Dropping the "F bomb"

And the Republican plan to decimate what was once the educational system envied around the world is complete. Yes, I know this is being done in liberal areas; it's the underlying ruination of our once-great system that has lead to the point where grades — good, bad or average — are meaningless, and might as well be dropped.

I was thinking about the principal of my elementary school the other day. He was a family acquaintance and a good man, but if he were alive and working today, he would not be in education. This was in the 70s: he lived in the neighborhood, drove a new Cadillac and wore a suit every day. He raised a family (two sons and a daughter), put them through school, went on family vacations to Europe, and when he retired bought a second home. This is not possible in today's educational system (unless it's a private or charter school, which is the Republican ruse to suck funding meant for everyone and give it to a few).

But this is what Republicans want: a two-tiered educational system where the masses are taught barely enough to function and that's it, while the select few (their kids) get the best of everything funded by taxpayers writ large. This grade change policy is logical. We might as well accept that we're headed for the same system we had a hundred years ago when only a few were educated and everyone else is gifted with a life of menial toil. The best part is that we'll get to blame liberals for the downfall of our schools because they're trying to make the best of a bad situation.

[quote]But this is what Republicans want: a two-tiered educational system where the masses are taught barely enough to function and that's it,

The grade change policy allows for retesting or more time if a student would otherwise fail an assignment? And if you don't do the assignment or fail the final exam you get an incomplete?

As the article points out and as some of us remember, there are already teachers who do this or grade on a curve. All this does is give everyone a chance to redo a homework assignment, retake a test and maybe get more help to find out why they did poorly the first time.

If a student fails a test and they don't get the chance to retest, I doubt most go back and figure out why they failed. This way, they'd have a reason to figure that out and do it right again.

Sounds like they're telling kids if they work harder, they can get a better grade and if they decide not to demonstrate what they've learned in the final, they won't complete the class.

Doesn't sound like much is really changing.

Are most of the students People of Color? Then of course accommodations must be made for them to function in a system that is systemically racist. No person of color should ever have to be subjected to the standards imposed by racist whites, determined to keep their " superiority" intact. The same should be afforded to female students, who have been underrepresented in the fields of math and science. They need to be moved up no matter their level of competency, because they have been victims of the patriarchal society.

American Exceptionalism, limping to extinction.

R1, I don't think it's Republicans who are behind this change. Republicans like there to be winners and losers, and they like lots of separation between the winners and losers; they'd be happy to stick learners with even lower grades, such as G, H, and I.

This is driven by democrats who don't want any student to give up. Their hearts are in the right place. For kids who aren't on the college prep tract, why not just use a pass/non-pass system?

Kids and parents today are such pussies.

Many teachers have been doing this for years now.

I think it's a good idea -- as long as kids are required to retake the class until they get a passing grade.

In our city, elementary schools have graded like this for years. The result? Grades don't really matter to most, and no one believes that there really are such things as deadlines or standards. Why do today what you can put off until next month? Students (and parents) have no accountability these days...

R1 you don't make any sense. It's the liberals or Democrats doing this but somehow it's the Republicans' fault?? The lack of accountability these days is so fucking exhausting.

[quote]And the Republican plan to decimate what was once the educational system envied around the world is complete.

Republicans? Are you drunk?

Try as you might, liberals, this is totally on you and the desperate need to achieve equal outcomes. Are you really concerned with education or pandering to a certain segment of the electorate that you need? Just as the right is pandering to white supremacists and the willfully ignorant, so too does the left pander to their constituents, without regard as to whether or not this is beneficial to them or society.

I had a teacher in 6th grade who did this. If you received anything less than an "A" you had one week to retake or make it up. If you didn't do it in that week the grade was final.

Since it was the 6th grade, I didn't care.

The problem with dropping the grade "F" is that "D" becomes the new "F." And "C" becomes equal to "D" and so forth.

It's like when they made NC-17 as a new rating. It was just seen as a new way to say "X"

I thought the deplorables were going to bring down the country. In reality, it's the fucking liberals.

This is insanity in action and yes it is the liberals

D and F grades are systemic racism in action!

Anyone getting an F grade should be put to death. You aren’t worthy of taking up oxygen or space.

R15 bumps an old troll thread that didn't take off, hoping to revive it, and gives himself three WWs in the process.

Lots of trolls on here this morning, I notice.

r19

Who are you the Internet police? You don't notice anything that doesn't fit your biggoted agenda.

[quote]biggoted

No wonder you're whining so much in the Wordle thread about how it's so hard it must be cheating against you.

[R20] has spoken for the functionally illiterate SJWs!

[quote] And the Republican plan to decimate what was once the educational system envied around the world is complete.

The left has controlled America's public education system for 50 years.

I never had that worry because I, like, showed up for class and did my homework.

I prefer the Fun Boy Three version of Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum over the one we've been living recently, thanks.

Funny, I prefer their version of Our Lips Are Sealed.

Dear R19,

[quote]the fear of a low grade pushing them off the pathway to university.

Low grades SHOULD push someone off the pathway to university.

The vast majority of people should NOT go to university.

This is just the continuation of the dumbing down of society in this country. And republicans know better than any that dumber people are more gullible and more likely to believe their bullshit.

And as usual the democrats just sit back and let it all happen.

When the Trump tax cuts limited the amount of local property taxes that may be claimed as a federal tax deduction, they undermined local school finance because most public schools are financed by local real estate taxes.

And now another generation will enter the real life completely unprepared.

Didn't California also recently get rid of SATs? Ultra-liberals and wokeism are really destroying that state in the name of 'equality.'

Movies you are stunned that predicted the future:

The Truman Show (reality tv)

Minority Report (personalized targeted advertising)

The Terminator (military drones)

Total Recall (self-driving cars)

Forget the singularity and the rise of the machines. We have:

IDIOCRACY - the rise of the stupid.

Well said R12. This is liberal assholery.

In order to achieve equality amont the races (something very tough to do) they have to bring down failing rates for minorities. This way nobody fails and outcomes are more equitable. If the kids don't do the work they will still pass them. That's how it's done, Problem sovled!

,,equality in educational outcomes among the races...

R36 in other words, everybody gets a trophy/medal/gold star!

So everyone can be equally ignorant.

There's no incentive to work hard anymore. Make it easy....however, the rewards and degrees lose a lot of merit, as it wasn't truly earned. People are allowed to be dumbed down and it hurts everyone in general. Look at where we are in the US now.

I graduated from the bottom half of my high school, flunked out of 3 colleges before finally having enough credits to graduate from the 4th- and probably have had more PhDs, MBAs, and MSs as my employees than 99.9% of the people on this board. And been interviewed by the NYT and the WSJ more, too, so there.

Did really like the flying school classes my high school offered, didn't use any of it professionally, though.

So we keep importing the low IQ folks and now we have to keep dumbing down our schools.

Sad state of affairs. It is dumbing down the system instead of addressing problems children may have learning.

The problem I see is that grades motivate performance. Yes, they have negative consequences like cheating or caring only about grades or learning just enough to pass a test and forgetting the material the next day. But without them, a lot of students would just be warming seats. Getting rid of Ds and Fs doesn't inspire intellectual curiosity It gives students a false sense of security. And how quickly you can perform a task does matter to employers.

If the US wants to improve performance, it needs to invest in early childhood education, not throw out grades and standardized testing. This is not unlike the right dealing with racism by banning accurate history books as critical race theory..

[quote] So we keep importing the low IQ folks and now we have to keep dumbing down our schools.

Or they were born here and are seeking reparations.

What bothers me is that we will now have a generation of employees whom will expect a second chance or a do-over. Fucked up a proposal? Failed to sign a client? Messed up a report? Sorry, there is no second chance.

I think it's a good thing, education is supposed to be a civic good, not training for the meritocracy

Preparation for college? Will the liberals now mandate that every " Student of Color" ( other than yellow) automatically get a Bachelor's Degree or not be graded? If the Republicans were still in the hands of the moderates, I would vote for them to stop the madness foisted by the far left. But, since the deplorables have taken over, I will vote for moderate Dems ( who are getting harder to find) and let the ultra-liberal candidates pound salt.

Let's be real, though. Most of the students who are affected by this change probably never had college in their cards to begin with. This move is to get them a basic education so that they can be hired for entry-level positions.

Those who go on to college are (mostly) smart enough to adapt and thrive regardless of an arbitrary grading system.

I was a shit student at a good high school and ended up becoming an academic. It took a lot of tenacity, however.

It's funny how all the people outraged by this development are showing an embarrassing lack of critical thinking and reading comprehension skills.

Students incapable of passing a class won't magically do so if D's and F's are eliminated. And honestly, it's pretty fucked up how Boomers think that todays students should be forced to operate under the same deficient systems they endured.

[quote]The problem I see is that grades motivate performance.

They don't.

Grades can maybe get some students to change their behaviors, but grades don't actually make them learn more or become better students.

Grades can actually be harmful.

[quote]The authors reviewed literature that suggests that grades may play a dual function. On the one hand, they provide feedback to students, measure performance for external audiences, and they might enhance motivation if students perceive them as competence-enhancing feedback. On the other hand, grades have been associated with higher levels of stress, anxiety and cheating behaviors, and a reduction in cooperative learning, critical thinking, autonomous academic motivation, and feelings of trust between the instructor and student.

I was highly unmotivated by grades until I got to grad school, and by then, grades really didn't matter

There is a thing called accountability. But, the kids who are moved along by the " everybody passes or their self-esteem is ruined' will ultimately fail and have to be supported by taxpayers. But, they will get the activists to bitch about how they were victims of inequality and prejudice. and hey would be correct - they are victims of liberal gobbledy gook.

I thought the F Bomb was going to the Frau Bomb, which this thread is, a Frau thread.

[quote]they are victims of liberal gobbledy gook.

Is r55 posting from 1952?

Head ‘‘em up, move ‘em out. The teachers and admins don’t want to stuck with the stupid and lazy for any longer than they have to. Get that GED, sign up for welfare. Next?

I’m so sick of this everyone gets a prize culture we live in now. I’ve seen shit like this even at work, where assholes who don’t do shit will get the same recognition and bonuses as the people who work their asses off.

Where’s the incentive to work hard if lazy asses get the same treatment?

Everyone will be equally uneducated. That reminds me of one of my favorite Churchill quotes:

"Capitalism is the unequal sharing of abundance.

Socialism is the equal sharing of misery."

The problem with social promotion, which this is very close to, is that the students who benefit from it don't realize they've been done a massive favor. They assume they're competent and well-educated when they're not.

If somone gets anxious when they take a test, get help for the anxiety. Don't give everyone a pass.

Short sighted. C will become a D/F equivalent. Someone still will always come in last and be a disappointment.