Maggie's Farm

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Friday, July 13. 2012

A few education-related links


School bullying: definitely a problem your federal government can handle


Obama to Impose Gender Quotas on Science Education


Grade Inflation in Minnesota:



As one who also teaches at a community college in New Jersey, I agree with Chuck that you feel the heat at that level for a variety of reasons, including the increasing pressure from administrators and state legislators who want to see evidence of “success.” Students, after all, are “customers” who’ve paid for their courses, and “customers” deserve satisfaction. Whether or not they've learned anything seems secondary to the need to stick diplomas into their hands.



Like I say, the customer is always right.

Posted by The Barrister in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 15:17 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

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increasing pressure from administrators ...... who want to see evidence of “success.”

I taught math one year at a low-achieving middle school. From the beginning, the principal pressured teachers to give passing grades. Gotta encourage 'em. [Not to mention that high retention rates would probably have caused Central Office to come down hard on the principal.]

Unfortunately for that point of view, when students are given passing grades for little work done, they see no need to increase their work level. A flunking grade, contrary to the principal's point of view, can cause students to wake up and focus. Most of them do not want to spend a second year in the class.
#1 Gringo on 2012-07-13 16:43 (Reply)
When I was the dean of a business school on an island in the Indian Ocean, I came down pretty hard on anyone on staff that referred to students as customers. The students are paying good money to attend the school and deserve to be treated with respect. But to be a student carries a responsibility quite a bit different from the typical customer. The student is expected to perform at his or her best, they are not entitled to passing grades.

I also have to say that the school was a private for profit institution. I'm back in Dallas now. Three months before my contract was due to expire.

Private for profit is not incompatible with high quality education. The management of the school has to, however, have some integrity.

I have some stories to tell.
#2 Mike (Link) on 2012-07-13 17:18 (Reply)
Title IX has destroyed a large percentage of men's sports so in that respect it was eminemtly successful. It spawned tens of thousands of athletic scholarships for women in softball, rowing and a handful of other fake sports that lose millions for the colleges, so chalk up another success for title IX. So, hell yes, bring on title IX for science!! What could go wrong??
#3 GoneWithTheWind on 2012-07-13 18:04 (Reply)
Mike, my breath, it is bated. Lay it on us. Please.

GWTW, my alma mater just went to a bigger conference and got a big-bucks infusion for the football program. I do not see this as a good thing.
#4 Sam L. on 2012-07-13 23:09 (Reply)
Fatter kids. Fatter grades.
This can't end well.
#5 PacRim Jim (Link) on 2012-07-14 05:09 (Reply)
The "customer" or "client" is the person who pays the bills. In this case the "customer" is the parent.

However the product or service is not the *grade*, but the *education*. The Grade is a measure not of what is delivered, but what is accepted.
#6 Billy Oblivion on 2012-07-14 08:55 (Reply)
True but "educated" doesn't fit well in the spreadsheet where as "grades" make nice entries, can be averaged and compared. The desire for control causes bureaucracies to highlight the quantifiable, which causes workers to work to improve those numbers to the detriment of the real valuable outcome as it is the "grades" they are rewarded for in the near term.

In addition, students are indoctrinated at an early age to see learning as force and disagreeable. The eager learner quickly learns that getting ahead of the syllabus brings rebuke, not to mention social isolation as a "nerd or brain".
#6.1 JKB on 2012-07-14 10:57 (Reply)
I can't say if football or any sports at college are a good thing. But as I understand it football pays for itself and in fact generally pays for the other sports as well. For that reason alone I think college football and scholarships for players makes sense where it doesn't for title IX sports.
#7 GoneWithTheWind on 2012-07-14 10:40 (Reply)
When everybody has to buy broccoli, more broccoli shows up at the dump.
#8 Alan Kellogg (Link) on 2012-07-14 16:47 (Reply)
In education it is true that the customer is almost always wrong. Particularly young customers (students!).
#9 Larry Geiger on 2012-07-16 14:04 (Reply)

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