Liberal Educators Are Mad...

[One Bad Pig]

And an ACT/SAT doesn't mean squat unless you got the grades to back them up.
You can do bad on these tests and still have good grades.

More like the other way around. I barely cracked the top 30% in my graduating class, but easily got the best SAT score - and I took the test as a junior.






(the school had this lame idea that homework counted as part of your grade)

[Cow Poke]

Yeah, that's about as accurate and charitable as the conservative descriptions of Occupy Wall Street that I remember reading here back in the day. Fair's fair I guess.

You didn't see tea party people pooping on cop cars.

[One Bad Pig]

I'm happy to. The ironic thing about this thread is that non-elites are demanding more elitism. It's bizarre stuff. Reminds me of the Tea Party... relatively poor people demanding the government provide less assistance to the poor, and demanding that even more money go to the ultra-rich...

No, the ironic thing is that you're so far off target here I don't know where to start.

[Bill the Cat]

So first you complain that leftists don't bother themselves with seer's threads,

No, I said that they don't interact much with this sort of thread. The ones on how the far left HATES things that reward competition.

then say they indulge mediocrity too much? The irony is not lost on me.

But the point was, I fear. They don't typically engage much when we see just how they reject winning/losing and rewarding those who excel without rewarding those who don't. But the left DOES despise this sort of thing regardless of their desire to acknowledge it.

[Bill the Cat]

I'm glad there's someone out there who's still impressed with a high school diploma.

First in your family, maybe?

Actually, no. Fourth. And second one with a college degree. What's your point, Jesse? Do you teach your students to strive for mediocrity or excellence?

[Bill the Cat]

Is the distinction between meritocracy and snobbery really so hard for you to discern?

You needed to ask that?

[Sea of red]

You didn't see tea party people pooping on cop cars.

Just bringing guns to rallies.

IT's THAR WRITE!! hillbilly.gif.pagespeed.ce.XC59GhsVLV.gif

[Cow Poke]

Just bringing guns to rallies

Hey, maybe that (if it's true) is why the Tea Party rallies didn't have the mayhem, chaos and crime that the occupoopers had!

[seer]

Hey, maybe that (if it's true) is why the Tea Party rallies didn't have the mayhem, chaos and crime that the occupoopers had!

Right, Tea Party rallies don't include copious amounts of drugs and rape. And they actually clean up after themselves unlike the environmentally conscious leftists...

Sanitation officials said Wednesday that they expect to haul away 30 tons of debris from the Occupy L.A. encampment –- everything from clothing to heaps of garbage to oddball curiosities left behind by the protesters who lived at the City Hall tent city for two months.

And they pretty much destroyed Zuccotti Park up here in my area...

[One Bad Pig]

Just bringing guns to rallies.

For the sarcastically impaired the following is said in jest

The horror!

[Juvenal]

Actually, no. Fourth. And second one with a college degree. What's your point, Jesse?

Nobody cares about your class rank in high school, except high schoolers. College grads certainly don't. Crying out doom and gloom about something that makes no difference ... as I would know better'n you, as you yourself have pointed out .... is absurd.

My path to college included just one year of attendance in high school, with dual-enrollment credits from a university in Arizona shipped back to a high school in Tucson on their way to my "actual" high school back in Denver. Good luck trying to figure my class rank. And what about home schoolers?

On occasion, a high class rank might be taken into account if the college admission test scores are low, but it's a rarely used "give 'em a break" issue, never a bonus, and only considered if the student's admission would contribute to diversity goals for the student body.

But you show me a kid with a GED and 750s across the board on his SATs, and I'll show you a student accepted into the University of Chicago. As a matter of fact ... I know that kid, and others like him.

Do you teach your students to strive for mediocrity or excellence?

You're asking that only because I disagree with you on the importance of class rank. It's not just that you're begging the question here. It's that the invidious suggestion in the question assumes as fact something that just ain't so. Haven't you noticed yet that the only folks agreeing with you about the importance of class rank are the grasshopper and the kook? Oh no, I don't have any reason to defend facts I see on the ground every day against the likes of them. Or you.

You're just wrong on this one.

And I'm okay with that, too.

Carry on.

[Jaecp]

My class rank was garbage. I entered into the running start program in 2002 and my high school had a policy of not letting students drop out of classes for some reason relating to trying to motivate people to stay in school.

Problem was, the running start program was paying for me, at 16, to go to college full time. They didn't drop me from my high school classes and my high school transcript has 7 Fs on it as a result.

Oh no, my high school gpa is terrible! How did I ever graduate cum laude from my university?

[Bill the Cat]

Nobody cares about your class rank in high school, except high schoolers.

And that's so far from the point, it's got icicles. It's about rewarding mediocrity equally with true excellence. Class rank matters when it comes to winning valedictorian. It also matters when you have to list class percentile rank on a college app. I recently had to help my youngest daughter apply to 10 colleges, and all of them asked for her class rank. Without exception.

College grads certainly don't.

But those in the OP aren't college grads, so your comment is off base.

Crying out doom and gloom about something that makes no difference ... as I would know better'n you, as you yourself have pointed out .... is absurd.

But it does make a difference when you are finishing High School. And unless you are also in admissions, you don't know better than me, as my wife worked for 4 years in college admissions, and I have been on the applicant side with me and my 2 daughters. And it sets a precedent for life too. Do children learn how to lose and win gracefully? Do they learn that effort yields results? Or do they learn that "just good enough" should be rewarded the same as those who work hard?

My path to college included just one year of attendance in high school, with dual-enrollment credits from a university in Arizona shipped back to a high school in Tucson on their way to my "actual" high school back in Denver. Good luck trying to figure my class rank. And what about home schoolers?

Again, this misses the point. It's about rewarding effort. And the crap in the OP is exactly what has been pushed for years. "Everyone is special and should get the same reward". I remember competing in Field Day when I was a wee lad, and each event had medals for the winners. Those that lost didn't get squat. Fast forward to my kids' field days 15 years ago. They had punch cards and got to do each event one time, and everyone got a prize for completing all of the events. There is no more competition.

On occasion, a high class rank might be taken into account if the college admission test scores are low, but it's a rarely used "give 'em a break" issue, never a bonus, and only considered if the student's admission would contribute to diversity goals for the student body.

But you show me a kid with a GED and 750s across the board on his SATs, and I'll show you a student accepted into the University of Chicago. As a matter of fact ... I know that kid, and others like him.

I do too. My daughter's first roommate in her Freshman year. The girl got booted for having drugs in her side of the room.

You're asking that only because I disagree with you on the importance of class rank. It's not just that you're begging the question here. It's that the invidious suggestion in the question assumes as fact something that just ain't so. Haven't you noticed yet that the only folks agreeing with you about the importance of class rank are the grasshopper and the kook? Oh no, I don't have any reason to defend facts I see on the ground every day against the likes of them. Or you.

Now that you see you've beaten up a strawman, perhaps you can answer the question...

You're just wrong on this one.

You missed the point I was making. Try again.

And I'm okay with that, too.

Carry on.

I'll give you one more example. I work with a young female at my office. Recently, we were given our performance evaluations. I scored a 5 out of 5 and she got a 3.5. Raises were based on ratings. She is the product of the "everyone deserves what everyone else gets" mentality that is prevalent in school. Needless to say, she did not get a raise and I did. She blew her stack and cried to me that if one person got a raise, then everyone should have received one, and that was "only fair". As I said I in regard to the OP, this is the kind of crap that gets instilled in the upcoming generation when you do not reward the excellent and not the mediocre.

[Jedidiah]

Just bringing guns to rallies.

What in the world is wrong with carrying a gun legally?

[Cow Poke]

What in the world is wrong with carrying a gun legally?

It freaks out liberals. It's almost as bad as carrying a Bible.