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Originally Posted by lrjohnson
I already said why I thought so. I don't believe an A should be easy to get. Most times when most of the class gets an A, it's because it was too easy, not because most of the students were both bright and well versed in the material. That's been my experience. I'm done with the digression though.
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I agree to a point, an easy A is pointless, however a curved A may be just as pointless (or worse, dangerous). I don't want my DR to just be 'the head of the class' I want her to actually know all of the information needed to take care of my kids..meaning 100% on the test..not 80 even if it is the highest score..
If I was going ot test my kid I don't feel a need for a grade..a grade is merely a ego boost (or cut) What I am checking is to see what they know and what we can still learn..not how happy they are with what they know - regardless of wether it is reading at 3 ('A' work) or knowing the alphabet (B work) or being able to repeat a letter (IE "this is a C, can you find the C? what letter was that?") (C work) or not having a clue (D or F), I want to take teh knowledge and build on it for the important subjects, and others as fun occurs.
Now by saying that all the parents of three year olds are going to go grab thier kid say 'this is a C, can you show me a C? what letter was that?" and come complaining that I said they had an average kid (or worse if their kid thinks they are crazy for asking - or happy if their kid says duh I knew that) Having a kid with average abilities merely means you have a kid with average abilities..do you expect them to do rocket science if you have never shown them a rocket? no so don't expect them to read if you have never shown them the alphabet (or never shown them a book) Giving your kid a grade does nothing for their education, on the other hand finding out what they know and what interests them (JC likes books about people, GMC likes books about animals, UE likes books he can chew on ) is a great way to help them learn more.
And yes if you increase this to the level of getting a graduate degree I feel the same way..asking my DR what her theory on the '10th planet' is might yeild an interesting conversation, but giving her a grade on it is pointless, what I want to know is if she knows the signs and sympotoms of diseases, and I could care less the grade, I want 100% or as close to it as possible! (diagnose 70% of your patients correctly and you run the risk of killing 3 out of 10! not good enough in my book!)
Anyway, my digression on what a waste grades are is over, appologies to all offended.