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Originally Posted by pj67coll
Reading that article again something struck me which was the comment about numerical grades. I dont understand why anyone would ever give out anything else. Thruout my school days you never recieved anything but a numerical grade. D was just scraping by with 50-59 percent. C 60-69 percent, B 70-79 percent and A 80-100 percent. The alphabetical designators were just for convenience, what matterd was where you were on the numerical scale and nobody would dare question it. If you got 69 percent you either worked harder for the next test - or not - depending on your motivation, but you did not go snivelling to the teachers whining about the grade.
But of course that was in the days before shrinks convinced folks it was better to feel educated than to actually know stuff. I suspect I would not last long as an academic as I'd have zero tolerance for anyone who tried pulling that crap with me, or for any administration which allowed it.
- Peter.
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Numerical grades on report cards are pseudoscientific. They appear meaningful (ie, you can get an average a stdev, etc) but in reality, they are derived from a testing instrument. The testing instrument may or may not be objective. Often teachers like to mix the test between various methods: Objective, and subjective.
IMO, objective tests, except in math, are bulls**t anyway. I like essay tests to test the knowledge of students and also test the students' abilities to communicate that knowledge. For example, a test on Shakespeare's, "Julius Caesar" might objectively ask for a list of the various characters. That tests encyclopaedic knowledge. Folks need to be able to memorize and retain, but they also need to be taught hot to think and analyze and communicate. So a more interesting question might be to compare and contrast Brutus's and Cleopatra's reaction to Caesar's power. In that way you will incedentally find that the student knows some of the cast of characters and the rolls they paly and you will also find out the degree to which the student analyzes the material.
If I were Worldwide Instruction Czar, I'd abolish grades pre-K through 5 and allow matriculation to 6th only after proficiency has been demonstrated. If a 4th grader is ready for 5th grade reading but needs 4th grade math, why hold the child back in the thing that the child is goo at?
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