Extra Credit, or Part Gazillion in My Ongoing Disenchantment with Schools

[Haiku]

My ninth grader had large review packets to complete in advance of midterm exams. These review packets had to be turned in and were graded. On one of them dd got a 65%.

 

Thankfully, she has the chance to go through it again and raise her grade.

 

Unfortunately, she will receive 20 points for affixing four "participation stickers" to the front of her review packet. Apparently, when the kids "participate" in class, they get stickers to hold in reserve for when they get a poor grade. They can then raise said poor grade by redeeming the stickers.

 

I feel like I am constantly doing battle with the school to get them to actually teach my child and not try to be social workers, social engineers, or cheerleaders! "Hurray! You did what you are supposed to do in class! Who cares that you don't know the material, here's an improved grade!"

 

My dd has definitely learned the "It's not the knowledge but the grade that counts" mentality of schools. I try to counteract it at home, but the school itself reinforces the idea. :mad:

 

Tara

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

My ninth grader had large review packets to complete in advance of midterm exams. These review packets had to be turned in and were graded. On one of them dd got a 65%.

 

Thankfully, she has the chance to go through it again and raise her grade.

 

Unfortunately, she will receive 20 points for affixing four "participation stickers" to the front of her review packet. Apparently, when the kids "participate" in class, they get stickers to hold in reserve for when they get a poor grade. They can then raise said poor grade by redeeming the stickers.

 

I feel like I am constantly doing battle with the school to get them to actually teach my child and not try to be social workers, social engineers, or cheerleaders! "Hurray! You did what you are supposed to do in class! Who cares that you don't know the material, here's an improved grade!"

 

My dd has definitely learned the "It's not the knowledge but the grade that counts" mentality of schools. I try to counteract it at home, but the school itself reinforces the idea. :mad:

 

Tara

 

My best friend complains about this every year as her child is passed to the next grade thanks in great part to the busy work that passes as extra credit. He has failed many tests and exams and his grades are brought up to passing by completing extra credit assignments. He can slack off the first half of the year and get failing grades. Thanks to well-meaning teachers, he gets much better grades during the second half and ends up passing with a "C." He's also in 9th grade and is wondering when art-projects (posters) will stop being offered in lieu of written assignments.....

 

K

[Irene Lynn]

I have been seeing that this year with our exchange student. She is a Junior. At the beginning of the year I didn't hear anything about bonus points, but as the year progressed, she had more and more opportunities for bonus points. She has taken full advantage of these to keep her grades high. I am happy for her that she is getting a positive experience and that it is not overwhelming, BUT..... If my own child were in this same school (with English as her first language) I would not be satisfied unless she were in the honors program and maybe not even then. Our exchange student is still learning, because so much vocabulary is new and her listening skill are improving, though she has talked of sleeping during Pysics and occassionally other classes. She had a B in English, (and it had some really challenging aspects for her, though it would have been a piece of cake for our dd, since she knows our language already.) and a B+ in Physics, and A's in everything else, including American History, which she knew nothing about. I think her History teacher is probably pretty good, but still, she didn't have to work too hard in there. She is quite bright, so she would have aced all these things easily in her own language. The course work is just not hard enough here. She is getting better grades than many in her classes and she doesn't have to work too hard, especially with all the bonus points.

[Kimberly in IN]

Oh, I so agree w/ these posts :001_smile:. I always say that the middle school my ds is attending must give As for breathing and knowing your name. Ugh!!!! Ds has consistently received high As and then completes the so called extra credit, so his grades are well above 100% in most subjects. Lowest grade this past quarter, 99.5%. Thing is, I homeschooled him until this year, he is bright, but not that bright. And he is putting no effort into the work. Not sure how this will help prepare him or his classmates for university work or even life after school.

 

At ds's school, there is even extra credit given if you turn in all of your homework. Um, isn't that just part of school.

 

Okay, my mini rant is over. I do hear you.

[TXMary2]

You've probably mentioned this before and I just missed it, but if there are so many issues why aren't you homeschooling her? Forgive me for not knowing your story, I am just curious.

[Haiku]

Forgive me for not knowing your story, I am just curious.

 

That's fine, I understand. I haven't shared the story of why we no longer homeschool my oldest daughter, and I probably won't, but I will say that we used to homeschool her and it is, unfortunately, no longer a possibility for us. I'm sorry for that every day.

 

My younger two kids are homeschooled.

 

Tara

Edited January 11, 2010 by TaraTheLiberator

[mcconnellboys]

Hey, I'm with you 100%!!!!!! My biggest beef at my son's school is "grading for completion". This is apparently something all teachers from at least middle school forward do in our area. They make homework assignments. If you come in with a paper that looks, on its face, to be answers to that assignment, you get a good grade! Hooray! You wrote something down on paper. It might not have anything whatsoever to do with the assignment. It might be all wrong - so that you are completely unprepared when test time comes around - but you get a pass for that day, and that's what counts, right?????

 

I don't know about girls, but there's nothing boys hate more than meaningless busywork. They seem wired for purposefulness and useless waste of time work that no one really ever reads just kills any desire for them to make any effort to do work. They see no purpose whatsoever in it. The school system has ruined my son in three short years......

 

On the bright side, he has been asking me to just let him homeschool the last half of his senior year. He's not going to, but it does make me feel vindicated that he's finally realized that what I told him all along was all too true....

[Aggie]

It's frustrating, isn't it?

 

Sadly, the teachers are stuck between a rock and a hard place with grades. Often they are *encouraged* not to let any students fail. At one school where I taught, we were kind of threatened not to let kids fail. :(

 

As far as participation, is this a history, English or art class where participation is valued?

 

I think many classes and schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. When there are kids in class whose parents don't care whether the kids learn anything or not, how much can the teacher do?

 

IME, the system is broken, but most of the teachers are wonderful people who take their jobs seriously.

 

Just my 2cents....

[Dana]

The district I student-taught at had a written policy that there were no grades below 50. The thinking was that you'd get discipline problems if students knew there was no way to pass and by assigning no grade below 50, students would remain engaged and continue to learn.

 

:confused:

 

It was a high school.

[LibraryLover]

Are you dealing with this grade nonsense with your 7 yr old?!

 

Are any of your children hs'd?

[Haiku]

No, I mentioned in my first post that it's my ninth grader. My two younger kids are homeschooled, and I plan to continue homeschooling them through high school.

 

Tara

[LibraryLover]

No, I mentioned in my first post that it's my ninth grader. My two younger kids are homeschooled, and I plan to continue homeschooling them through high school.

 

Tara

 

 

Whew! I was thinking of a poor tiny 7 yr old dealing with this. Not that a suffering 14 yr old is better, of course.

 

I guess I would try to focus on whether your dc is learning; focus less on their stupid grading issues, and understand that system is not going to change anytime soon, no mater how much you worry or steam.

 

I can't imagine it would be easy, but if I were in this predicament, I would try to enrich dc life outside of school as best I could, and read a lot to her (if she will let you). It's the excitement about learning that's important, not the stupidity of grading.

 

You are between a rock and a hard place and that is sad and frustrating. Enjoy the child, enrich the child and perhaps you can overcome some of the school's massive limitations.

 

I don't suppose moving is any kind of realistic option?

Edited January 11, 2010 by LibraryLover

[missmoe]

Sorry to say that moving most likely would not solve the problem. My oldest dd goes to one of the top 20 ranked schools in CA. US News and World Report ranks this school in the top 3% of schools nationwide. She has the same experiences with extra credit. She got an extra credit ticket for me attending back to school night! In her honors English class! She didn't even do anything---I did! And group projects have been assigned with posters as the finished project!

 

I'm going to jump out here and say it says more about our culture as a whole then about our schools. Entitlement! Kids feel entitled--adults do also in many cases. I showed up for class--I tried a bit--I'm entitled to a good grade. I've heard cases where parents are stepping in to make sure their child is treated in a preferential way. And the school makes it happen for that child. Entitlement. The schools are simply a reflection of what our society values.

[Angel]

This is pretty interesting. At first I was like "What's wrong with extra credit?" I worked my butt off more than a couple times on extra credit to either bring my grade up or improve my g.p.a. However, I had to WORK for it. We didn't get extra credit for being there or showing up. That was expected :001_rolleyes:

 

Getting bonus points or extra credit for things other than work is pretty bogus. I had many kids in my classes who showed up in body and that was it.

 

I, however, am not opposed to real extra credit which makes one do 10 extra math problems that are more difficult, an extra paper in English, finding some extra facts on a subject in History, etc. Students who are indifferent about their grades are not going to jump on this extra credit bandwagon, and it does give a student who works hard but its minute points away from an 'A' to get there.

 

My favorite extra credit English assignment was to show our English teacher any vocab words we found in our everyday reading. I was a voracious reader:D

 

Of course, there was my 9th grade geometry teacher...She was really a science teacher from the Jr. High. I think she knew geometry, just couldn't teach it. Only one person got a C in her class and the rest of us were doing D's or F's. She HAD to curve ALL of our grades...not even extra credit...to pass us on:tongue_smilie:

[Jeannie in NJ]

my dd is in her first year of public school (th grade). The only extra credit given if for going to the dances and the basketball games! Dd has no interest in attending either so no extra credit for her. Also each class gives a participation grade, dd gets bad ones in Spanish (too shy to speak up) and English (she says the teacher makes fun of anyone that gives an incorrect answer so dd will Never try to answer anything in that class). However, in math and science she gets 100's every time for participation.

 

Oh, I forgot in one of her classes, they have a party the end of each marking period and they get extra credit for bringing in paper cups! Dd has an A in there but she said if she ever needs to raise her grade, she will just take in paper cups lol.

 

Actually, her school is really very good, the above are just some of the oddball things .

[Jeannie in NJ]

dd is in 9th grade

[Haiku]

When I took Chemistry in 10th grade, I photocopied a picture of Amedeo Avogadro from the encyclopedia and took it in to my teacher. I told him, "Mr. Case, I have for you an authentic photocopy of an autographed picture of Amedeo Avogadro." I was just being silly and having fun. He gave me 5 extra credit points for it. I thought that was silly, too, until final grades came out and those five extra credit points raised me from a B to an A.

 

I grew up to name my cat Avogadro.

 

:D

 

Tara

[Angel]

When I took Chemistry in 10th grade, I photocopied a picture of Amedeo Avogadro from the encyclopedia and took it in to my teacher. I told him, "Mr. Case, I have for you an authentic photocopy of an autographed picture of Amedeo Avogadro." I was just being silly and having fun. He gave me 5 extra credit points for it. I thought that was silly, too, until final grades came out and those five extra credit points raised me from a B to an A.

 

I grew up to name my cat Avogadro.

 

:D

 

Tara

 

That's Great! :lol:

 

Seriously, though, you went out of your way to look up something...even if it was a bit silly. In my Senior year I needed a few of those extra credit assignments for Government especially. My parents put down the rules, continue straight A's or don't see your boyfriend (now dh). :D

 

I still mentally say "vocab word" while reading sometimes :lol: Mrs. Campbell sure found a way to keep vocabulary real in my mind ;)

[Perry]

Sorry to say that moving most likely would not solve the problem.

:iagree:

 

It's rampant here, too.

 

My 7th grader's science teacher gives bonus points every Friday. Some examples:

 

What's the mascot of the high school football team?

What sports team do I (the teacher) coach?

Who won American Idol?

What was the temperature last night?

 

Ridiculous.

[mirth]

It's rampant here, too.

 

My 7th grader's science teacher gives bonus points every Friday. Some examples:

 

What's the mascot of the high school football team?

What sports team do I (the teacher) coach?

Who won American Idol?

What was the temperature last night?

 

Ridiculous.

 

It could not possibly be worse than the cash for credit paradigm

[Jenny in GA]

This kinda reminds of something that happened years ago when I was subbing.

 

It was something like an eighth grade math class, and after I passed out their homework assignment, which they were supposed to start during classtime, a boy came up to me and politely handed me a "Homework Pass" that was signed by his teacher.

 

It turns out that it was common for some teachers to give a "Homework Pass" as a reward for various behavior. The student could turn them in at any time and forego an assignment.

 

I thought this was the stupidest thing I ever heard. Isn't there a reason for a homework assignment? Is it helping a kid any for him to skip a whole math practice sheet for no reason other than the fact he was "good" a week ago?

 

Weird.

 

Jenny

[mcconnellboys]

No, sadly, this is a private school (well thought of) that I pay a lot of money for. And it's across the board - ALL classes, for all three years that he's been there. And those we talk to who are in classes with different teachers give precisely the same report, so it's pervasive.

 

Our nearby public school, also one of the best for our county, is just the same.....

[Haiku]

I do have to give my kid some credit here. One of the review packets (not the one she gets 20 free points for, another one) was due in class today. The class was informed beforehand that anyone who didn't have theirs completed would get lunch detention.

 

Dd was worried because there was a question she could not find the answer to. She went to her teacher before first period and said she had done them all but couldn't find the answer to that question. The teacher helped her find it and dd went off to class.

 

When it came time to turn in the review sheet, guess how many students had completed it?

 

ONE!

 

My kid!

 

My kid was the only student in the class not to get lunch detention.

 

Tara

[BabyBre]

My ninth grader had large review packets to complete in advance of midterm exams. These review packets had to be turned in and were graded. On one of them dd got a 65%.

 

Thankfully, she has the chance to go through it again and raise her grade.

 

Unfortunately, she will receive 20 points for affixing four "participation stickers" to the front of her review packet. Apparently, when the kids "participate" in class, they get stickers to hold in reserve for when they get a poor grade. They can then raise said poor grade by redeeming the stickers.

 

I feel like I am constantly doing battle with the school to get them to actually teach my child and not try to be social workers, social engineers, or cheerleaders! "Hurray! You did what you are supposed to do in class! Who cares that you don't know the material, here's an improved grade!"

 

My dd has definitely learned the "It's not the knowledge but the grade that counts" mentality of schools. I try to counteract it at home, but the school itself reinforces the idea. :mad:

 

Tara

 

 

 

That sounds eerily like ds16's public high school. His AP Biology teacher gave him extra credit points every time SHE got his name wrong!