Reply to The state of MCPS is atrocious

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The 50% grade thing for doing nothing was done in the name of equity. They foujnd that too many kids of certain groups were not doing any work. By giving 50% for doing nothing, then if they at least did one or two assignments, it would be enough for a D and they'd pass.

Otherwise, MCPS would fail its equity goals because certain groups would have too high of a failure rate.[/quote]

As a POC, it's a sick, twisted fix and I don't agree with it in the name of equity.

I do understand mathematically that too many zeros can make it mathematically impossible for a kid to recover from mistakes, but that's why I think due dates and deadlines are already a good grace that allows for revision and correction. Also, I think a policy that drops the three lowest grades, which used to be in effect when I was in MCPS in the '90s for some classes, also works too.

But the 50% automatic rule lowers the bar too much.[/quote]
+1000 agree.  When I went to HS eons ago in a rough area with not a lot of high achievers, high FARMS rate, they also let us drop the few lowest test scores. That is a much better way to deal with recovery because it still encourages them to try.

This 50% rule BS is not doing those kids any favors.[/quote]

To be Devil’s advocate on just this one point, what is so wrong with a kid coasting through and barely passing with straight D’s? The alternative is not that they will somehow get their sh*t together and become model students. The alternative is that dropout rates will go through the roof. These kids aren’t going to college. Straight D’s aren’t much of a prize. They just mean maybe you can qualify for a menial job. [/quote]

Frankly, a D should not be &quot;passing&quot; for a high school diploma, IMO. The long-term consequence in letting D being the standard for graduation, means that the high school diploma is worth less, which forces employers to rely on a bachelor's degree instead, just to get someone who can speak, write and read at a professional level, which then pushes more kids to college when they might just want to work.

So lowering the bar has all kinds of downstream effects that we pay for as a society. One of the reasons why previous generations could build wealth and own homes is that they actually could get a decent paying job with just a high school diploma. You could argue that society becoming more complex has also necessitated the push toward bachelor's degree as being the new standard, and that's part of it, but I also think lowering the standards for a high school diploma contributes to the problem too.[/quote]
I would argue a HS diploma meant more 50 years ago than today. The standards are too low today for just HS grads to get a job as an electrician, for example.  Some of these kids can barely read or do Algebra, do fractions.. yet, MCPS thinks these kids will be fine? They just unleash these graduates on society, and let society bear the burden of dealing with them.

It's a school to societal burden pipeline.
[/quote]

Please explain how failing out of high school makes someone less of a burden on society than  giving them a weak diploma. I have classmates who skipped classes and dropped out and ones who D'd through, for whom education just didn't work, with no college degree, who have decently paying white collar jobs. [/quote]
explain?  Really?  Let's see... an 18 yr old HS grad who can barely read or do fractions is going to get what kind of job out of HS?  And how much would that person earn? Would that person be able to live a decent life in expensive MoCo without taxpayer subsidies?

When did you graduate? Also, do you understand ancedata &lt;&gt; statistical data?  Why do people always bring their little anecdotal evidence into these discussions as if that anecdotal evidence applies to the whole rather than the exception. What is your degree in?[/quote]

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