"First, God created idiots. This was for practice. Then He created school boards."
--Mark Twain
We're not so down on school boards as Mr. Twain apparently was. Sure, they make mistakes, as all boards made up of humans will do. But when school boards free themselves from the bonds of union muscle, they mainly do what's best for children.
Mainly.
There is a new fashion, apparently, in the education business. It's called the Minimum Grade. It's all the rage. And we mean rage.
Some school districts insist upon minimum grades. You see, it's so difficult for students to raise a grade in a class in which a "zero" is given. And disappointed students mean disappointed parents who vote. And disappointed students also mean more drop-outs, which means less money to a school district. Combine fear of election loss and fear of money loss, and you're talking real fear among those in office.
Thus, the minimum grade.
Teachers are being pushed to give 50 percent scores instead of zeros when Little Jimmy or Little Jena don't bother to hand in homework or take a test. Because averaging in 50 percents makes a report card look so much better than any average with a number of zeros. The policy might have been conceived as a way to save a percentage of failing students who might quit school entirely if they get too far behind in the early months of, say, 11th grade. But the policy is sending the wrong message, and teachers are beginning to speak out.
If student work, or the absence of student work, cannot be graded as less than 50 percent, then what happens to incentives for learning, incentives for good grades, incentives for study, incentives to work? You might easily guess.
This from The Washington Post: "A national effort to foster equity by easing grading and assignments that might frustrate students has become possibly one of the most divisive educational issues in the country. It has sparked much more concern among teachers than heavily publicized debates over race and sex lessons. . . .
"Parents often don't understand the new rules or are just grateful for less of the homework that can spoil a family's evening. . . . Many administrators and legislators like easier grading because it raises graduation rates, which are becoming the major measure of high schools as support for standardized testing fades."
In some of these minimum grade schools, students can only be assigned a zero if certain conditions are met: If, say, no attempt is made at an assignment, or if there was cheating involved. And sometimes only if "appropriate support and intervention" are provided by the school, which sounds like HR has invaded education. And sometimes even after all that, a zero can be handed out only after two-way communication between student/parent/family and the school has occured.
Which means that the kids and their family can avoid zeros by ignoring calls and emails from the school!
One high school teacher told The Post that the kids are working the system.
Of course they are! That's what kids do. We know some young people who keep up so closely with their grades that they know how many homework assignment they can skip and still get that A.
"I can tell you without hestitation," one teacher said, "that this rule threatens to destroy an entire generation."
Well, that might be hyperbole. But this isn't: Another high school teacher in Maryland said some of her kids enrolled in courses at a local college for advanced credit, and they were "like deer in the headlights" when they discovered that the professors at that college gave out zeros for assignments not turned in.
Wait until they get out of school entirely. Out here in the real world, not doing work has other consequences--worse consequences than a bad mark on a report card.
Grade inflation might be worse than the economic kind. At least the inflation you see in the Business Section will be gone in a few months, or maybe by summer. The inflation we're seeing in our schools today will have repercusions for years to come.