Posted on 07/19/2017 5:54:35 PM PDT by ameribbean expat
We must reverse this trend of ‘everyone gets a trophy’. ‘A’ averages are just another form of this phenomenon.
JoMa
I’m not certain that calculus should be some kind of litmus test for mental prowess or even studiousness. After doing fairly well in statewide math contests in high school, I barely passed it in college - but I didn’t believe in it (and I still suspect that it just “happens to work”). The only two numbers that really interested me at that time were 0 and 1 anyway. I’ve done fairly well with those since.
I had a liberal teacher way back in the 70s who thought that everyone deserved an A. 75% of her class made the “honor roll”, no one failed that I know of.
The SATs were dumbed down long ago, with essays added, which can and usually ARE graded on however the person grading the test cares to, as essays are almost always subjective to the grader.
The vocabulary section was dumbed down decades ago.
This is old news and was all over the news long ago.
Go ahead...please...attempt to disprove my post/s!
And FYI...the ACT was always easier than the SATs; even in the 1960s!
My nephew teaches math at a Ivy in NYC :), he showed me one illuminating exam. The student didn’t answer question and wrote “my calculator doesn’t have this function”
He also told me story of one of his PhD students who came into his office, closed the door and said “I have gotten straight As since 7th grade, taken the most demanding mathematics courses in undergrad also straight As, but I have no idea what my Chinese educated classmates are talking about”
Manufacturing, medical, refineries, utilities, infrastructure. Sensors w IoT is everywhere. Great field. Especially for those who can combine sensors and security of same.
That is what I have both seen and heard. Teachers have told me of how their Principal pressures them to pass kids and give good grades so the parents don’t complain. Teachers themselves also often want to avoid having parents complain directly to them. I saw one gal who got As in her AP English courses, yet she was flunking out of USC because she couldn’t write. I finally started editing her essays, and she once again got As and Bs. She has been accepted into a graduate program at Johns Hopkins. She is finally now starting to learn grammar, but her grammar still is worse than mine was when I was in tenth grade. She attended a private high school and I think the school wanted her and her parents to feel good about her education while she was in their school. I think public schools are the same way.
They are graded on a curve so that is why your post is wrong. It is like you are saying IQ tests are easier nowadays.
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