grazie | (no subject)

Man, there are times I wish the American grading scale didn't suck so much. I would give anything to have the rest of the world's grading scale. Above 50% is passing? Hell yes! I have been struggling for years with the most insane grading scales-- hell, my primary education years had a more insane grading scale than pretty much the rest of the United States, even.

And extra credit? ... Well, maybe it's common in some universities, but it's next to unheard of in mine. Especially since I'm taking only upper division classes now. So, great. Great.

I wish the United States would focus less on grading scales and focus more on teaching-- especially for primary education. There's no reason we should be as low as we are in math and science.

The more I think about it, the more in favor I become of a nationalized education system. I mean, I talked with my mom about it, and she did put in a good point against it, despite her otherwise paranoid ramblings, but our current education system relies too much on how rich the area you live in is. I understand that a national education system is by far easier to manipulate than our current system, especially in regards to things I feel are important: history, propaganda, politics, etc...

But there has to be some sort of balance. If we could manage a mass reorganizing of American priorities considering education (way too many people are hoping for NBA slots or otherwise ~awesome~ jobs) without changing our system, I'd be in favor of that. Hell, maybe if we could find other means of testing students capabilities without the use of standardized, multiple choice tests. Not everyone can do those sorts of tests, and they're impractical besides because when does the answer to a math problem ever come with an a, b, c, or d next to it in an lab situation?

I do honestly feel that a lot of Americans are otherwise fairly intelligent, but that we aren't using that potential. Either we have ingrained expectations for them that limit them, they're limited by god forbid their parents being poor... or a multitude of other unfair factors.

I think we're limiting ourselves by focusing exclusively on how we're doing in comparison to that public school the next county over. We should be focusing on that Japanese high school, or maybe that Indian elementary school if we're going to compare anything.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

My school back home had 60% passing. Although I tend to prefer the 'rung' method----you know, top dog gets A, suckers get D----instead of the rigid scaling most of the time. >_>

Also, yes, I would really love American highschools to do what the Asian highschools do. The amount of scientific WTF over here can probably be greatly reduced otherwise....seriously, I swear I learned half of some people's first two years in college in high school!

... yeah, 60% or higher was passing at my high school. 70% or higher and you're passing courses required for your degree.

Also seconding so hard that education should be equal. Because I am one of those people who got a subpar primary education just because I live in a small town in Louisiana. I should have just as much right to an education that someone in a well-to-do neighborhood or city in like New York or some high-income state has.

Edited 2009-10-05 22:26 (UTC)

We were kind of talking about this at work the other day. All they teach is crap, and they teach to the books and the strandardized tests, and they keep everyone stuck working at what the slowest paced kid in the class is learning. It's ridiculous. People in this country could be doing so much more with their minds if they were actually taught something for a change.

Yeah, that annoys me beyond belief too. I feel like that was a recent development, because I certainly don't remember that when I was in elementary school.

omg merlin!!

Texas has been like that for a little while now, unfortunately, and it's getting worse. When I was in HS they started forcing teachers to teach by/to the book and tests, instead of making it an option. I frown about this bullshittery. >:[!!!

ffff yes I started watching it forever ago and am still not caught up. I was planning on just marathoning the shit out of it this weekend *_*