At 09:09 AM 10/24/99 -1000, John M. Flanigan wrote:
>Bret's comments must elicit sympathetic responses from many of us. But
>there is a more fundamental problem: What happens when the teacher does
>the honest thing and gives failing grades to those students? The parents
>and administrators swoop down in a fury! If the student has been the
>recipient of inflated grades previously, the first teacher to be honest
>will suffer! Who has an idea of how to change that?
>
>John M. Flanigan <johnf@hawaii.edu> The equation is the final arbiter.
>Assistant Professor, Mathematics --Werner Heisenberg
>Kapi'olani Community College The scoreboard is the final arbiter.
>4303 Diamond Head Road --Bill Walton
>Honolulu HI 96816 History is the final arbiter.
>(808) 734-9371 --Edward Gibbon
>
>On Sun, 24 Oct 1999, Bret Taylor wrote:
>
>> I just read with great interest Vern Kays e-mail on the dangers of
>> standardization and "teaching the test." I agree in principle with much of
>> this message.
>>
>> But, I think we as teachers need to accept our fair share of the blame for
>> declining standards.
>>
>> Students are being passed along without learning anything. I could go into
>> a great diatribe, but I'll try to refrain. Just some anecdotal evidence to
>> support my position:
>>
>> Student A has made 30's on three straight tests. He asks me if he can do a
>> bulliten board to bring his grade up to a C.
>>
>> Student B says, "I'm failing. What are you going to do to get me a passing
>> grade?"
>>
>> Student C makes a B in every year of High School math, including
>> trigonometry. This student plaecs into developmental mathematics in college.
>>
>> Student D tells me, "I don't have to know the quadratic formula. I have a
>> program on my calculator that gives me the answer." When I point out, among
>> other things, that the program gives wrong answers, the student replies, "It
>> can't. If my calculator says it, it must be right."
>>
>> Student E takes AP calculus in High School. He makes a 1 on the AP exam.
>> He, by an articulation agreement between our community college and the local
>> school district, places directly into my calculus class. He makes a 12 and
>> a 7 on the first two exams. He withdraws. I do a little research. He was
>> in an AP calculus class with 6 students. The grades they made on the AP
>> exam were five 1's and one 2. All six students had a final average of 95 or
>> higher in the course.
>>
>> I could go on and on. But, until we as teachers stand up and say, "A
>> transcript is almost sacred to a teacher. The grade on that transcript
>> means something. I will not put a grade on a transcript that I do not
>> think, in my professional opinion, most accurately reflects your knowledge
>> of the course."
>>
>> One last comment: Lest anyone think I'm pointing the finger at high school
>> teachers alone, I'm not. I'm sick and tired of teachers telling me how ill
>> prepared they are when they come into the class. And how poor their study
>> habits are. How how little effort they put forth. (And how vividly they
>> state their opinion of the students' intelligence.) But, when the end of
>> the semester comes, these very same students make A's and B's. When I ask
>> the teacher to explain, the answer is usually something like, "Well, if I
>> held them to a reasonable standard they'd all fail."
>>
>> Folks, where there is no possibility of failure, there is no chance of
success.
>>
>> I'll climb back down off my soap box now. Thanks for letting me vent. :-)
>>
>>
>>
>> Bret Taylor "It matters not the subject taught,
>> Lake-Sumter Community College nor all the books on all the shelves.
>> Leesburg, FL What matters more, yes most of all,
>> John 3:3^3+3 is what the teachers are themselves."
>> John Wooden
>>
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>
>
>
Bret Taylor "It matters not the subject taught,
Lake-Sumter Community College nor all the books on all the shelves.
Leesburg, FL What matters more, yes most of all,
John 3:3^3+3 is what the teachers are themselves."
John Wooden
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