Carl Singleton's essay takes a very distinct attitude toward solving
America's educational problems. Look again at his essay. Discover his
underlying assumption(s).
Consequently, please blog a set of discussion notes below. The material doesn't have to be in paragraph (or even sentence) form. Just imagine arguments and counterarguments against his position and write them down.
Also, include some evidence for your point of view. If you are on Singleton's side, note that he does a pretty poor job of providing supporting evidence. Help him out.
If you want to argue against Singleton, thing of arguments and examples that would fuel a refutation.
No worries here. Just get some material down that you can use during the discussion.
Post your notes by Tuesday, 9-20, and bring them to class on Wednesday. They will become the basis for our class discussion that day.
-What is the universal standard that will be met?
ReplyDelete-How will every school system organize a single standard? If they don’t isn’t there a danger of some students being less qualified than others? How then do they move up to the next level? Can Students be left behind because the standards their school set were not sufficient?
-To make an analogy to how many math teachers grade, does Singleton only care about if the final answer is right or does he believe successful implementation of the process is worthy of receiving credit? If he doesn’t it seems as if he’s asking students to be perfect in fields they have no interest in pursuing.
-Some students make small, correctable mistakes and others don’t understand the material at all, how does one differentiate between those students? Without grades like D’s and C’s how do those students gauge how far they are from mastering the material?
-Singleton assumes that F’s will shock students and parents into action when in reality it could end up pushing them away from academics entirely.
-If all students see are Fs despite working hard and visibly getting less material incorrect how can they believe they can improve at all?
-Why do we educate? Singleton’s suggestion seems useful if society is looking to create the best professionals to serve our own individual needs. For example if we are creating teachers solely because we need someone to teach our children and not because there are people that see teaching as a passion, then only allowing those who reach our standards seems logical. However, if we educate to give people the best opportunity to follow their dreams and create the best life for themselves to hold them to stiff, objective standards and retain them for small mistakes only serves to hinder their growth.
-Singleton assumes that the current grading system does not already account for whether the students have learned the bare minimum?
-Singleton assumes that not knowing the material is the only thing that affects grades. Work ethic and natural talent both play a role in grades and in future careers and neither should be overlooked. Many students easily pass through high school based purely on knowledge of the material but don’t work hard. Should they be rewarded for that? Are those the people who should teach our children? If Singleton answered no I would support that decision but wouldn’t it go against what he’s suggesting in this essay? That knowledge of the material is everything.
-Students that work hard will improve over time and may come to master the subject, but how can those students dig their GPA out of the whole created by the Fs they received in the beginning? Are those students simply out of luck?
-How do colleges make decisions on accepting and rejecting students when they can’t differentiate between the students who slightly struggled with the material and the students who knew absolutely nothing?
-Singleton seems to speak on grade inflation “Ds became Cs, and B was the average grade” but what he suggests is not a reversion but a complete deflation as the best method to combat it.
-At what level does Singleton propose to start this reform? If we implement it in high schools during the next academic year then you still have incompetent teachers promoting his method.
- Why would failing all students be a useful solution?
ReplyDelete- Singleton does not take other subject matter into situation. Some students may be extremely smart, but don't do their homework. Other students may work extremely hard for their grades because they are not as smart as other.
- Home environment also needs to be taken into consideration, every family is different. There may be some kids who get very good grades and their parents are not involved or students may not get good grades at all and their parents are involved with everything they do.
- You cannot treat every student the same when it comes to their knowledge. There may be students who need extra help when learning the required material and they should not be punished for their struggle to learn.
- Students need to be respected by their teacher to be able to learn better, they are not going to improve if they feel they are being disrespected.
ReplyDeleteI agree that students should not be passed until they learn the required material
No student should be allowed to graduate high school if they can’t read, never mind go to college
Simply giving more Fs is not the answer, our school curriculum needs to be revised to accurately test students and see if they have learned and grown or if they need more development, resulting in them being held back.
Raising flags about a students performance early on is beneficial in putting him on the right track
sending kids home with an F is effective in letting them and their parents know that something is wrong, but not in solving the problem
Teachers need to be selected with higher standards and held at higher standards
different students learn in different ways
different students express their knowledge in different ways
both need to be taken into consideration when deciding how to test a students knowledge/understanding of the material
• The idea of giving more F’s is to show that there are problems with the educational system as it is now.
ReplyDeleteExamples:
• Schools put pressure on teachers to get students to get their students to achieve high levels on standardized tests to bring money to the schools.
• Teachers only teach to get the students to do well on the standardized tests because they could lose their jobs or not get raises if their students don’t do well. Teachers don’t have time to just teach
• Students are performing on the tests but not really learning what they need to know.
• I agree with Singleton because lawmakers and those who make rules about education, school districts, schools and teachers need to be held accountable for teaching. Students need to be held accountable and responsible for earning the grade (not necessarily on the standardized test but for what is being taught in the classroom). Parents have to take responsibility to see that the students are completing their assignments and studying.
• I don’t really want to see students fail, but the way the educational system is set up something needs to be done to fix how students are educated. I come from a school system where there is a high graduation rate and there are problems, but I can’t even imagine what it would be like if only half of my class passed or graduated. There needs to be some standards so that when students graduate they are prepared for whatever they do next.
I agree with Carl Singleton’s essay
ReplyDelete• If F’s are given when necessary then students will be motivated to do well and work harder, therefore learn and understand the material so they can perform well
• Students not only need to be doing well in school, but they have to understand and grasp the material. If they do not then they are just doing the work to pass the class and that is not the purpose of school. The purpose is to learn everything you possible can in order to succeed in the future.
• evidence: personal (my high school)
my high school is not going to let anyone fail without offering different options for assistance, but they would certainly give F’s if necessary
parents need to take action so their children can do well in school and absorb the material
• evidence: personal experience (parent’s interest in their children’s education)
During parent-teacher conferences in 2nd grade my teachers told my parents that I was not progressing as well as I should like some of the other students. Even though my elementary school did not assess students on their work until 3rd grade, a bad report from a teacher was considered an F. After receiving this poor report, my parents did everything they could to improve my performance in school. I had tutors at school, tutors that would come to my house, and we would drive 45 minutes once a week for vision eye therapy to improve my reading. Long story short, my parents where and still are dedicated to my education. I am sure other parents would do the same for their children if they are able.
• evidence: general
I know a vast amount of people that received assistance for academics because their were not doing well and their parents took action.
What if Johnny’s parents can’t/won’t help
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian
⅚ parents struggle to help their kids with homework
NEA (National Education Association) Today
46.5% parents say that they wouldn't be able to help them even if they wanted to
Harvard
Suggests that teachers and parents interact that way they know what their kids are doing and supplies some tips on how to help them
Personal
Math sucks
Story on tutor
Singletons viewpoints are extreme
ReplyDeleteIt isn't necessary to master the material to pass a class.
None of us would have passed all of our classes because we have not mastered every aspect of educational topics
Not all parents could help kids with homework nor have the desire to
I agree with making grades harder to achieve, making C an average grade again.
If students are required to master the material to pass, would there only be a pass and a fail grade? What about the median grades for those who haven't mastered the material as much? Would they all fail too?
What Our Education System Needs is More F’s
ReplyDeleteArgument: Despite Singleton’s insistence, I would argue that, while dispensing more F’s would help to address certain issues in the American education system, it is still essential to raise funding and standards for the education system in order to successfully develop all around change.
“There would be no illiterate college graduates next spring-none.”
How would giving out more F’s this year help graduates next year? Or even students in the next two or three?
It would take a long time for the effect of these F’s to actually be felt
Statistics:
AIR- American Institutes for Research
The AIR study found there is no difference between the quantitative literacy of today’s graduates compared with previous generations, and that current graduates generally are superior to previous graduates when it comes to other forms of literacy needed to comprehend documents and prose.
Students about to graduate from college have higher prose and document literacy than previous graduates with similar levels of education; for quantitative literacy, differences between current and former college graduates are not significant.
Illiterate high school graduates
Can they actually be completely illiterate if they have to pass reading and writing tests to get into college? And submit writing samples to colleges to be accepted?
By definition, you can be illiterate if you can even write and read to ANY degree
“Giving an F whenever and wherever it is the only appropriate grade would force principals, school boards, and voters to come to terms with cost as a factor in improving our educational system”
But if lower grades become the standard, isn’t there the more likely possibility that the expectations would only drop again in order to fit better with the apparent intelligence of the students?
Wouldn’t even more questions fall on the teachers and if they are in fact qualified to do their jobs?
Parents are not often keen to admit their children are the problem, but would more often rather blame the teachers and administrator for failing to properly educate their children
“I recommend giving those F’s... only to students who haven’t learned the required material.”
How do you plan to test this?
Apparently current tests aren’t cutting it in finding those students
Suggesting test reform as well?
“Sending students home with final grades of F would force most parents to deal with... their child’s failure... (less time on TV, and more time on homework, perhaps?)
Is this recommendation actually going to improve grades?
What actually helps improves grades?
Chewing Gum
Baylor College of Medicine, 2009
Chewers did better on a standardized math test than non-chewers
Playing Background Music
University of Dayton
Playing fast-tempo music helps increase cognitive function
Healthy diet, hydration, exercise, etc.
The literacy skills of college students are directly related to the education of their parents: children whose parents graduated college or attended graduate school have higher literacy than students whose parents did not graduate high school or stopped after receiving a high school diploma or GED.
Different parental situations:
ReplyDeleteSingle parent homes
Non-Supportive parents
No-parent homes
Different socioeconomic statuses:
Some can afford tutors whilst some cannot
How would Singleton’s theory affect mental health in the most formative years of young adults lives?
How would school provide a better learning environment, for those students struggling in the lower percentage?
There is not a universal way of studying and learning, how would schools adjust to individual students?
Smith, Justin
ReplyDelete9/20/16
Burns
English 105
PA#8
• I agree with the fact that student’s should not be able to pass if they have not adequately learned the materials.
• What if the students do not have a mentor or parents to push him forward if he receives an f… will he simply collapse and fail out.
• What do you do if a student just keeps receiving f’s
• What will the average grades of students become expected to be if they give out a lot of f’s
o If it is lower then is it going to change the entire education system, the grading scale will be off so colleges are going to have a hard time totally changing the way that they evaluate the different students
o Who is going to make those changes if it does occur?
• How will the students feel about their relationship with their teachers after they receive a couple failing grades and vise versa
o It kind of all depends on the amount of involvement the teacher would have with the students.
Smith, Justin
ReplyDelete9/20/16
Burns
English 105
PA#8
• I agree with the fact that student’s should not be able to pass if they have not adequately learned the materials.
• What if the students do not have a mentor or parents to push him forward if he receives an f… will he simply collapse and fail out.
• What do you do if a student just keeps receiving f’s
• What will the average grades of students become expected to be if they give out a lot of f’s
o If it is lower then is it going to change the entire education system, the grading scale will be off so colleges are going to have a hard time totally changing the way that they evaluate the different students
o Who is going to make those changes if it does occur?
• How will the students feel about their relationship with their teachers after they receive a couple failing grades and vise versa
o It kind of all depends on the amount of involvement the teacher would have with the students.
Avianna Carmoega
ReplyDeleteNot a PA#8
Class Discussion Notes
- I disagree with Carl Singleton's argument
- Students should receive the grade they deserve, and not be given an F just to teach them a lesson
- Getting an F lowers self-esteem
- This will make the student fear the teacher a bit, creating a lack of communication which is necessary for success if there are troubles in the class
- Handing out F's will give motivation, yet there are many other sources for motivation
- Who says parents would get involved
- Family differences
- What grade would this be for? Young children? High-schoolers?
-Not a good way to teach someone a lesson or better their learning environment.