The dog ate my homework, gimme 50%

To usher in a new wave of stupidity in our children a superintendent has "recommended" a new grading system where even if you fail to turn in your home work or do a test the lowest grade you'll get is 50% You can read the story here. In a nutshell the changes are below







OLD SYSTEM NEW SYSTEM
90 - 100% = A 90 - 100% = A
80 - 89% = B 80 - 89% = B
70 - 79% = C 70 - 79% = C
60 - 69% = D 60 - 69% = D
0 - 59% = F 50 - 59% = F

So the lowest possible grade is 50%. They don't' really specify, but it seems like if you turn in your homework and only get 20% of the answers right, you'll still get 50% the same as if you failed to turn in the homework in the first place. Same with tests.

At this point the grading system is not mandatory just "advised" but what the hell is that teaching our kids? If I stopped coming to work every day would they still pay me 50% of my salary? If I failed to pay for my mortgage would they credit me a 50% payment?

!$%#@ I can't believe this crap!!!

The stated though behind this idiotic decision is that some children rebel the first few weeks of school, and the teachers don't want to send the message that if you fail the first month you're guaranteed to fail the whole semester.

Two problems.

#1) Homework and such are worth much fewer points then tests, in my day a homework assignment was 5 points, quizzes 20, tests 100. If you miss a few homework assignments it's not the end of the world anyway. You can make it up on the test later. If you're failing tests you deserve to fail and should be held back, since you obviously do not understand the material. This brings me to the second reason

#2) They LIE....This is isn't about sending the students a message, this is about staying in compliance with the No Child Left Behind act of 2001 (thanks Bush). The law is long and covers a ton of stuff, but the part that really applies in this case is that this law provides financial penalties for schools that do not improve grades and financial rewards for schools that do. Wikipedia has a section on "Gaming the System"... you tell me if that doesn't sound like exactly what is going on.

The system of incentives and penalties sets up a strong motivation for schools, districts, and states to manipulate test results. For example, schools have been shown to exclude minorities or other groups (to enhance apparent school performance; as many as 2 million students)^[13] and have employed creative reclassification of drop-outs (to reduce unfavorable statistics).^[14]

Critics argue that these and other strategies create an inflated perception of NCLB's successes, particularly in states with high minority populations.^[15]

The incentives for an improvement also may cause states to lower their official standards. Missouri, for example, improved testing scores but openly admitted that they lowered the standards.^[16]

Teaching student's that it's OK to completely cut class and skip assignments by giving them 50% credit anyway to reap the financial benefits (and avoid penalties) of the No Child Left Behind act... NOT AT ALL TOMLAND APPROVED