High school D grades may be eliminated

[jerry]

The Daily Journal's August 22, 2006 <a href="http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=63152&eddate=08/22/2006" TARGET=BLANK>article</a> by Heather Murtagh about SM Union High School's possible elimination of D grades is commented on by <a href="http://www.bloggingbaby.com/2006/08/23/no-more-sliding-by-with-a-d/"TARGET=BLANK> Blogging Baby</a>.

And <a href="http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?type=opinions&id=63218"TARGET=BLANK>here</a> is the Daily Journal's editorial on the topic.

[cynthialstern]

If it's implemented, that should (at least one hopes so!) stop all of the whining about kids who "passed" all of their classes and yet could not pass the exit exams.

I've always suspected that "passed" often meant "didn't get an 'F'," and, furthermore, that "didn't get an 'F'" meant that the teacher was wheedled, pleaded with, and/or pressured by the student and/or his/her parents. Maybe the kid did an extra-credit project to make up for not having learned the material so as to get a 'D' instead of an 'F'."

In any case, employers want to know that certification means that a certain level of achievement and understanding of coursework has taken place, not that the student "tries really, really hard, and learned just about enough to ALMOST pass the coursework."

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It's been a very long time since I worked, but I used to do basic office-type accounting. --Nothing fancy, mind you: I never even tried to pass the CPA exam, and I'd never try to pass myself off as being competent to be a CFO or suchlike. I know what I can and can't do, and I know what would be a stretch and would require a "learning curve," and if a potential employer wants someone who doesn't have to be trained, then I feel that honesty is the best policy. But that is, apparently, not so with the vast majority of people, at least not in my own experience. While I was on my last job, my boss asked me to pre-screen all job applicants. I devised a basic, written test that could have been passed by anyone who was competent with elementary school-level math and knowledge of a few bookkeeping-related business terms. There was one accounts payable question, one accounts receivable question, one payroll question, and one general ledger question. Each of the questions tested the ability to do a typical job that one might encounter in that very office. Well, you would not believe the number of people who (supposedly) had college degrees and lots of work experience who couldn't pass this simple test. (And I'd gotten the idea of testing applicants from my former boss, who'd had similar results when he'd tested people--so the problem was not with my test--it was with the quality of job applicants-in-general.) A lot of them talked a good talk. And a lot of them had impressive-looking resumes, as well (which they could have paid someone else to type up for them--and they probably DID!). But, when it came down to doing the actual job, few people were capable of doing it. We finally hired one person who was a foreign-born minority and another who was your basic U.S.-born WASP model--the former having scored slightly better on the test than the latter. Both turned out to be very good at their jobs, with little need for training or "hand-holding."

And that anecdote just caused me to remember an incident in which I had been given a pre-interview competency test. I was hired, RELUCTANTLY, because that firm had been ordered by the "Feds" to hire more minorities. But no one else had been able to pass what was a simple test. And it was a double-whammy on me, too, because the boss was a self-hating fat person who turned his own fat-hatred onto ME, and working for him was miserable. IOW, that company, and that boss, would have preferred to have hired ANYONE BUT ME...but the schools apparently weren't up to turning out anyone who was capable of handling a relatively easy job that required simple math and English skills.

[PayTheMan]

Instead of removing D why not just remove the F grade? A D grade might as well equal an F grade in the eyes of colleges.

[Diamond Dog]

Instead of removing D why not just remove the F grade? A D grade might as well equal an F grade in the eyes of colleges.

Grades are stupid. They reflect a student's ability to get good grades, as opposed to any tru sign of intelligence or competence. Grades teach kids how to jump through hoops and become little yes men and yes women, a good thing maybe back in the 1950's but not so good in today's uncertain world.

[cynthialstern]

From that POV, DD, there is no point whatsoever in going to school, except to be socialized by "the establishment."
Or at least that's how I interpret what you're saying.
And, although my POV differs from yours, I won't say that you're wrong.

[Roscoe_Beedle]

I'll say it; Diamond Dog is wrong. How else do we gauge how well a student has absorbed any material? I could also point out that the standards for passing in the 1950's was well ahead of where we are today.

No grades? Then what do we do? Listen to a student give an oral report? How would this prove one to the study of the written word or a algebraic equation? And some students work harder and are smarter than other students. How to rate them?

It is apparent by DD's statement that the education system is at a crises. We seem to have problems with even the most elemental purposes of education. No grades indeed.

There's an old trusim that applies here. You expect a lot and you get a lot. You expect nothing and you receive nothing. Setting the bar lower and lower is not the answer folks.

[havebookwillteach]

After 35 years' teaching, I'd like to opine that schools can offer many tremendous benefits for students (kids and adults alike!). Like so many
other aspects of life, however, the participant has to take it seriously to
really get what it can provide. Allowing for an occasional difficult situation, students who are getting D marks are almost certainly not getting what the school could offer them. We need to ask why. More to the point, any such student needs to ask why, too. Something in the situation is not working out well. D grades are signals -- that something needs to be improved. In this respect, a D grade can be very helpful and should not be abandoned.
There are numerous folks signing up for college courses who are, in reality, not prepared for them. The problem has to be examined and repaired long before the university or community college level. "Remedial sections" on college campuses can help but are really very, very late responses. As soon as a child brings home a D (or C) report card, the parents should involve themselves to ascertain a solution right then, on a timely basis. (Indeed, they are already somewhat late!)
At College of San Mateo, we have an open-door policy. Everybody is welcomed to campus. The faculty, many of whom have years and years of teaching experience, really works hard to help people succeed. CSM is signing up people right now for the Fall term, which begins in August. There are many good courses in Business, Real Estate, Computers, English, History, and many, many more subjects. The website for enrollments and further information is www.collegeofsanmateo.edu. Again, all are welcome. If you feel you may not be fully prepared for a class, see if the professor is on campus or reachable by email and ask. Or, get a copy of the text(s) and read into them as far as you can before the term begins. A real hint to success on campus is just this: if you get far enough ahead of the lectures, you will have a very, very difficult time indeed ever falling behind!
Hope that helps.