Anonymous wrote:I agree with you on no rankings or percents in elementary, but don't agree that creativity should be lumped in to this discussion. My son's 1st grade AAP pull out is the only time other than writing that he gets to think out of the box. It certainly isn't hurting him and is continuing to help him be engaged in math even though much of the work in class is not at his level.

I don't think rankings and percentages are necessary, but I have no problems at all with awards as others have mentioned. "Best Language Arts Student of the Quarter". "Most Helpful".

I went to a private school and all of these awards had names, but absolutely girls got recognition for working and performing at a stellar level. We've become so focused on not making poor performing kids (whether academically or athletically) feel bad that we lose sight of the importance of encouraging and rewarding success.

I agree with you on no rankings or percents in elementary, but don't agree that creativity should be lumped in to this discussion. My son's 1st grade AAP pull out is the only time other than writing that he gets to think out of the box. It certainly isn't hurting him and is continuing to help him be engaged in math even though much of the work in class is not at his level.

Anonymous wrote:And they don't rank the high school students now and give them GPA's? This thread started about elementary school which is a bit early for ranking.

Yes. My first grade son apparently lost it in class and burst out in tears when he got a math test back and got 1 wrong question due to a silly mistake. He got a 90%. All year he had been getting 100% on everything. We think first grade is even early for percent grading. Don't you remember just getting smiley faces and checks and minuses? I was in elementary school in Fairfax County in the mid70s-early 80s and don't even remember grades this early on.

It's crazy because DH and I don't even discuss grades since our kids are so young---just do your best mentality, etc. I felt like the teacher must think I am some crazy tiger mom that beats her kids for anything less than 100%. He puts the pressure solely on himself and is a perfectionist in sports too. However, the schools forcing grading/pull-outs, etc. so early are doing our kids a disservice. Creativity has taken a backseat. I am fairly taditional in my beliefs in academic teaching methods but I do think we've gotten extreme in this area. Class rank in elem. school is crazy. Kids progress at different rates...academic stars early on don't always end up that way by HS. There is a reason our country has the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates---not some of the countries others have touted as superior in learning. They can't think outside of a box in a lot of those places.

And they don't rank the high school students now and give them GPA's? This thread started about elementary school which is a bit early for ranking.

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing people are asking because you started off saying " in other countries they do this". Things haven't changed that much here and there's a lot of backlash now against trophy children and ubercompetitiveness. Not sure why you are surprised things are the way they are when you grew up here.

What? Actually things have changed a lot here. We were ranked when I was in school. In HS I was 1148 out of 1760 (just checked my report card). And we had grades and GPA's from the beginning.

Class rank was huge when I was in high school in Fairfax County in the late 80s. I am 42 but can still tell you I ranked 11 out of 582 students...missing the top 10 just barely.

I'm guessing people are asking because you started off saying " in other countries they do this". Things haven't changed that much here and there's a lot of backlash now against trophy children and ubercompetitiveness. Not sure why you are surprised things are the way they are when you grew up here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I was born here.....what country are you suggesting I go back to?

what about about your husband or DC's dad? where's he from?

West Virginia...... I'm from Florida.

What's your point?

Anonymous wrote: I was born here.....what country are you suggesting I go back to?

what about about your husband or DC's dad? where's he from?

When I was in grade school, there was a ceremony at the end of every grading period for highest average in every subject. I got called up for every category, every grading period. It was embarassing, the other kids rolled their eyes through the whole ceremony. Luckily the ceremonies stopped after the 4th grade.

Well General Petraeus was a winner until just last week. Things are not so clear cut. Fine with me if you want to make your children feel like a loser if they don't make the cut, but I will continue to press for more engagement and challenge in academics for all instead.

This is why the whites have been surpassed by the asians. Life is full of winners and losers, but I guess everyone is a winner according to how the country voted for obama.

To the poster suggesting that all the Koreans and Russians go home. Good luck with that...

They do that here too once a year. I honestly don't know what the OP is complaining about.