Upgrading an F
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- 5/29/2008 |
- 10:00 am
Apparently hitting bottom will no longer apply in education; now there's a safety net that will stop you halfway to the bottom. It's another in a long line of terrible ideas that come across as compassionate, and yet once again send a ridiculously bad message. Here's what's going on...
Several schools across America have instituted a policy whereby no classroom grade can be lower than a 50. Some have labeled it ZAP, for "zeroes aren't permitted." If you don't show up, if you blow off your work, or if you thumb your nose at the teacher and the entire educational system, you'll still be rewarded with a score of 50 rather than zero.
Proponents say it will help failing students rebound more quickly; if you have a zero, or ten, or twenty for that matter, it takes more work to get your grade back up above the failing mark.
Uh...right. And here's a news flash: if you had done the work in the first place, like the students who received passing grades, you wouldn't have to worry about it.
Once again a bad idea is floated as a measure of coddling students. And once again the big picture is ignored for the sake of misguided (and false) compassion. The lesson, which is loud and clear to underachievers, remains: "No effort necessary!" Now students need only apply themselves half the time - or less - in order to skate by.
I've read many of the arguments from proponents which, while sounding noble, are thinly veiled excuses for rewarding bad behavior, and, as usual, diminish the efforts of good students. This latter result irks me most of all.
Imagine the long-term results when multiple generations of safety-net children assume responsibility.
Oh, the irony.
