| Art, PE and Music elective classes should be pass/fail in high school. There is no reason to grade those classes. Students are required to take them as electives to graduate. Some kids are lucky because they have a natural talent or affinity for one or more of those areas, but for the rest of us, it really sucks to be graded. Better for kids to have exposure to these subjects than resent them because they get graded. However, AP Music Theory, AP Art History etc., are truly academic classes and of course should be graded. |
| In other words, OP’s kid took art because he thought it would be an easy A and now is upset that his bare minimum effort in only getting him Bs. |
It would be nice if they also had time to learn to read too but with all these arts and sports that isn't happening. |
Hahahahahaha yes, all the arts and sports. 45 minutes a week for each in ES, when they presumably "learn to read." |
45 minutes a week?!? Electives are every day. |
Art is required. |
| Reading instruction time? In high school? If somebody needs more time learning to read I hope they can get out of art and get a tutor. But please let’s not make everybody do more reading instruction. Reading is more important than art but time spent in instruction at some point has diminishing returns and kids need to use their minds in different ways. |
Where? |
Uhhhh are you a ceramicist? Because the kiln is a tool that can be controlled like any other tool. |
So? He still probably thought it would be an easy A because “any idiot can do art,” put in minimal effort and now is surprised it’s only earning him Bs. |
You have to be accepted to a university first and then the music school. It’s the same GPA and other requirements for music majors as it is for every other major at colleges and universities. PP is clearly ignorant. |
And I doubt the B was a surprise. |
PP was saying 45 min/week in ES when students are also receiving reading instruction. And not all secondary schools have electives everyday. There are schools on block schedules with alternating days of 4 classes each. |
| I can’t even imagine being an art teacher having to put up with these kinds of parents. |
Baloney. My kids are both extremely talented artists. But they didn't just naturally become talented. They worked incredibly hard and have put in hundreds and hundreds of hours, have taken classes, etc. Art should absolutely be graded. Kids who are good in math aren't just naturally good. They work dang hard at it. I'm not saying there isn't some natural gifting in any of these areas. But it's what you do with it that matters. PE, music, electives are all the same. The kids who stand out, who really stand out and earn the A's, they earned those A's. It's not like they were naturally bestowed with ability that came easy. They worked hard. In fact, my daughter has worked so hard in art, as well as many other classes, that she's been offered a spot in Yale's art program. |