Failing Is Not an Option, but No-Zero Grading Is

As if adding Common Core to the nation’s standardized education system was not damaging enough to our dumbed down indoctrination system, progressive academics are now pushing to eliminate a failing grade.

Washington Post wrote that, in Maryland, “Prince George’s County is weighing in changes that would soften its stance towards late work and bar teachers from giving students zeroes for assignments.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/is-it-becoming-too-hard-to-fail-schools-are-shifting-toward-no-zero-grading-policies/2016/07/05/3c464f5e-3cb0-11e6-80bc-d06711fd2125_story.html

As Washington Post reported, “The county has long languished as one of the worst-performing school districts in the state, but it has seen modest improvement in a number of academic measures in recent years.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/high-school-graduation-rates-fall-in-prince-georges-county-but-improve-statewide/2013/10/30/0fb73298-417f-11e3-a751-f032898f2dbc_story.html

Progressive are now wrestling with the idea of socially-engineering school grades to help with the social promotion of more students because academics, in their finite wisdom, cannot decide if grades should show:

1.      Punishment

2.      Motivation

3.      Representation of what a student has learned or not learned in class.

In Virginia’s Fairfax County Schools, one of the largest school systems in our nation, a new policy dictates that no middle and high school students can earn a lower score of 50 if “they make a reasonable attempt to complete work.” The problem is, who decides what is ‘reasonable attempt,’ what is the exact definition, and how will it be measured.

How subjective will this evaluation be and what do the rest of the students think who have actually done their work on time and how does it devalue their efforts? In the end, why try at all if failing students will be passed anyway?

High school teachers, who were going to fail a student, had to reevaluate the grade by using “quality points,” changing an F into something else, less damaging to the student. In other words, let’s give Johnny an award for just walking across the stage without tripping too many times.

In Prince George’s County in Maryland, administrators are limiting failing grades to 50 percent minimum when the student shows a “good-faith effort,” another subjective evaluation. What is “good faith?”

Educators who have contributed continuously to the demise of our education system believe that rewarding failure actually helps students climb out of mathematical doom and prevent them from dropping out before graduation. What is the point of graduating someone who has learned precious nothing, can barely read or write, but was socially promoted?

Good teachers know that grades can be a wonderful tool to motivate a student to try harder, to be more diligent, and thus prepare them for college and work. Hiding failure by boosting unearned grades is a disservice to students who do not have basic subject matter knowledge to succeed later on in life or in college and a disservice to the other students who actually work hard to earn their grades and might eventually put forth less effort themselves.

The leftist academics argue that “not everyone learns the same way or at the same pace,” which is true, however, let’s not mix ‘how one learns’ with ‘completing assignments on time’ and ‘performing well or poorly on tests.’

Michael Petrilli, president of the Fordham Institute, said, “It reflects the soft bigotry of low expectations around student effort and student behavior.” Students learn fast that “hard work and homework are not important.” He continues, “Is it because we think certain groups of kids aren’t capable of them?”

Rick Wormeli said that test retakes and changing the grading system are being considered at more than half of U.S. schools. Some educators believe that “a score of zero is mathematically unjust.”

Gregory Hood, principal of James Madison High School in Fairfax County said, “A zero provides no information about what a student has learned, and it negatively impacts a student’s grade when averaged with other grades.”

I would like to elucidate his quandary, it’s quite simple to understand – the student has learned nothing in that assignment therefore his knowledge is worth zero. And yes, a zero on an assignment does change a student’s overall grade, and it should, it does not “distort” a student’s grade, it merely reflects the lack of effort and of learning. Furthermore, one poor grade is not impossible to overcome.

Some schools base grading on standards, on what students actually learn, not on work habits, student effort, punctuality, or homework. Fairfax County permits students to turn in work late, retake major exams if the score is below 80, and homework can only count 10 percent of a student’s grade.  In other counties behavior and attendance are not factors in grades.

Some college classes require attendance and a certain number of absences will severely affect a student’s grade. Why would you pay so much tuition to learn and then skip classes? On the other hand, if you have a progressive teacher who brings his/her ideology and political affiliation to class and punishes students who dare to show their divergent views and beliefs, why come to class to be subjected to harassment every time?

Ultimately lazy students will learn to “game the system” and manage to pass without much effort.

As a former teacher, I believe that grades should reflect a student’s work ethic, habits, preparation for class, oral participation in class, and turning in work on time because meeting deadlines and a good work ethic, whether academic or not are part of the fabric of a future adult in the real world who must be accountable for their actions. There are not many re-dos for botched jobs that cost lives and money in the real world. An incompetent person is usually fired.

Thomas R. Guskey, Professor of Education, suggested a new grading system. One grade should be for ‘content mastery’ and another grade for ‘process criteria,’ such as student collaboration, participation in class discussion, turning work on time, etc.

I would like to be treated by a doctor who excelled at ‘content mastery’ and skill rather than collaboration or participation in classroom discussion that is many times counterproductive to learning when students stray from the topic at hand because they want to kill time before the bell rings.

Theresa Mitchell Dudley, president of Prince George’s County Educators’ Association, is quoted as saying, “We have no problem being fair to students. But if they are not doing the work and not performing, and we give them a grade they did not earn, how does that make them college and career ready?”

Let’s make the grades soar through these half-baked ideas, while the students’ actual achievement will plummet and schools will become even more mediocre than they really are.

Do we want EMTs and police to arrive late because that’s the work ethic they learned in school? Do we redo a collapsed bridge built by people who failed at simple mathematical calculations and measured something incorrectly or made a mixture of concrete too brittle?

Ultimately, this new grading policy trend is intended to further erode society by teaching students to avoid accountability, which is now an endemic problem in our country, and to promote mediocrity, negligence, and indolence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Broken Immigration, Broken Education

 

Our broken education system and the immigration without integration issues were brought to the forefront once more in the recent fight of a woman in Arizona who wishes to run for a city council seat.
According to the Phoenix Sun, Cabrera does not speak proficient English and uses an interpreter to communicate, in spite of the fact that she is a graduate of Kofa High School in Yuma.

She acknowledges her English skills are limited but, in an area where Spanish is the predominant language, it is not necessary to speak English in order to serve the population’s interests.  This statement begs the question, who is going to represent the interests of the American citizens who are here lawfully and do speak English? In addition, why did she receive a high school diploma from an accredited high school if she does not speak English?

Social promotion in our schools on any level is wrong, yet liberal academics have been pushing this issue for many years, diluting the quality of graduates to the point that some are unable to read, write, or do simple arithmetic.

“State law requires elected officials to know English, but Cabrera’s attorneys claim the law does not define proficiency in the language.” (Phoenix Sun)

A socio-linguist expert, who administered three tests to Cabrera, an English-speaking skills test, a reading skills test, and an English comprehension test, deemed her unable to answer questions in English.

“Cabrera’s lawyers said the action against their client was politically motivated.” Whatever the claim, the fact remains that, as a member of the council, she would be unable to serve her English speaking constituents without the help of an interpreter. Taxpayer dollars would have to provide her with an interpreter on a daily basis and such services are expensive.

Liberals love to defend and hinder assimilation into this country in spite of ample evidence from the failed and disastrous European model of allowing immigrants to bring their countries, their customs, and their language with them into self-isolating ghettoes.

President Merkel of Germany and President Sarkozy of France have admitted in separate statements that multiculturalism is a failure in Europe, socially, economically, and politically, and it is not sustainable. “The hostility of young minority men toward authority across communities in Europe” has escalated, the deep-seated antipathy leading to frequent and deadly violence.

Socioeconomic as well as linguistic integration are necessary for a group to progress and thrive within the same borders. Expecting the local population to provide expensive translators to a subculture that refuses to learn the language of the land is detrimental to both groups, preventing inclusion and economic success.

The Roman Empire had established Latin as the administrative language of the conquered lands. They viewed communication as an important ingredient of economic success and governance. Many tribes reluctantly accepted Latin but transformed it to suit their native languages and dialects. The result was the six Latin-based romance languages that are spoken today:  French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese, and Romansh. Romansh is spoken in a particular canton in Switzerland. Interestingly, although the Roman Empire disappeared in the West in 476 A.D., scholars across Europe had used Latin for centuries afterwards to promote writing and learning, while the Catholic Church published documents in Latin and used it ceremonially.

Alfred the Great (849-899), the only Anglo-Saxon scholar king that we know could read and write, was convinced that learning was the key to a better life for all. He commissioned the translation of instructive books from Latin to English. It is interesting to note, although English is a Germanic language, 51 percent of its vocabulary comes from Latin. The Roman Empire disappeared long time ago but its language lives on.

I do not know the status of every person who does not speak English in this country, whether they are here legally or illegally. A significant portion of the 10.8 million illegal immigrants inside the United States entered with a valid visa and stayed after their visas expired. A large percentage hides within enclaves and never learns English, depriving themselves of better social and economic opportunities.

Furthermore, the current administration, by suing various states who passed legislation to enforce immigration laws, is giving the signal that entering the U.S. illegally and staying indefinitely will not be penalized but rewarded through stealth amnesty. When our economy will improve, we will see more illegal immigration since economic need is the primary reason for illegal immigration from Latin America.

A guest worker program would help establish a respect for the rule of law and fill the employers’ needs for seasonal workers. The Bracero Program (bracero means strong-arm in Spanish), a series of laws and diplomatic agreements with Mexico instituted by FDR in1942, worked well until 1964 when it was canceled.

Visa programs for temporary or seasonal agricultural workers should be streamlined. E-Verify system and Self Check to correct errors and issues should be encouraged.

Amnesty granted to 3 million illegal immigrants in 1986 made the situation much worse, encouraging a new wave of illegal immigration. President Reagan admitted the failure.

If the economic situation of a country is good, there is no need to migrate illegally to the U.S. We do not see many Chileans here because their economy is good compared to other Latin American countries. Thus promoting economic development and good governance in Latin America would go a long way to stem illegal immigration.

According to the Heritage Foundation, the “push-pull effect caused by the combination of slow economic growth in Latin America and the need for workers in the United States” is a large contributor to illegal immigration.

No matter how we view or present the legal and illegal immigration issues, the facts and statistics show the burden on the U.S. economy:

-          400,000 illegal immigrant women give birth to “anchor-babies” who become automatic U.S. citizens

-          One in every four inmates in federal prisons is an illegal immigrant (U.S. Government Accountability Office)

-          50-60 percent illegal immigrants are high school dropouts (Heritage Foundation)

-          Illegal immigrants come from Mexico (58 percent), Latin  America (23 percent), Asia, Europe, and Africa (18 percent)

A controversial proposal to grant illegal immigrant students in-state tuition passed in twelve states as of July 2011. As this law attempts to improve and address the education of illegal immigrants, opposing groups highlight the fact that their parents have broken the law in crossing the border illegally and are thus not entitled to same rights as American citizens. The controversy is not likely to diminish, particularly when generations of “anchor-babies” turn eighteen and demand family integration and full rights as American citizens.

Overabundance

When I was a child, I had very few toys: a doll with a chipped face, a teal colored doll bed with a miniature comforter, and 9 piece wood puzzle blocks that formed pictures of various fairy tales if matched correctly. This forced me to be quite creative during child play and brought many neighborhood kids outdoors for improvised games of chase, hide and seek, sledding, ball playing, hop scotch, chess, and dominoes.

Poverty encouraged us to dream of faraway places, fantastical creatures, dragons, kingdoms, and mythical heroes. It did not cost us anything to dream. We were imaginative, creative, and free to wonder in the recesses of our minds that otherwise would be left untouched.

When we could find colored pencils and paper, I drew images that my mind created, unencumbered by outside influences. Clay was plentiful and I taught myself how to model it into figurines and primitive looking vessels. I was not going to win any art contest but I had so much fun. Playing with mud pies on my grandpa's farm helped shape the love of art. I never owned an art book - I admired pictures in art gallery windows and library books.

We did not have Barbies, Ken, Nintendo, PlayStation, computer games, or any electronic gadgets or games, yet we were more creative by necessity. Why did we not create such toys and games like the Americans? Because we were not allowed to be different, to express our uniqueness, we were encouraged to excel, but within the parameters of the group, of the collective.

Standing out was discouraged, bourgeois, and thus punished. A communist society by definition was a "shared," based on equality society, nobody was allowed to be better than anybody else, except for the ruling elite.

Schools made some concession to achievement by awarding book prizes at the end of the school year for good grades. It was the only glimmer of self-esteem allowed. Contrast this to the liberal educational doctrine today to give everybody a trophy, to make everyone a winner, to promote everyone, to social promotion, or risk hurting their feelings and self-esteem.

Should we fail to reward bad behavior, bad grades, and bad performance, the legal system is there to sue us at the drop of a hat. We are the most litigious society on earth and spend more on self-insurance to avoid unpleasant lawsuits. Teachers are afraid to come in direct contact with their students, counselors counsel with wide open doors, and principals use witnesses during conferences with parents.

The uniqueness that made this country great, is now discouraged and shameful, pushing children towards uniformity and communism. In communism everything is "communis," as the Latin term describes, "shared." Sharing may be a virtue in the Bible but under communism, it is a misnomer. Nobody really shares anything. There are poor people and the elites. If I demand my "share" of the pie, of the country's wealth, I am laughed at and sent to a gulag.

We were punished when we were bad, our parents were humiliated, we were humiliated, we were held back in school if our performance was not up to par, we got bad grades if we were not prepared every day, repeated the year if we had to, no social promotion there, nobody threatened to sue the school, bad behavior was not only not tolerated, but was harshly punished. We got up, dusted ourselves off, and tried harder next time. Discipline and failure were natural consequences to bad behavior and under performance.

American parents who are enablers of their children's poor performance in school and preposterous behavior in society, are responsible for overindulging their children with material possessions that are beyond the needs of a child and do not promote healthy developmental, moral, and ethical compass.

Educators catch the brunt of parental and societal displeasure for their children's poor performance. Mom and dad fail to take responsibility for the first six years of a child life that shape who they are and how they will behave and perform in society.

Parents abdicate their roles completely and expect teachers, who are often ill-prepared to teach the subject matter to which they are assigned, to also become surrogate parents who will magically change all the neglect and sometimes verbal and physical abuse children suffered in their first six years of life.

Society's flawed solution to "fixing" this problem is to waste more money on education and demand more accountability and longer work hours from teachers, when the fix would be quite simple - raise responsible and involved parents who stop spoiling their children materially while spending more time with them and supervising their homework. There is only one other country in the world that spends more money on education than we do, Luxembourg, a rich country the size of a postage stamp. And we have precious little to show for our expenditures on education and our lavish, overabundant parental material spending on our children.