Posted on 07/18/2017 7:57:37 AM PDT by Signalman
Thanks!
Like everything under the bureaucratic nanny state, intervention and meddling have created a massive dichotomy. The top US STEM schools have only INCREASED their requirements for admissions, and are more difficult to enter than ever. These schools also draw the top students internationally, who have money to pay full tuitions as well - and its not just China or Korean students either. The competition is intense.
I saw on the news a month or so back that 40 students in a local high school had perfect 4.0 averages when they graduated.
I graduated in 1965 and our valedictorian didn’t have a perfect average.
College has become nothing but a participation trophy.
If a student turns in an assignment on time and it contains a basic set of requirements (such as it contains 600 words and addresses 4 questions), the assignment gets a perfect score regardless of the quality of the work.
If a student spends enough time and money they will graduate.
The average grade at Harvard is now A-.
That’s the AVERAGE grade students receive.
Why?
Grade inflation. Students expect As. If professors don’t dish them out, they bash the professors on the year end “professor review” forms that are handed out. Or they drop the class.
Another big factor are parents. There are parents who confront college professors for their kids receiving B grades. College kids with mommy up there arguing with the professor. Same thing with 12th grade and under.
To avoid upset parents, give out inflated grades and they’ll think their kid actually learned something and the teacher is great.
Of course, that’s kicking the can down the road as the next year’s round of teachers has to deal with kids ill prepared to handle grade level subject material.
This has translated over to workplaces now. Young workers hop from job to job and leave those jobs where they don’t feel “appreciated.” So companies are giving out prizes and awards and constant pats on the back just to keep young workers showing up.
simple dumb down the test
I found some of my old report cards from 63 years ago. I still wonder how I made it out of school.
Another way I noticed this was when I started seeing “my child is an honor student at blank high school” bumper stickers. I knew a lot of these kids and I remember thinking I don’t think so.
A friends grandson flunked out of military school. He’s back in public high school and getting As. She wasn’t surprised because she knew how low the standards are in hs now.
This is just one more reason why we have so many low info types. That and the deliberate importing of masses of low IQ ‘cultures’.
I saw Elvis Presley’s report card.
He made average to poor grades in Memphis. He did get one A. It was in music.
The dirty little secret is that the prestige of those Ivy League schools is really based on their graduate schools, not their undergraduate programs.
4.0 is a low grade these days for valedictorians.
4.5 or so is now standard. If they take AP (advance placement, college credit) classes, they receive 5.0.
Met a mom last month. Her son had a 4.6 GPA.
Most of the time, if you just show up, you get an “A.”
Good point.
The SATs were inflated in the 90s. Test was made easier. So these are lower scores using the easier system.
Look up some tests from high school in the 1950s. The American government tests would likely be failed by 90% of Ivy League college graduates.
I remember a survey done about 15 years ago that compared public school student’s self esteem vs academic achievement. Students in DC schools scored the highest in the country in math ability self esteem and the lowest in the country in actual math results.
The language skills of college graduates that I encounter is appalling. Even the network anchors and presidential candidates say “If I was you...” instead of “If I were you...” I knew good grammar by the time I was 10 years old.
It is not only public schools. My oldest (a rising sophomore at a private high school in Tampa area) is of average intelligence but has straight As. So do all of his friends. Trust me when I say not one of these children show any smarts, drive, or academic curiosity.
What was the gentleman’s C in the olden days (like when I was in HS 30 years ago) has now become the gentleman’s A.
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