Students Are Always Half Right In Pittsburgh 881
Pittsburgh Public Schools officials have enacted a policy that sets 50 percent as the minimum score a student can receive for assignments, tests and other work. District spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said, the 50 percent minimum gives children a chance to catch up and a reason to keep trying. If a student gets a 20 percent in a class for the first marking period, he or she would need a 100 percent during the second marking period just to squeak through the semester. The district and teachers union issued a joint memo to ensure staff members' compliance with the policy, which was already on the books but enforced only at some schools. At this rate, it won't be long before schools institute double extra credit Mondays and Fridays to ensure students don't take three day weekends.
Good Preparation (Score:5, Funny)
"And she said one teacher she knows already worries about how awkward it will look when a student correctly answers three of 10 questions on a math quiz -- and gets a 50 percent."
That's just preparation to work in the American financial sector.
BTW, a decent idle story??? Idle still sucks and quote tag doesn't work???
Ebonics Bring It Back NOW (Score:1, Funny)
I gots to haf ebonics
Re:Good Preparation (Score:5, Funny)
Well, if the student only got 3/10 correct, I wouldn't worry about them figuring out that their grade is off in any measurable way.
Oblig (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:5, Funny)
Lisa: I _have_ to join the team or I'll get an F that will haunt me for the rest of my life.
[in the future, Lisa is being sworn in]
Man: I now pronounce you President of these United --
Reporter: Stop the inauguration! I just discovered our President Elect got an F in second grade gym class!
[crows gasps; Lisa is handcuffed]
Man: In that case I sentence you to a lifetime of horror on Monster Island. [to Lisa] Don't worry, it's just a name.
[Lisa and others are chased by fire-breathing monsters]
Lisa: He said it was just a name!
Man: What he meant is that Monster Island is actually a peninsula.
Re:Good Preparation (Score:5, Funny)
You can't spell nochildleftbehind without "idle".
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:5, Funny)
At my school you could:-) And I did:-) And it was glorious.
Got out of algebra, sex ed, and government because I already knew how to do it all.
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:5, Funny)
I got out of them because I was *able to pass the tests* for all of them. Fixed that for myself:/
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:3, Funny)
Oh wait.. Never mind.
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:3, Funny)
Holy shit! What was the placement exam for skipping sex ed?!
It'd be worth failing, just for the chance to try!
Re:Negative Infinity (Score:5, Funny)
I remember that class.
I said I was -100% confident of one of my first test questions and they gave me a diploma.
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:5, Funny)
Did you pass them with your left hand, or your right?
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:5, Funny)
Anyway, the point is, there are kids who'll use something like that to skate by while doing even less work.
We call them "Executives."
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:5, Funny)
My HS had a BASIC programming class on a WANG.
Sounds like someone's teacher is going to be in the news fairly soon...
Re:Damn public schools (Score:3, Funny)
Yah, leave it to the corporations. You know, the ones that have nothing else but the best interests of the students education in mind... wait a minute...
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:3, Funny)
algebra, sex ed, and government
One of the things is not like the others...
On a side note, I hate idle's font scheme, its layout, and its broken comment box.
Re:I KNEW IT!! (Score:1, Funny)
Peter (Score:1, Funny)
I give the idea 50%
Kills initiative, standards, and will (Score:3, Funny)
So, at what point do we just start handing out diplomas and degrees to newborns? I mean, we would not want them to try and fail at an education; that might scar their delicate self-esteem. At some point in the near future, mediocrity becomes the standard, and there is no initiative to achieve or strive for excellence, because doing so makes you a show-off, elitist, or you take more than your fair share of the accolades.
Timmy got an F, you got an A. Well, let us just average that together and you both get a C+. OMFG.
You know, I have to wonder if all these stupid putzes that pass rules like this ever had problems succeeding as children and are trying to make up for some neurotic after-effects of a childhood of low achievement, or if perhaps they excelled and feel guilty for having done so and this is some kind of catharsis for their academic guilt.
Either way, it is pretty fucked up. More and more I lean towards home-schooling when I finally find a woman who will have sex with me and, $_DEITY willing, bear a child to me that looks suspiciously like the bag-boy at the local Publix.
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:3, Funny)
100 questions T/F like "You can get pregnant your first time" vs all those slideshows of diseased genitalia...hmmm, tough choice. Yeah I studied real hard for that test. Not.
Rotten.com has actually built a business model out of showing people pictures of diseased genitalia.
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:5, Funny)
My experience (as a teacher) is that effort doubles between grades. So a D is twice as much effort to get as an F
Making the assumption that you can earn an F with 0 effort, and then following your logic...
an F is 0 effort => a D is 0 effort => a C is 0 effort => a B is 0 effort => an A is zero effort.
So you're an easy teacher. QED.
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:3, Funny)
I would argue that gym is different than academic courses, and therefore should be graded differently.
I'll take that challenge!! I would argue that you were obviously a 98-lb weakling in high school, and therefore your personal experience with humiliation in aforementioned gym class has prejudiced you beyond the ability to conduct a rational argument. I win.
Ad hominem is an argument. Technically.
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:5, Funny)
Pardon me, but... LOL WUT? Lady Ada and Messr's Babbage, Turing and Godel would like to talk to you before they beat you up and leave you for dead in a bad neighborhood.
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:3, Funny)
I don't see how GOTO is any more/less perverted than COMEFROM, they're both equivalent in expressive power...
Not much of a problem (Score:4, Funny)
Having marked normally the teacher says
politically_correct_score = real_score / 2 + 50;
Or receiving a score the brighter kids can apply
real_score = 2 * (politically_correct_score -50);
This way mediocre Mike can congratulate himself on 55% while brilliant Beryl knows that she has to work harder having scored 75%.
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:1, Funny)
Algebra and sex ed aren't that different. They're both things you need to know how to do and both easy to figure out on your own.
Only up to a certain level of competence. Then, in order to improve on your skills, you need to consult other experts as sparring partners, and come up with new methods and theories.
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:5, Funny)
I cheated - I got the girl at the next desk to do it.
Re:Or more reasonable policies (Score:2, Funny)
Algebra and sex ed aren't that different. They're both things you need to know how to do and both easy to figure out on your own.
"Mom? Dad? Remember when my girlfriend and I were doing our algebra homework in my room a few months ago? Well . . . We did one of the problems wrong, and, well . . ."