One of the dumbest PC things to date.

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  • motown13
    motown13 Posts: 688 Member
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    I say bring back the DUNCE cap!

    Ha... I went to Catholic school... they made us sit under the teacher's desk if we did anything wrong. I also remember having to stand a whole period wearing a sign around my neck.
  • SGT_Reg
    SGT_Reg Posts: 186 Member
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    The pussification of America continues...

    Yep, only it's not just America.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    Oh wow. I mean, I guess it breaks it down with specifics on where improvement is needed. Do they not get any overall scores in classes? As, Bs, etc.?

    No, they don't. :grumble:

    I tutored a high school kid last year. Apparently, it's also policy in the county I live in that children are no longer allowed to bring home graded homework, quizzes, or exams. All you get to see is a "grade" based on a "benchmark" on a website. They won't even send home photocopies.

    Tutoring a kid that had no graded work to look at was almost impossible for either of us. It's absurd.

    Sounds like your county is using standardized materials and doesn't want them getting out.
  • MightyDomo
    MightyDomo Posts: 1,265 Member
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    Exactly. I had to walk to school 2 miles in the snow up hill both ways. Kids today couldn't handle that.

    I honestly had to do things like this. When I missed the school bus to my school that was about 2 hours away I did not get to stay home, I walked two hours in about 2 feet of snow (about waist height for me then) and I didn't complain all that much. All I was worried about was that my snow pants were soaking.

    Now there are kids that literally pushed me with a fractured ankle out of the way to get on a public bus transit (hurting me in the process and making me miss the bus) just so they can ride it literally 5 blocks. 5!!!
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    How does this pussify anyone? It's an *F* or *wrong* whether it's in blue, black, red or green.

    Our elementary schools haven't used red ink in over 10 years. They felt it stood out too much and other kids could easily see it. When you have a kid that's already struggling why add being teased by their classmates to it?

    How does this effect you?

    "affect"

    Maybe if your english teacher used more red ink......

    You could learn the art of capitalisation?
  • BamaBreezeNSaltAire
    BamaBreezeNSaltAire Posts: 966 Member
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    Oh wow. I mean, I guess it breaks it down with specifics on where improvement is needed. Do they not get any overall scores in classes? As, Bs, etc.?

    No, they don't. :grumble:

    I tutored a high school kid last year. Apparently, it's also policy in the county I live in that children are no longer allowed to bring home graded homework, quizzes, or exams. All you get to see is a "grade" based on a "benchmark" on a website. They won't even send home photocopies.

    Tutoring a kid that had no graded work to look at was almost impossible for either of us. It's absurd.

    Wow Rex, that IS absurd. I'd personally be pissed at this one if my child was in that system....I don't give a CRAP about a benchmark score, I want to see where my son is progressing or not progressing based on what he EARNS. Don't get me wrong, I see this benchmark $#@+ and it drives me nuts. It's a relative grade based on the average performance of students across the nation. Hardly an even way of addressing learning when you take many under performing schools and average it out with over performing schools and then say your child fits X.
  • BrettPGH
    BrettPGH Posts: 4,720 Member
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    Exactly. I had to walk to school 2 miles in the snow up hill both ways.

    I honestly had to do things like this.

    Yeah. It's kids TODAY who aren't learning anything...

    (my doctor says if I keep rolling my eyes like this I'm going to have an aneurysm)
  • Deka61
    Deka61 Posts: 74
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    In primary school, we got stars for good work, bronze, silver and gold, a little star sticker. For tests, there was often a small prize such as chocolate coated peanuts or smarties. It really was an incentive to do well. In the juniors the red pen appeared, and we didn't like to see too much of that. Worst of all was the comment at the bottom of an essay "see me after class". Where the teacher would tell us exactly that the work was not up to scratch, and usually be quite helpful in putting us right. Better than being told off in front of our piers.

    So if the little dears are "traumatised" by red pen, then just wait for why life has waiting for them. I'm reminded of the film Leon the professional, when Matilda, who has a bloody nose, asks Leon "Is life always this hard or just when you're a kid?" Leon replies "Always like this"
  • tinak33
    tinak33 Posts: 9,883 Member
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    My son brings home papers marked in a variety of colors. I prefer red because it makes is easier for me to find what he is getting wrong on his papers. Blue or black ink tends to blend in.

    ^^^ This.
    Most things are printed in black. Blue ink can look similar to black if it's dark blue.
    Years ago, red was probably the only other color option at the time for pens, so teachers used it to mark things so they stood out and made it easier for kids and parents to spot what was wrong.

    Now we have a variety of colors. :smile: Any color that isn't too close to blue and black is fine. The point was most likely just to have it stand out.
    Now red probably has that "stigma" to mean something bad or wrong.
    And if teachers write big, it can seem "angry". Like getting yelled on paper.

    I understand the concept of using a different color.

    But in my opinion.... it's just a color. And I think red is pretty. :flowerforyou:
  • polarsjewel
    polarsjewel Posts: 1,726 Member
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    How does this pussify anyone? It's an *F* or *wrong* whether it's in blue, black, red or green.

    Our elementary schools haven't used red ink in over 10 years. They felt it stood out too much and other kids could easily see it. When you have a kid that's already struggling why add being teased by their classmates to it?

    How does this effect you?

    "affect"

    Maybe if your english teacher used more red ink......

    *applaudes*
  • motown13
    motown13 Posts: 688 Member
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    Along these lines, I chose to walk my kids to school where I lived when they were in 4th grade... Sure, we only lived 6 houses from the school, but the school had a rule, unless brought to the school by a parent, they would have to take a bus.... from 6 houses away..... When I was in 2nd grade, I was walking 5 or 6 blocks to school in a not so great section of Philadelphia. To those who know.... think 2nd and the Boulevard, in the Olney section of Philly.
  • determinedbutlazy
    determinedbutlazy Posts: 1,941 Member
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    I'm a teacher, I love my red pen.

    What about colourblind kids? RG colourblind kids see red as green anyway...
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
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    Hum, I'm trying to think back and I can say that I don't recall the color of the writing utinsils used by my teachers. What I can say is that they tended to use the same color no matter the grade, I'm sure I had some who were old school and used red.

    I'm an auditor and the color of ink used when putting together test workpapers used to mean something . . . but with automated workpapers I don't recall which colors you are supposed to use for what. I think tickmarks were in red just so that they stood out, sign-offs in blue, and everything else in black, but maybe green for page numbering . . . I used to use green to indicate my review notes too, but that was just preference.
  • underwater77
    underwater77 Posts: 331 Member
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    You could learn the art of capitalisation?

    Irony, party of one...
  • Chapter3point6
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    28185619_9832.jpg
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    You could learn the art of capitalisation?

    Irony, party of one...

    Yes, it must be all the red ink marking I had as a child.

    In the UK.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    Oh wow. I mean, I guess it breaks it down with specifics on where improvement is needed. Do they not get any overall scores in classes? As, Bs, etc.?

    No, they don't. :grumble:

    I tutored a high school kid last year. Apparently, it's also policy in the county I live in that children are no longer allowed to bring home graded homework, quizzes, or exams. All you get to see is a "grade" based on a "benchmark" on a website. They won't even send home photocopies.

    Tutoring a kid that had no graded work to look at was almost impossible for either of us. It's absurd.

    Sounds like your county is using standardized materials and doesn't want them getting out.
    Your kid has a cell phone with a camera on it, right? ;)
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    You should see how they do report cards now. You need an education degree to decipher it. Rather than grading them for subjects, they score them for benchmarks. I sent a comment informing them that educational jargon is utterly useless to a parent looking to reinforce performance.

    i just recently heard the term "benchmark." what is it exactly?


    i was actually going to post that i am surprised kids even receive grades anymore.

    A benchmark is a performance measure. Like for example, for math her report card looked something like this (scale of 1-4; 1 - not meeting and 4 - exceeding):

    Understands simple arithmetic functions - 3
    Uses and interprets graphs - 4
    Converts fractions to decimals - 2
    Understands geometric shapes - 4
    Understands and utilizes algebraic expression - 1

    No overall score in math provided. How exactly is a parent supposed to know how to reinforce the child's performance? I could understand including this as an accompaniment to the report card. But I can't go through each line item, translate it so that she understands what she is being praised for, and then reward her for each one.

    This sounds way more useful then just sucking at math or being good at math! You have a very concrete idea of what your child needs to work on. Elite private schools can often have literal reports, in which each teacher writes a paragraph or so about the student's performance.

    That being said, I have always loved the "understands" ones...she knows that adding means more, but she can't actually add two plus two. And we are pretty much forced to set program goals we know our students can achieve, otherwise the program is a failure. "Meets expectations" is a pretty broad term. I have a few students I don't really expect to show up to the test.

    Those are my gripes. Yes, it's helpful in the respect that you know your kids strengths and weaknesses, but I reward my kids for a good report card. Without even an average, I don't know wether to reward or punish my kid. I don't even know how to translate these things to her so she will know her own performance. I assume that the expectation is that kids shouldn't be punished, but I can't reward her when it isn't really clear that she did well.
  • VelociMama
    VelociMama Posts: 3,119 Member
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    Oh wow. I mean, I guess it breaks it down with specifics on where improvement is needed. Do they not get any overall scores in classes? As, Bs, etc.?

    No, they don't. :grumble:

    I tutored a high school kid last year. Apparently, it's also policy in the county I live in that children are no longer allowed to bring home graded homework, quizzes, or exams. All you get to see is a "grade" based on a "benchmark" on a website. They won't even send home photocopies.

    Tutoring a kid that had no graded work to look at was almost impossible for either of us. It's absurd.

    Sounds like your county is using standardized materials and doesn't want them getting out.

    It took me several meetings and weeks to figure out what was going wrong so we could work on addressing it, and it turns out a lot of her poor grades were from the teacher marking off points for "missed steps" despite that fact that she actually got the correct answer via the correct logical arguments. Apparently, there is some kind of "standard grading scheme" that this teacher was using to assess grades, and if a student deviated from that scheme in any way, they were marked off even if what the student did was correct and logically sound.

    It was very strange and seemed extremely counterproductive to learning. She was learning and applying the information very well, but was being told via her grades that she was a failure because she didn't fill in some detail that some teacher said was "necessary" but was by no means so. I can appreciate the need to encourage learning and to encourage fairness in grading, but it feels like, at least from my experience with tutoring high-school and middle-school kids in my area, that it's being taken to an unproductive extreme.
  • aekimz23
    aekimz23 Posts: 112 Member
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    I once had a test graded in pencil. I could've erased my grade, replaced it with a 100% and a supportive smiley face. But the fact that it wasn't written in red pen didn't make my teacher any less of a doo-doo head. :mad: