more of the "everyone gets a trophy" gone amuck

Nutshell:

Do away with valedictorian.

Justification is that kids take easy classes just so they can get a good GPA, just to get valedictorian.

They'll replace with a "WEIGHTED" GPA system so they can honor more kids as magna or summa cum laude - which makes no sense, because won't kids just take easy classes to get a good GPA there too?

And they were bitching because students weren't 'corroborating' with each other in lieu of being competitive about their GPA...

Quote

The Wake County school board unanimously gave initial approval Tuesday to a policy that would bar high school principals from naming valedictorians and salutatorians – titles which go to the two seniors with the highest grade-point averages – after 2018. Starting in 2019, high schools would begin using a new system that recognizes seniors with Latin titles such as cum laude if they have a weighted GPA of at least 3.75.

School board members said the change will allow students to take more of the courses they’d like rather than just the ones that will boost their GPA and class rank.

“We have heard from many, many schools that the competition has become very unhealthy,” school board Chairman Tom Benton said in an interview. “Students were not collaborating with each other the way that we would like them to. Their choice of courses was being guided by their GPA and not their future education plans.”

Final approval of the policy change could come June 7. If the change is approved, state law will still require Wake to record class rank on student transcripts.

Wake is planning to switch to a system similar to the language that colleges use to recognize high-achieving students.

The new policy proposes using the Latin honors system of recognizing students with a weighted GPA of 4.25 or higher with the distinction of summa cum laude. Seniors with a weighted GPA of 4.0 to 4.249 would receive the distinction of magna cum laude.

Seniors with a weighted GPA of 3.75 to 3.99 could receive the designation of cum laude.

The new system would result in more seniors being recognized. Benton said this is a better approach, especially in schools where there could be 400 to 600 seniors, for recognizing students than just to single out one or two students in a ranking that could come down to a thousandths of a decimal point.

“We think it’s much healthier to set high expectations and high requirements for magna cum laude,” Benton said. “The students now have a target that they can shoot for and if they achieve that they’re recognized for that.”

Most Wake high schools now name a valedictorian and salutatorian, who generally make a speech at graduation. Benton said the board is not considering using both valedictorians and salutatorians and the Latin honors system.

There was no opposition voiced to the change at the board meeting. But previously, critics on online forums have accused Wake of being “politically correct” with the change.

“I love competition,” Benton said. “But there are competitions that you can measure very correctly and they do spur people on to bigger and better things.

“There are competitions that are much harder to have objective measurements and grading falls into that. You’ve got the subjectivity of grades being determinate.”

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article78205492.html#storylink=cpy

The high school here had 4 valedictorians- ugh.

In this day of spread sheets, go back to the practice of averaging across all the numerical scores achieved in their individual classes during the high school years. This as opposed to averaging across letter grades. I.e. I got a 94.6 in Latin II as opposed to a 3 given to a B grade today. Tough school back in those days, took a 95 or better to get an A, and they did not round up.

Our report cards listed numerical grades with ranges for letter grades noted on the back.

There will never be a tie, and we'll only have to listen to two speeches.

I'm not a fan of rated classes either. A kid that wants to be a farmer should have the same opportunities as those aspiring to be physicists.

Most of the low end will have a McJob anyway. If one at all.

Let it sink in early.

A weighted gpa system simply means using a 5 point scale instead of 4 point. Only Advanced Placement or Honors courses use the 5 point scale. Make an A in Latin and that counts more than an A in bowling.

Liberalism marches on....

Lord knows we don't want kids to ever have to embrace the concept of disappointment... that way they will never have to learn anything to have to overcome it, and grow from the experience....

That way they will be perfectly fine, never working, letting their mind rot, live off of welfare and vote DemocRAT for the rest of their lives.

"I majered in Wimmen's studys and minered in Blakk studys."

"I am ENTITLED to a $200K starting saleri becauz I had a 4.25 GPA.

"I need dat monie to tak care of mi 4 chillin cuz all der daddies be in jail."

"I don have to ax nobody nuttin cuz I be so smart!"

Better have your kids study Chinese as they will need it.

Lots of kids gonna be up schitt creek when they get out into the real world!!

Originally Posted by Sharpsman

Lots of kids gonna be up schitt creek when they get out into the real world!!

The real world is gonna beat the hell out of them.

Originally Posted by 1000is

Better have your kids study Chinese as they will need it.

真的！

Originally Posted by RWE

Nutshell:

Do away with valedictorian.

Justification is that kids take easy classes just so they can get a good GPA, just to get valedictorian.

They'll replace with a "WEIGHTED" GPA system so they can honor more kids as magna or summa cum laude - which makes no sense, because won't kids just take easy classes to get a good GPA there too?

And they were bitching because students weren't 'corroborating' with each other in lieu of being competitive about their GPA...

Quote

The Wake County school board unanimously gave initial approval Tuesday to a policy that would bar high school principals from naming valedictorians and salutatorians – titles which go to the two seniors with the highest grade-point averages – after 2018. Starting in 2019, high schools would begin using a new system that recognizes seniors with Latin titles such as cum laude if they have a weighted GPA of at least 3.75.

School board members said the change will allow students to take more of the courses they’d like rather than just the ones that will boost their GPA and class rank.

“We have heard from many, many schools that the competition has become very unhealthy,” school board Chairman Tom Benton said in an interview. “Students were not collaborating with each other the way that we would like them to. Their choice of courses was being guided by their GPA and not their future education plans.”

Final approval of the policy change could come June 7. If the change is approved, state law will still require Wake to record class rank on student transcripts.

Wake is planning to switch to a system similar to the language that colleges use to recognize high-achieving students.

The new policy proposes using the Latin honors system of recognizing students with a weighted GPA of 4.25 or higher with the distinction of summa cum laude. Seniors with a weighted GPA of 4.0 to 4.249 would receive the distinction of magna cum laude.

Seniors with a weighted GPA of 3.75 to 3.99 could receive the designation of cum laude.

The new system would result in more seniors being recognized. Benton said this is a better approach, especially in schools where there could be 400 to 600 seniors, for recognizing students than just to single out one or two students in a ranking that could come down to a thousandths of a decimal point.

“We think it’s much healthier to set high expectations and high requirements for magna cum laude,” Benton said. “The students now have a target that they can shoot for and if they achieve that they’re recognized for that.”

Most Wake high schools now name a valedictorian and salutatorian, who generally make a speech at graduation. Benton said the board is not considering using both valedictorians and salutatorians and the Latin honors system.

There was no opposition voiced to the change at the board meeting. But previously, critics on online forums have accused Wake of being “politically correct” with the change.

“I love competition,” Benton said. “But there are competitions that you can measure very correctly and they do spur people on to bigger and better things.

“There are competitions that are much harder to have objective measurements and grading falls into that. You’ve got the subjectivity of grades being determinate.”

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article78205492.html#storylink=cpy

You're against the weighted system? As much as I wish an A was an A regardless of what class you're taking, most places, classes like Physics and Chemistry are harder than VoAg. And I took a lot of VoAg classes. I like simple, but some things just aren't. I don't know what the [bleep] the dude is talking about with subjective grades. The only subjectivity involved is when teachers compromise their ethics and grade based on who the person is rather than what they achieved.

Originally Posted by EthanEdwards

You're against the weighted system?

All depends on who's establishing the weights and how - which is the problem.

Here, the honors level and advance placement classes get more "weight", not vo-ag compared to physics.

So basic farming and basic physics would be the same, but honors agriculture (if it existed) would get more weight then basic physics.

Eventually, advance placement "multicultural studies" would outweigh trigonometry.

And then we enter the subjectivity again.....

Vo-ag is underrated. I wish I would have taken, or been made to take more shop and practical application courses in high school.

Originally Posted by RWE

Originally Posted by EthanEdwards

You're against the weighted system?

All depends on who's establishing the weights and how - which is the problem.

Here, the honors level and advance placement classes get more "weight", not vo-ag compared to physics.

So basic farming and basic physics would be the same, but honors agriculture (if it existed) would get more weight then basic physics.

Eventually, advance placement "multicultural studies" would outweigh trigonometry.

And then we enter the subjectivity again.....

Vo-ag is underrated. I wish I would have taken, or been made to take more shop and practical application courses in high school.

Excellent points and well said.

I get so tired of people wanting to get accolades just for taking their morning turd.

We all do it, but I've never seen a trophy for it.

A little let-down is good for the soul.

.....ever since I took the Evelyn Woodhead Sped Riddin course, my riddin has im-provved one hunert percent and also comprenshun has increased won-der-full-lee. I recommend the Evelyn Woodhead Sped Riddin course to all mah friends out there, and tell them you heard it here first on Roller Derby.

Cheech and Chong 1973

How about this- the smart kid gets a great job and the rest go hungry.

Never saw a person or organization rise to greater heights by lowering the bar.

Originally Posted by Fireball2

How about this- the smart kid gets a great job and the rest go hungry.

Doesn't work that way. The smart kid gets a great job and feeds the rest who never rise above burger flipping.

It's all in what "weighted" means. All colleges use the "latin system" however it's not tied to a GPA, it's tied to rank, top 1%, 5% and 10%.

My school was "weighted", all classes where categorized as Level 1,2,3,AP. Your grade was then 'scaled' to even it out, so an A in L2 was the same as a B in L1, and so on.

There is fighting and animosity for the top spot, saw it first hand, my son was #6, but his best friend was #1, #1 and #2 and #3 all hated each other over who was higher ranked.

Any grading is dependent on the teacher as well. Our middle school recognized honors students for each year. We knew our son didn't make it as he got a C in the first term (had a 79.something average). We were shocked when he got the award for honor roll all 4 terms. Afterward his teach approached us and said she changed his first term grade so he could get the award. I pretty much went off on her that she had no right to do that, he got what he deserved in the first term, a C, and she was wrong to change it. She didn't understand why we were mad.

In what high school are the kids allowed to take ANY elective they want just to improve their GPA. There are electives, but no student gets carte blanche to just make their own schedule. Honors/advanced classes should be weighted more. Competition is healty.

This article makes no sense to me. My son is in private school, so maybe I'm missing a big piece of the puzzle. He is mandated certain classes per the curiculum. He is allowed 1 elective in each of his sophomore, junior, and senior years. Just 1 each year. That may boost his grade some, but the more heavily weighted classes should trump any elective.

Clyde

This situation and discussion bring out some interesting issues. Over the years, I have witnessed significant differences between those students who aspire to be "learners" as compared with those primarily driven to be "achievers".

Those who are deeper and sufficiently mature enough to realize that knowledge/wisdom/great skills are the highest goals of learning will seek the classes and teachers that are most likely to help them in their quest. Those students basically are in competetion with themselves and the world of learning. They seek the challenges.

At the other end of the spectrum of bright students are the ones who tend to rate themselves in comparison to the acomplishments of others and need the "marks" and the "noted achievements" for gratification. These are a different breed than those above, and quite often they will seek the easier course/teacher grading in their quest. With these students, a lot of contention can arise when the grades and "honors" are awarded.

At times the roles and vicarious experiences of parents come into play, sometimes to silly excess, and can push toward extremes. It seems sad when that factor is overbearing with regard to grades and "honors".

Of course, many good students are working between the extremes and experience varying degrees of personal outcomes and benefits. I most enjoy the students who are serious learners focused on their own development but who also have the competetive drive to give the "achievers" a good run for the medals.

Originally Posted by mikeymjr23

I get so tired of people wanting to get accolades just for taking their morning turd.

We all do it, but I've never seen a trophy for it.

Obviously you haven't visited my bathroom. There's a trophy in the bowl every morning.

Not HS, but graduating from college a friend of mine shared outstanding graduate honors with another student. Both of them had a 4.0 GPA, both were Honors Program graduates, et cetera. My friend majored in computer engineering, the other guy in history.

Would you 'fire members rank them the same?

Originally Posted by mathman

Not HS, but graduating from college a friend of mine shared outstanding graduate honors with another student. Both of them had a 4.0 GPA, both were Honors Program graduates, et cetera. My friend majored in computer engineering, the other guy in history.

Would you 'fire members rank them the same?

Depends.

Were either of them democrats?

mathman - interesting question and situation, but I wouldn't begin to try to do ranking simply on the basis of the info there.