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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The point is that mcps has lowered the bar, so kids can slack off, turn in sub-par work and still earn straight Ps. That's the issue: the lowering of the bar. It's pathetic.

When I was in elementary school (catholic school in MoCo), I could do the following in 4th grade:

1. Read a chapter in a text book (science, social studies) and prepare for a test by myself. (Note: mcps doesn't teach this skill until middle school. Actually, I take that back. They never teach that skill; rather, they expect kids to magically know how to do this when they arrive in MS).

2. Research and write a basic report or paper by myself (using the library, encyclopedias, textbooks, etc.).

3. Memorize long passages (albeit of scripture) and recite them orally every week. Mcps hates memorization. Regardless, having that weekly task which required me to study and memorize something that I had to recite each week helped with study skills as well as public speaking.

My straight Ps kids can't do this. [/quote]

So your evidence that MCPS has "lowered the bar" is:

1. Fourth-graders don't learn how to use a textbook to study for a test.
2. Fourth-graders don't learn how to research or write a basic report or paper by themselves.
3. Fourth-graders don't learn to memorize long passages from the Bible and recite them in front of the class.

Yes?

Well, I agree that fourth-graders in MCPS don't learn how to use a textbook to study for a test. That's fine with me. I don't think that textbooks are very useful for fourth-graders, and I keep hearing that there is too much testing in public schools.

I disagree that fourth-graders don't learn how to research and write a paper. My child did that in second grade and is doing it again in third grade.

I agree that fourth-graders don't learn to memorize long passages from the Bible and recite them in front of the class. That's because MCPS is public school. There's plenty of oral presentation in class, though. As for memorizing long passages of any sort -- I expect, based on my own public-school education, that MCPS lowered that bar at least 40 years ago.[/quote]

My 4th grader just did a big research project on a Native American tribe, and last year she had to research her country of orgin. Both projects required a class presentation.

In 3rd grade there was lots of practicing multiplication facts for speed, which is a form of memorization. Jay Matthews has a column in today's Post lamenting education's abandonment of rote memorization.[/quote]

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