Bret Taylor wrote:
> I agree completely. And I imagine that is why many outstanding teachers
> leave the profession. Now, as to how to change it - Sorry, it would take a
> book or two, not an e-mail to explain that. :-)
>
> 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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