Posted on 01/20/2005 5:10:29 AM PST by Obadiah
In an effort to teach educators a lesson about the importance of summer vacation, a Whitnall High School student and his father have filed a lawsuit against the boy's math teacher that seeks to bar teachers from requiring homework over the summer.
In the lawsuit, 17-year-old Peer Larson and his father, Bruce Larson of Hales Corners, argue that school officials have no legal authority to make students do homework over the summer because the state-required 180-day school year is over.
"It is poor public policy," Bruce Larson argues in the lawsuit. "These students are still children, yet they are subjected to increasing pressure to perform to ever-higher standards in numerous theaters.
"Come summer, they need a break."
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
First of all, 20% of the grade is homework. Every assignment must be in an Excel file, which I critique and return within 48 hours for corrections. Any student can earn 100% on this part of their grade. And I give a 20 minute quiz every week (6 times) on the current assignment, worth 1 point of EXTRA credit, bottom line.
Then, I use a variable grading system on both the midterm and the final tests, but the tests are pretty tough. Both tests are open book, open notes and corrected homework, and free use of any calculator you like, including a computer.
I determine the class average for each question, then assign higher weights to questions with higher averages and reduced weight for lower ones, to compensate for the question difficulty and the effectiveness of my teaching. Then I look for very high and very low grade "clusters", to determine if I need to remove these students from the distribution. Finally, I assign the 70-99 range, and reassign any grades that were outside of it.
Out of 37 students, I have given 4 C grades and no F's, but I have had a LOT of dropouts. This is a tough course - perhaps the toughest in the MBA cirriculum. But my last class earned 4 A, 2 A-, 1 B+, 1 B, 2 B-, and a C. And I have 13 unsolicited Emails from former students that either tell me they use or expect to use what they learned in my class, or just that the class was a positive experience for them.
This is the standard system for graduate school. But the class average is expected to fall at B, not C. One C means probation, two means dismissal for a semester.
And I have 13 unsolicited Emails from former students that either tell me they use or expect to use what they learned in my class, or just that the class was a positive experience for them.
That says a lot right there about a teacher.
There is one political science professor that really influenced me. Professor Bill Allen (MSU) helped me become a Republican. When I first took his class, I was almost a capital L libertarian(I voted for Bush at the last minute, and backed a couple of local republicans I knew - but usually voted LP). He also soundedly defeated my arguements at the time, not in a dismissive way, but used facts.
It wasn't a slanted political class and he didn't try and convert me, although he is a Conservative Republican. It was the facts and history used which convinced me to make that decision.
I notice the requirements for entry to graduate school are higher as well, normally a 3.0 GPA for one.
Not that I would have a problem with a 3.98.
I EMPHASIZE the math and manual graphs, along with using Excel for both graphs and calculations, but I conduct one or two extra sessions to "refresh" (usually means teach from scratch for some students) the specific techniques and methods needed for my class.
Amen.
For AP US History, we had to read one book on an historical figure and then write a pseudo-report that we'd present to the class in the first week of class. Kind of a pointless assignment, if you ask me.
Then in AP English we had to read some Americana lit (2 books, I think) and write an essay on them. It sucked and nobody really did it.
However, in AP Calculus, we were given a batch of problem sets covering a lot of algebra/trig that we were required to turn in at certain points throughout the summer. That way when we started the class, we weren't rusty on some very perishable information, and I thought it was a good idea.
Dr. Thomas Sowell wrote an article not long ago very critical of the IB program. I honestly know nothing about it other than what I've heard from you and Sowell. Do you find any of his concerns relevant to your experience?
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3541
As long as the problem sets were not overdone (not too many problems so it would not take too long, yet you still retained the info), I would not have a problem with the last one, the math.
The first two, I would.
"The second assignment was 16 pages, and that was extremely difficult for me to do," Peer Larson says.
If the assignment was 16 pages of reading about and understanding the concepts, maybe the kid is a bit of a whiner. But if the 16 pages were say, 16 pages of math equations (that is rather than 16 pages of instruction on understanding the work) I wouldn't blame the kid at all.
As a young man who was around that age not incredibly long ago, I wouldn't have cared much for math on my summer vacation either. I understood the concepts well enough without the need for that, and as I recall, I passed some of the tests that were mandatory to pass the next grade,(that is the grade after the one coming up) early. I wasn't a drug abuser or addict either. If every student who wouldn't like homework in the summer were on drugs, I expect the police would have their work cut out for them. People here have said why they think that Larson wasn't harmed by this, I have to say, was it neccessary?
I do, however believe that filing a lawsuit over it is a bit ridiculous.
Sheeeet! Heck, 40 hours would be nirvana for me!
It's no wonder so many Americans are spoiled. I've always maintainted that the public schools should have a strong entrepreneurial component. Perhaps then many people would enjoy their work a little more and quit thinking that working less than 25% of the time in a week is some sort of strain.
Of course teaching such things would run counter to the motives of liberal education!
Correction: U.S.Senator Adam Putnam, should read U.S. Congressman Adam Putnam
I wonder where little boy Larson will be going to College with his work ethic.
Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it and will check out the links provided to educate myself further.
I very often agree with Dr. Sowell -- he's a respected economist and a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, besides being a political columnist with particular interests in property rights, education, and affirmative action. (Below is a link to his homepage.) That doesn't mean he's always right, though, so it's of interest to hear about your first-hand experience.
http://www.tsowell.com/
Thanks for your thoughts. I perceived your passion for teaching in your posts upthread. I subbed at mostly the HS level about 3 years and taught one year 7th grade special ed, Mild/Moderate disability (in most cases which pertained to hi-sugar diets and broken homes and kids brought up without boundaries.)
"On one hand, I agree that schools have no legal authority to tell kids what to do over the summer."
That's true, but they can give all of the homework they like. Just like the regular school year.
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