Apparently getting an F is not bad enough; we now have to determine what type of F the student gets. 
The new type of grading policy being adopted by schools across the U.S. is having 50 percent be the “low” if a student fails, citing that if a student fails, it is often difficult to make up the grade later in the year.
You are kidding right?!
In addition to dumbing down the classes to make sure we leave no child behind, we now want to make sure the kids that are failing don’t feel like they are that far behind?
Correct me if I am wrong, if you have a 50 percent F versus a 30 percent F, you still failed — right?!
Hey, some people get to be astronauts; some people get to ask “for here or to go?”. Making them feel better about their F, or making it easier to come back to a D isn’t going to make the difference.
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This is so wrong. WRONG WRONG WRONG. As a matter of fact, I would go so far as to call this Un-American. We sit here and coddle every little child making sure they feel good about everything they do, then they hit the real world, experience real failure, and drop off the deep end, forcing them into a psychiatrists office and usually prescribed (needlessly) an anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication so they can feel good again before repeating said process. WE tell kids its okay to go get an abortion so we don’t punish them with a baby and “ruin” their lives, and better yet, so you dont get in trouble you don’t even have to tell your parents anymore. And yet, the same people who prescribe sex as natural for kids as young as 11, who are fully “mature” enough to make this type of decision, they state that allowing them access to a military recruiter is bad, and they are just kids who arent mature enough to understand they’re being “duped” by some sheister in a uniform, who’s there to make a quick buck on their naivete before they die. I’d like to create a government office of Common Sense, where I run it, along side an arsenal designed to punish people that come up with these stupid ideas. Naturally my common sense would never let me follow through, but a nice comfy gov’t job with an insanely exhorbitant salary would cmfort me some! LOL
It’s like saying that someone is slightly pregnant. There really are no degrees to failure in a true sense. Ask the boys and girls down at the local Juvee hall. Bars are bars, failure is failure. The education system once more demonstrates its real colors.
It almost always comes back to the dollar, and this is no exception. Kids who fall behind in grades are much more likely to drop out of school. When a kid drops out the school loses money for the attendance of that student. Keeping grades artificially inflated keeps kids in school and more money in the districts pockets.
That is the same reason you see alternative schools in just about every district. It is cheaper to open the new avenue for the students than to lose the money entirely.
Part of me says if a kid doesn’t want to perform then they need to go get a job and learn what life is like. On the other hand I would hate to be held accountable for the rest of my life for every dumb thing I did in high school.
Either way they will be flipping burgers somewhere.
A mother of two teens myself, this angers me quite a bit. I do have one child that is failing, and now taking summer school to move on to the next grade. If you ask me, I think he should fail, and have to be in the same grade as his sister next year, maybe that will help him learn a lesson.
I live in a small town in Idaho, and am appauld at the way the school system works around here. Seems like there isn’t much teaching involved, and I am sure it has to do with money, but come on!
I think this system is leaving a bad impression on the kids, they are learning more and more that they have to do less and less work to pass. And, when they do finally graduate……what have they learned, but how not to learn. And, these are the kids that will be making my decisions in the future – kinda scary.
Thanks for the comments U.B.D.
You make a great point that goes beyond the actual grade. What have they learned in addition to NOT learning the subject matter?!
When I was very young I was faced with a similar situation as your teen. I turned out alright (but then again, perhaps I should ask my mother to weigh-in).
When faced with true failure one has a decision to make. I believe it is at that moment we start to understand we can control our own actions. It is the learned skill that can go far in life!
As a volunteer tutor for middle school students at an alternative school I’m appalled at their lack of respect, flithy language and who-cares attitude. At PTA time maybe 3 parents come. There is next to nothing in parental care/concern. I’ve come to the conclusion if a student “doesn’t get it” simply fill a back pack with rocks and have him walk the football field all day until his attitude becomes adjusted.
Judy, I couldn’t agree with you more. Parents need to be involved. Actually, let me correct that statement without going back and deleting…
Parents MUST be involved!
Thanks for the comment!
I have to agree with a lot of the comments showing up on this forum. I’m recently out of high school, 18 years old, and currently attending a University. I absolutely agree that it is ridiculous to now allow “degrees” of failure. It’s failing one way or the other. I am finding that my 4.0 in high school doesn’t nearly equate to anything at a technological university where the standards are higher than most other colleges, let alone high schools. I used to be able to literally sleep through classes. It’s not that I’m any smarter, it’s the lack of drive within the system. If no one says you should do your best rather than simply go for a the easy “A,” you’re never going to strive to be any more than you are. I’m finding now that if I don’t do my best, I’m letting myself down and wasting my time and money. It’s rough, and it should have been a lesson I learned in high school, not college.