What is Digg?Sponsored by newegg
Ready. Set. Shop view!
newegg.com - Newegg.com Black Friday Sale starting 11/25 3PM PST. No Lines, No Crowds, Click and Save.
180 Comments
- TSK05, on 02/01/2009, -5/+96Kind of a confusing title, even after being finished reading the front page I was confused for like 15 seconds. It means why easy grading is good for your teachers career, not yours (ie, it's written from a teachers perspective).
- AntP1, on 02/01/2009, -8/+96why do you think America has some of the least educated kids in the world? They go to school to get grades, not education. There is a difference.
- Bloodwine, on 02/01/2009, -0/+71My wife teaches at a university, and most of her courses are freshman and sophomore level subjects. She says that most of her students are completely blindsided when she fails them. They don't show up for classes, don't care enough to make up their missed exams, and don't really put effort into the course. Still, they expect to be passed, expect to progress to the next course.
Unfortunately, she said that university administrators are starting to put the same sort of pressures on their faculty that we've seen with secondary education. Universities want high graduation rates to look good, and it's even worse now that some states are passing laws that give extra money to universities with high success with regards to graduation numbers. - MrGaw, on 02/01/2009, -6/+51One of my school's classes had a lot of people get poor grades not because they were not motivated, but because their teacher was incompetent.
they did fine in other classes, though.
Unfortunately, the inconsistency of teachers gives some people a disadvantage, just because of what teacher they had.
. - inactive, on 02/01/2009, -1/+36"Most people completely miss the point of college, it is not about studying hard to get good grades..."
Spoken like a true business major. - TheEpicChocobo, on 07/28/2009, -2/+32Wow, I think most teachers would have just given free extra credit to take the easy stress free way out.
- albie, on 02/01/2009, -0/+26When people go to college for the degree, and not for the education, that's when education fails.
- amprather, on 02/01/2009, -3/+28And we are wondering why the United States is falling further and further behind in science and math.
- Porgie, on 02/01/2009, -2/+26I think what he meant was that he went to school to be an educator, not a parent or child psychologist for the kids.
Parents pretty much suck these days and the problem is falling back on the schools. There is a teacher shortage in this country and I can see why. Most teachers quit teaching before reaching the 5 year mark because they find out that teaching is not the biggest part of their job. They have to deal with so much b.s. from kids, parents, administration, and regulations that it strips away their motivation to even be there.
You think you can do it better then have at it. But I don't envy teachers one bit. I feel rather sorry for them actually. Especially the ones who have a good heart and go into it for the right reasons. When those teachers quit because of the horrible conditions they're put in it's a huge loss for our society. - SilverBlade2k, on 02/01/2009, -2/+26It seems like, in schools these days, if a student passes, the student gets the credit. If the student fails, the teacher is blamed for teaching poorly, even if it's the student's fault that they failed.
Schools get funding based on the amount of students they pass, so then the teachers are under pressure to pass as many as possible, even if it means lowering the passing grade, and if X number of people fail, then the teacher is fired for "Not doing his job." So..is the job of a teacher to teach? or to just pass everyone who shows up to class that day? - DemiRonin, on 02/01/2009, -1/+25It sucks that teachers feel pressured to pass students just because of statistics and money...it's a hard life for teachers
- brycehebert, on 05/03/2009, -0/+24When he said "I went to college for this," he was referring to his having to monitor the bathroom. Which I agree with, a teacher should not have to take that roll.
- jmill987, on 02/01/2009, -0/+24This is why I hate school; the students just don't care. Most of them are there because their parents/the law forces them to. They want to get by doing as little work as possible. It doesn't really matter how good the teacher is; it's very hard to change the apathetic attitude. I'm a senior in high school but I'm in a program where I take classes at a community college and it is SO MUCH BETTER. Obviously there are still lazy students but the majority are there because they want to learn. It's such a big difference from being around students who are forced to go to school and students who are actually paying to go to school. What you get from education is largely determined by your attitude and the attitudes of those around you.
- erikerikerik, on 02/01/2009, -0/+22My first year back at a university I was under a new major and had to take a whole new set of basics so I was stuck with 18~19 year olds fresh out of highschool.
with in the first 3 weeks (out of 15) 1/2 of the class had dropped out. And by week 5 another 1/4 failed out.
I was flabbergasted at how hard they found a few simple things
Show up on time! - this apparently was lost onto them their last year of highschool.
Do the home work - Snap!!! you have to put in more then 20min of work into your home work
Get 7 out of 10 on a quiz. - this is a C grad, not the best but passing. - gfxlonghorn, on 02/01/2009, -2/+23I have no clue how anybody teaches anything below college. I had a few absolutely terrible teachers, but the students really take advantage of those teachers so much it is ridiculous. My second worst teacher in high school was having some discipline problems with this kid, and he tried to do something and she kind of grabbed him. The kid blew it out of proportion and got her fired, and even though she was pretty incompetent, in retrospect, we were all pretty huge *****.
The major problem is only 20-30% of teachers of mine really commanded the respect of the students with a good mix of competency and rapport. The others mostly didn't belong in the classroom. It's very hard to treat kids like adults, teach them like college students, and also be able to handle the stupid immature ***** that they do. - mathsciteach, on 02/01/2009, -0/+21I have been a middle school teacher for 15 years. I must say one of the best innovations for helping improve student improvement and grades has been the use of online grades and a network that connects parents, kids and teachers via the internet.
I work my ass off in the first few weeks of school contacting every single parent of every single child who misses an assignment or receives an incomplete on one. Kids find out pretty quick that they can't slack. Of course, if the parents are slackers, too (or engrossed in a bitter divorce or dealing with other major issues) and can't support their child I move through my schools different ways of helping families. This semester in my algebra class there was 1 F. In science, 3. I am proud of my kids' hard work. - kenism, on 02/01/2009, -1/+22Its no surprise that there's a 25% drop out rate (students who fully withdraw) at my university just among freshmans. Half of which cite the difficulty of their courses. Once those kids get to college, they are going to realize that their A+ during high school wont even translate to C- during college.
Its no wonder teachers only want to teach honors classes at my high school. They don't have to put up with that annoying "UHHHHHHHHGGGG" sound that kids make when you give them homework. - erikerikerik, on 02/01/2009, -2/+20actually the system that is doing the best (think Nordic countries) have students that help other students style system.
The cream of the crop students are not taken out of class and placed into AP classes. Their asked if they could help out students that are struggling.
My Graphic Design teacher let me do this. When I was done, he looked at my work, B+/A- level all the time. I would stick around and with his blessing help out other students that where struggling. I never gave out answers, but I did coach them along. - meruru, on 02/01/2009, -1/+17It's sort of funny, in our drive to improve education by monitoring school performance via tests and grades we have actually made our schools much worse. A good school is now one that teaches "for the test" and graduates all of their students regardless of merit.
- Pake, on 02/01/2009, -0/+15You can put in as many hours as you want, but some people just get the material easier than others. Not to say your friend is that way, but rather you can't compare hours studied to difficulty of course.
- Stavrosian, on 02/02/2009, -0/+15One of my English teachers failed to set us enough coursework to submit to the exam board to officially get a grade. He then blamed it on us for not deciding to independently research the syllabus (at 15 years old) and set ourselves work on our own time. This guy was the head of the department.
If somebody knows of any more staggering display of teaching incompetence than this, I would love to hear it! - Rioracer916, on 02/02/2009, -1/+14I was a TA for an accounting professor my senior year of college.
I ended up having to fail 4 people out of 21 in my section. I got the most stern look from an otherwise laid back professor I had ever seen. He started complaining about how much paperwork was involved. As if it was my fault the students only turned in 2 out of 18 homework assignments or earned "D"'s on exams. I even offered homework amnesty before the final, as long as they made it up and did it correctly they would get 70% credit for being late.
A "C" on exams and on the homework shouldn't fail somone. It was a complete lack of initiative by the students. Don't get me started with cheating...
My point is our educational system isn't really based on quality education so much as it is maintaining appearances. - sulthernao, on 02/01/2009, -0/+13My school has teachers put all the grades online for both parents and students to see. So if you fail a class, you'd know of it pretty much the entire semester, and not be surprised when report cards come in.
- KingGorilla, on 02/02/2009, -0/+12In my experience it's sometimes the teacher's fault and sometimes the student's fault. There are horrible people in the world
- KingGorilla, on 02/02/2009, -0/+12ratemyprofessor.com!
- bipolarruledout, on 02/01/2009, -1/+13Grade inflation is rampant everywhere so now we have tons of "qualified" people on the market. As a result a masters is the new degree and a PHD is the new masters.
- trevorh, on 02/01/2009, -0/+12I believe that is definitely true for early the basic classes at universities that everyone is required to take. I am an electrical engineering major and those classes are quite difficult but when it comes to the basic classes like the English that everyone has to take the grading is very easy. It is easy to the point that simply reading the cliff notes on whatever you were supposed to read puts you in the top 15% of the class.
- Chompy, on 02/01/2009, -0/+11Education fails when parents don't get involved.
- stealth31, on 02/01/2009, -4/+15I know my school is twice as hard as my friends school where we get the same marks but I put in so many more hours than he does, however I know it will help me when university comes around. I am very thankful to my chemisrry and physics teacher for taking it harder on us, even though half the tests I walk out feeling violated.
- keyforce, on 02/02/2009, -1/+12Who teaches for a paycheck? Teachers make horrible money.
- sat0shi, on 02/02/2009, -1/+11Look at Japan. Japan is all about grades and examinations. Most of the world considers Japan as among the cream of the crop when it comes to education, but if you live here you find out that everybody is just as dumb, if not dumber, than the average American. I think you'll find that the average person ANYWHERE in the world is pretty damn stupid.
- Cavalier581, on 02/02/2009, -0/+10Not saying this was worse but....
When I was a freshman we had to memorize countries and write their names in on maps. The problem was that the maps included East and West Germany; a Yugoslavia that included Macedonia, Slovenia, Croatia, and others; an Israel with very different borders; and various other relics of another age. This was 2002 by the way.
Crappy thing is, most students didn't even notice. - nukeleearr, on 02/01/2009, -0/+9Maybe instead of honing your social engineering skills you should have paid attention in grade 7 when they taught reading comprehension. No decent college would give you good grades if you did poorly on tests, doesn't matter who you're sleeping with
- Nauree, on 02/01/2009, -1/+10Seriously, why the hell are their business degrees. The business classes I'm required to take for my BS are flipping jokes.
- CVL4317, on 02/01/2009, -1/+10Easy grading is nice for A-B students, but for C-D students due to laziness, they deserve none.
- letmypplbathe, on 02/01/2009, -2/+11You've been teaching for 5 years now? How 'bout you get back to us after you have been teaching for the 27 years the guy in the story taught.
- Spoomeister, on 02/02/2009, -2/+11Finally, the system is breaking down. Not just the educational system. All of it.
People are finally figuring out, on a subconscious level anyway, that the "education" system we have is all about figuring out what answers to spit back, what information is deemed important, what special letters and stamps and checkmarks you need to get from one line item on your transcript to the next.
People have figured out how completely arbitrary the rules are, and are giving the system the exact respect it deserves. And they're learning, just not the lessons that were intended: they're learning how to game the system, how to do just enough to get by, and how to do exactly what's needed (but no more) to line up exactly the credentials needed to get to whatever job they think they deserve.
And if they work a white-collar job, they will discover they've been perfectly prepared for that world too, because you can get yourself good and lost in some giant faceless corporation and move from one position or assignment to another for years, collecting a paycheck.
Or, they will avoid getting the job that other people think they "should" get altogether, and go put together a rewarding life that has nothing to do with what they supposedly studied.
We're just waking up to the notion that the education system is a sham (why learn specific facts and figures? "the state standards test says you do"), that economics are completely made up (why 700 billion for the stimulus package? "we needed a big number"), that what are meaningful in life are only and always the things that YOU personally assign value to.
It's a beautiful time to be alive. - bipolarruledout, on 02/01/2009, -0/+8I do feel that the strict regimentation and in some cases downright disrespect of students has a lot to do with the educational process. The public school system seems to do a really great job of shutting down critical thinking and then we wonder why students don't want to learn anything.
- Chompy, on 02/01/2009, -0/+8Hey don't forget "no child left behind"; because every kid has the same ability level.
- wikiworld, on 02/02/2009, -0/+8As a teacher, I think I can speak for all of us: Grades are the worst part of the job
- RobotBuddha, on 02/01/2009, -0/+8Most of my family have been teachers, for several generations back now. My generation were all warned to not even think about getting into it. It's a noble profession, but it's fighting an uphill battle just to do your job.
- steviesteveo, on 02/02/2009, -0/+7I don't understand how you can get all that detail from the article. He doesn't say that everyone blows it off, he says that some do so he fails them.
Half the class did fail - he's not flunking them for putting full stops in the wrong place, he's flunking them because they don't sit the tests they need to. You think teachers should sit the tests if the student's not there or something?
Just because you're in a different situation doesn't give you the right, or ability or background, to say that something never happens. - steviesteveo, on 02/02/2009, -0/+7Agreed, that's exactly my experience too. As soon as you get in a place where people really want to be there everything's much better. If you're still in high school where people are sitting around trying to be cooler than everyone else by any means possible then there's clearly no way you're going to be in a situation for learning.
- bpwrinn, on 02/02/2009, -0/+7The problem with the NCLB Act is that it's forcing teachers to "look" superhuman when they can't. By pressuring teachers to hand out phony grades, we're dumbing down our kids for generations to come. It's a serious problem, one I hope will be dealt with soon under this new administration.
Cuz I'm going to be one of those teachers in a few semesters. :O - josejimenez, on 02/02/2009, -0/+7When I was in college, the purpose of intro classes like "Physics for Engineers and Scientists I" was to weed out the weaker students. We started out with 40, only 10 finished the course. However the 10 that did finish the first physics class went on to get their bachelor degrees in math, physics, engineering or computer science.
- talonstriker, on 02/02/2009, -0/+7>> half the tests I walk out feeling violated.
You'll fit right in at college. All thought the "half" will be replaced by "most." - Nauree, on 02/01/2009, -10/+17I know what you mean. I had this one biology teacher in highschool that was total crap. Couldnt teach worth *****. Worried more about school code of conduct than actual lecturing. She wrote me up one day and sent me to the office because I wore no socks. Seriously wtf. In a one year period of time she had a tree fall though her house, a stroke, and her husband had a heart attack. Karmas a bitch.
- Paulish, on 02/02/2009, -0/+7I am in the EXACT same situation jmill987. I am a senior that is going to a local CC and you couldn't be more right. When students are herded into a classroom by law it is no surprise there might be people who don't want to be there or who don't give a *****.
- steviesteveo, on 02/02/2009, -7/+14Yes, this teacher sent you to the office for a uniform violation so you think it's fine her life was ruined in the space of a year.
Take a look at yourself. Karma's a bitch, eh? Better watch both ways when you cross the street. - byrdgang, on 02/02/2009, -1/+8You teach algebra and science?
Nevermind, your name is mathsciteach. -
Show 51 - 100 of 182 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is