Tag: grades

Class curves? Get rid of them!

I don’t know about you, but in our school, if everyone does bad, the grades of everyone are adjusted. I can understand that the teachers want students to do better in school, but this is NOT the way to do it.

Class curves are intended to raise students’ grades above the fail line. Many students see this as a way of slacking off. We’re not talking about just one student slacking off, we’re talking about hundreds of students failing the class and hoping for a bailout from students. Class curves inspire students to slack off, not do better in school. Here’s why:

The moment that students hear that the class has a curve, many of them are inspired to slack off. They know that, even if they do bad, their grades will automatically improve by a few percent and not look as bad. Everyone starts failing, and then the teacher doesn’t want students to fail, so a curve is introduced to bump up everyone’s grades.

I like to compare this with lowering the standard. Allowing students with a D average to pass. Admitting students with a 2.0 GPA to get in college. We’re lowering the standard by arbitrarily raising everyone’s grades. Get rid of this!

To the End!

For everyone, school’s almost out. Summer is approaching, and the enduring and relentless heat has driven girls at our school to break dress codes.

It was a year full of memories for me. When I started school back in September, I had to switch classes because “they” screwed up my schedule. After I switched classes, I discovered that I had a test on a book. While everyone got two weeks to read the book, I got three days, and yet, my teacher expected me to pass the test like everyone else. I didn’t pass the test and that ruined my grade for the rest of the year.

The first semester of school went on without much more happening. Tests, projects, quizzes, waking up too early, sleeping too late every single day. This was the case until December, when school was happily interrupted by storm after storm of snow, much more than we’ve gotten for the past twelve years. Some days we had late starts, and some days, school was canceled. Kids enjoyed the days they had off from school, but snow plow drivers and those who still had to go to work did not.

The second semester came quickly, and I tried some new things. I played a piano accompaniment for the orchestra and for several people at their recital. I went to our school’s restaurant and tried some great food there. I conducted the orchestra and went to a college to perform there. It seemed like I had finally found the zest of high school, even though I wasn’t in athletics or too many school activities.

And finally, after a few more concerts, contests, and competitions, it is almost time to say goodbye. Today, our principal recognized our seniors for their excellent work and their legacy at our school in a special assembly. They will graduate next Saturday and move on. For me, that’s still a while away, but a time will come, and when it does, I will look back at my twelve wonderful years and wonder: “What will be in store for me for the next twelve years?”