Grades vs Education

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Sorry! "Full time"

[Jacob(smooth)]

On average, people are ready by the age of 6... That's why primary school starts there.

Yeah and there are special schools for slowpokes.

Some people do better with vocational training. Some people have different learning needs. This does not make them "slowpokes".

[Clueless Morgan]

Sorry! "Full time"

That makes more sense than what I thought.

I also just saw this on my fb page and thought it was interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11u3vtcpaY

I was with him until 3:07; It really on needs to be 7 things.

[Violet]

Some people do better with vocational training. Some people have different learning needs. This does not make them "slowpokes".

And some people *really are* slowpokes.

[Jacob(smooth)]

v by

Some people do better with vocational training. Some people have different learning needs. This does not make them "slowpokes".

And some people *really are* slowpokes.

Meh. I'm not sure. The guy who fixes my car has 2 fewer degrees than me but I don't know a crankshaft from a slip diff and he does. The guy who skipped class at school might be able to strip an SA80 in the dark in 45 seconds. I don't think one can really make generalisations about people's abilities. It may simply be that they've yet to discover what they are good at, or someone with the skill to teach it to them in a way they understand.

[Blake the Heretic]

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” - Albert Einstein.

The school system in America is a joke. We've become far too focused on teaching children to pass tests, and less focused on the content of what they are learning.

Personally, I wish they'd teach 'application of knowledge' as well as 'independent research' in schools. Instead of focusing too much on trying to cram as much information as they can into a child's head they took a step back and taught them to find their own information as well as how to utilize the information they've gained in practical scenarios.

Maybe I'm just crazy though :p

[Jacob(smooth)]

Loving the Einstein quote!

[Blake the Heretic]

I'm glad you like it. It's one of my favorite ones

[Crulax]

I teach lab courses at a University (my second university as a Teaching Assistant) and I have a friend at the same university who teaches introductory English/writing courses and this is a topic he and I have had many a good rant on, because students clearly value grades over the education that the grades are supposed to reflect.

An example is the flood of students that any given instructor will get at the end of the semester asking one of 3 things:
1) Is there any extra credit I can do?
2) I thought my grade was higher than that, are you sure you recorded this correctly?
3) I really want an A (or B+ or whatever), I worked really hard and think I deserve it.

The answers to these questions are:
1) You should worry less about "extra" credit and do more to get the regular credit. Don't ask for extra.

2) If a grade was recorded incorrectly, that is a legitimate concern but often the mistake is nonexistent or is one where a grade was incorrectly entered but has no net effect on the course grade because the change was minimal.

3) The grade you get is the grade you earned (unless the instructor grades as forgiving as I do, then your grade is actually already inflated), don't ask for a better grade. I am not here to pad your GPA, I am here to help you learn. That is the important bit here, HELP YOU LEARN.


What do you people think? Is there too much emphasis on grades in the education system? (this may primarily apply to the US)

I think it's the fact that the generation that is currently going through college if full of a bunch of self entitled brats.

[bennyboy]

I think it's the fact that the generation that is currently going through college if full of a bunch of self entitled brats.

If they were SELF-entitled, there wouldn't be a problem.