Last Updated on: 25th April 2012, 01:56 pm
>This is another case where I have no words, and I can hear the words “We’re doomed!” resounding in my head. I can also hear the words of another man. I do some work for an adult literacy organization here in Guelph, and they had a little volunteer appreciation night. Someone who’s been with them from the beginning did a speech. One of his closing statements was “The only way we can have less kids slip through the cracks and need adult literacy programs is to fail the ones who need to fail instead of just handing them outa pass.” I hear those words because now a whole bunch of school districts across the States are rounding up grades below 50 to 50 so it’s harder to fail.
Nooo! It may be harder to fail, but it will be harder for the kid to get the message that they’re not getting it. Would you pay a worker for half a day even if they didn’t show up? No! With this new system, averages that should rightly be in the 50’s are falsely inflated to 65!
And what does that teach a kid about basic math? 0 = 50? No! Not after you get out into the real world, kid!
