Long-term trend of higher marks plus pandemic spike sees more top students competing for coveted programs
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High school grades just seem to be fake at this point.
My kid and his friends, who graduate this year, never had homework, yet they all have 90%+ grades.
When I was growing up, you might have had one kid in the class with over a 90 in any given subject, and they worked their ass off every waking hour.
Now? 20 minutes of ‘work’ a day and they’re acing the class. This doesn’t benefit their future at all.
Maybe teaching has gotten better and so has the means of productivity? If you look at the productivity of corporations, it’s gone up a lot over the past couple of decades. I imagine that can have the same effect on students and teachers. I’ve got nothing to back that up but it’s an interesting thought.
That’s a nice thought, but I know that’s not what’s happening. Even during the pandemic the online classes were extremely basic and still no homework was given.
More parents realising they can push teachers to give their students higher marks. Even in elementary school I see parents pushing for higher marks and teachers give in because they don’t want to argue and make their job harder.
Teachers need more protections. Most people wouldn’t believe the things they have to put up with
Grade inflation does no one any good. Teachers deal with enough from parents without needing to try and argue why their child doesn’t, in fact, deserve 95% instead of 75%.
The only way I can see forward is to improve the push back against parents by the school board/administrators so the teachers feel they can refuse without the parents just going around them and getting what they want.
Let’s not devolve into the US college admissions system where grades are irrelevant and people only care about extracurriculars, please.
I mean they do have SAT’s in the states which still matters quite a bit for acceptance. That seems like a solve for a grade inflation scenario like we’re seeing although it’s not without it’s caveats.
SATs are honestly such a worthless exam. Unlike standardized exams in other countries (高考…) which actually evaluate high school education, SATs are an independent skillset that needs to be independently studied for. It’s stupid.
college admissions system where grades are irrelevant and
30 years ago this statement was repeated to me and it’s not been false since: “the only problem a student cannot overcome at college is a lack of funds; everything else has a solution”
It was said to me by the admin assistant for the dean of admissions at a globally-recognizable university institution as I waited to speak to him about an issue unrelated to money. It was resolved.
I think Canada has focused on a different, very crucial quality about its applicants that has nothing to do with grades. I worry that’s going to continue unless and until we consolidate schooling at this level as well and make performance the only criteria for attendance and advancement.
I’m just really glad when I went through high school none of this was a thing. You worked hard and earned success, or you slacked off and suffered the consequences. Or you fell somewhere in-between as appropriate.
Our society has made it taboo to tell students the (sometimes) hard truth about where they stand, so that they can be aware of what they need to work on to improve. This fear of hurting feelings and this need to make everyone feel like a winner has stifled the drive and motivation that could manifest from the want to do better and prove yourself.
Deciding to work hard is, has been, and will always be a personal choice, but instead of encouraging that, we’re just trying to make everyone feel happy about themselves the way they are. That’s good for people’s mental health, but it’s harmful for long-term success. Those that would never put in the work in any case, never will. So at least create an environment where those that would can thrive. That’s what I think anyway.
