I was also working full time and a mother to 5 and 7 yo kids, with NO help from my then husband. I got decent grades, but not A's, therefore, scholarships for me were few and far between, even though I was struggling to do well. not to mention my present husband, who did hardly any work (as did the prev. poster's daughter) and yet they get great grades... just doesn't seem fair to me... Edith nak |
#9
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Graduation
x-no-archive:yes
"E" wrote: snip NOT TRUE, look at all the scholarships good grades can get you! speaking from experience, I worked very hard in college, I was also working full time and a mother to 5 and 7 yo kids, with NO help from my then husband. I got decent grades, but not A's, therefore, scholarships for me were few and far between, even though I was struggling to do well. not to mention my present husband, who did hardly any work (as did the prev. poster's daughter) and yet they get great grades... just doesn't seem fair to me... Edith nak College grades are about giving the professors what they ask for. Whether you have to work hard for them or not is immaterial. Grant and scholarship money may be dependent on grades, but just grades will not get you money. My son is currently trying to get his degree, working full time (more than a 40 hour week on second shift so he can go to school) and is a father to two kids - his wife is working so he's responsible for the kids to a great degree. He's having figure out how to get his own funding too, and he gets grants etc. and he changed jobs so he could get reimbursement from his employer too. Lots of people have BTDT. So I see nothing wrong or unfair about an academic institution rewarding persons who do well under their guidelines with recognition for having done well. Why would they do otherwise? It's neither a popularity contest or a deservability contest. It's about academic achievement. grandma Rosalie |
#10
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Graduation
"Marijke" wrote in message ... "Louise" wrote in message ... Does anyone else have a school graduation in the family this year? Any stories to tell? Here we are now parents of a high school graduate! The ceremony was last night. They wore caps and gowns over their dress clothes, which I've never seen before at a high school but which gave them the We're doing this next year. Our 3 children go to 2 different schools, but I don't think that they "do" the cap thing, only the gown. I know when I graduated from HS 25 yrs ago, it was gown only too. Marijke, in Montreal but the cap (with tassel) is the best part... throwing it, etc... Edith |
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