Originally Posted by
Ender
Grades are BS.
Tests mean nothing- I can pass the bar but I don't know a thing about law, so do you want me to be your lawyer? Didn't think so.
The public school system should be abolished, not to mention that many people learn differently. Putting everyone in the same (prison) system & expecting them to all perform exactly the same is even more BS.
^This.
Originally Posted by
tod evans
Let everyone learn however they want but do not judge one groups ability differently from another's.
2+2 equals 4 every time whether you're black white or green.
No participation trophies because you can't identify with the question or don't like the person asking it, no returning to the question later when your big toe doesn't hurt or when your hair is fixed properly.
Esoteric or subjective issues should never count toward "education" in a practical sense.
If these 'schools' want to rewrite their curriculum to favor one group and disparage another then their assessment of ability must be called into question. In my opinion their ethics should too.
And nothing in the OP article posted says anything about favoring one group and disparaging another. Nobody said "Lower the white kids grades" or "raise the black kids grades" in the OP article. You know what's really funny? The Montessori educational system, which is grade-less, was originally designed to improve educational opportunities for poor children. But it's only been adopted (in America anyway) in the private sector and it's mostly well to do white people that send their kids there. The parents that send their kids to Montessori education don't sit around hand-ringing over whether the woman who invented it might have cared about educational disparities among ethnic groups and economic classes. Here is some information on Montessori:
How Montessori Students Are Graded
One of the ways that Montessori students are graded is with constructive criticism and feedback on what they do.
Guidance and encouragement. As the students work, the instructors guide them into a more team-based development. Instead of seeing their performance as their final outcome, the teacher encourages the student to continually improve upon what they have already done. This type of “grading” or evaluation helps the students learn what their needs are so they can work on improving them.
Self-assessment. Another way that the teachers grade their students is by letting them give their own assessments. They give the children the responsibility to find their own best skills as well as the areas that they need improvement. By asking them how they think they are performing, it gives them the opportunity to reflect on their own standards of learning. It inspires them to reach further and learn more.
Positivity Over Negativity
By emphasizing the attention on the children’s strong points before pointing out areas where they can improve, it takes the focus off of what they did “wrong.”
Highlighting what a child is good at while guiding toward opportunity for improvement has a more positive effect than pointing out what is wrong and giving them a bad grade. This encourages positivity and reduces the feelings of guilt that negative criticism causes.
There is an absence of the competition and pressure that can cause stress and anxiety in children who are not ready to learn what is being taught.
The grading in a Montessori school is a way of teaching them how to live their life rather than how to get better grades than their classmates. In fact, the Montessori teachers keep track of the children’s progress and introduce lessons according to their individual needs.
Now does it work? I don't know. Our well to do white neighbors wanted us to send our kids to the local Montessori school but we sent them across town to our church affiliated private school. That school had the traditional grading system that some here seem so wedded to. This modest change in Chicago, which only gets rid of F's from what I can tell, doesn't go nearly as far as Montessori in abolishing grades. They only got rid of the F. So? If your child is really motivated by grades then he or she probably doesn't want to get a D or a C either. Does ANYBODY really think that kids who are getting A's and B's are going to be like "Well.....I can't get an F anymore so I guess I'll just quit studying altogether." Sheesh.
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