What school did you people go to where you had two assignments and 1 test for an entire semester's, or even quarter's, worth of work?!?

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

The logic is still the same.

So what is the big deal between a 0 and a 50% if a 0 is irrelevant.

But you really aren't getting something for doing nothing. 50% is the failing floor. A 0 is weighted far heavier than any other result in the same due to that.

This is much different than someone who earns a 55% grade being given a C to move them on. This is not weighing one assignment so much heavier than the rest.

It probably would be better to let every student drop their two lowest scores though.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

MANY classes in college were like that.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

50% gets you closer to a passing grade. That is why the policy was implemented. It's about data manipulation.

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What 'logic'? Your inability to rectify that half-credit (50%) is not at all the same as no-credit (0%) is preposterous on its face and doesn't represent any 'logic'. Why not 60%? 65%?


How many colleges are part of CPS?

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Since some are hung up on the 2 assignments thing that I just did for simplicity.

Student A
0 70 70 70 70 70 70 0 70 70 = 560

Student B
60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 = 600

Student A fails. Student B passes even though Student A clearly understands the subject much better and performed better 8/10 times. Change those misses to a 50 and suddenly the scores are a lot more in line with the reality of the situation.

Mathematically the argument is strong to not give a 0 and instead set a minimum that makes more sense.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

You're basically blaming the umpires for a loss here.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

They're getting into math. Better set the over/under at 18.

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Good call. I jumped the gun. This one could spray to all fields.

who are you going to hire, A or B?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

There are some classes in certain (better) schools where college classes are offered. I'm pretty sure they aren't receiving only 2 assignments though.

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There are schools where the quizzes and assignments make up about 30% of the grade. If you get 100% on all of them but failed or don't get a great grade on that 1 test for the quarter it destroys your grade.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

A 0 is arbitrary though especially since the grading scale, unless there is a curve, starts at 50 or 59%.
You said "what school". I didn't attend CPS so your question wasn't very good.

But, I am almost certain that I had classes in my high school where a large majority of the grade was from one or two things.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

A

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I guess to simplify the whole thing it's simply a matter of "tough titty; do better". Life's not always fair. When the hell did this become some controversial opini....well it's not even an opinion, it's just plain fact.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

obviously you've never owned your own business.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Obviously you haven't either if you are excited to hire a D- student.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Dude you are way out of touch with the rapidly evolving trend in today's society. we are all victims with no control of our own destiny.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

i have owned my own business and some dope that showed up every day was infinitely better than an asshole who only showed up when he felt like it.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I've always found it interesting that the Chinese educational system is widely celebrated in the U.S. China doesn't even attempt to educate the majority of its students. They only seek to educate the best and the brightest. This is the case even at the elementary levels. They begin distinguishing early and never look back.

The US is increasingly concerned about hurt feelings and offending people.

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I've always found it interesting that the Chinese educational system is widely celebrated in the U.S. China doesn't even attempt to educate the majority of its students. They only seek to educate the best and the brightest. This is the case even at the elementary levels. They begin distinguishing early and never look back.

The US is increasingly concerned about hurt feelings and offending people.

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In education you are not merely assessing a student's level of understanding and comprehsion. You are also assessing their level of academic discipline. Some of the absolute worst students are those that completely understand the material. Their work ethic is terrible and it often translates and transfers into other areas later on in life.

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I have not seen love for China's system. There entire system revolves around studying for one high stakes university test. They do however have a large amount of science and engineering grads, which is commendable.

The Finnish model is widely applauded. The German model is renowned for its partnership between companies (technical training internships) and schools. These apprenticeship programs are a powerful force for students who are not on a university tract.

As someone who hosted a South Korean high school exchange student last year, I can tell you the cultural difference is amazing. The expectations from the parents and students is a 180 from the U.S. They take learning very seriously.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

I have seen tapes and videos on South Korea. Different vibe in the classroom for sure. China is definitely a test driven system, but the U.S. has also adopted that model. The U.S. measures itself against China education wise.

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That still doesn't change the fact that giving them a 0 weights that one grade more than any other grade they will get. If their work ethic is terrible then it won't matter either way.

Let me see if I can put it another way. If the bar for passing is 60% then a 0 means that you need to score a 90% on the next two assignments just to get back to passing or 75% on the next 4 assignments just to get back to passing. That means that one missed assignment is worth two great assignments or four average assignments. That is because the numbers aren't balanced from 0 to 100 with our grading scale since you need a 60% or sometimes more to pass.

That is why mathematically it makes sense to put the minimum at a level that is more reflective of the base level of expectation.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

the entire thing is arbitrary and subjective. you can't do an algebraic proof to show you are correct. like I said the teachers can manipulate things just about any way they want to achieve whatever letter grade they want to give.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

The way our school handles missed assignments is as follows:

The parents get an e-mail from the school when an assignment is missed. It's usually because the child forgets to turn in homework. If they turn it in one day late, they lose 10% of the grade (i.e. 85% minus 10%). If it is turned in two days late, then they lose 20%. After a week, a zero is given.

My son has only had a few issues in the four years at the school and every case is where the teacher had incorrectly marked the assignment missing, meaning he had in fact turned it in. My daughter is less reliable and has had several instances. The excuses range from forgot to turn it in, to a miscommunication with the teacher, and a few cases where the teacher incorrectly marked it missing.

In any case, the parents are made aware, and the children have a chance to make it right with a notable penalty.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Take a 100% and 0% out of it and apply your 50% scale.

70% completed work
50% no work. Still the same percent avg. In order to pass. Is that fair?


Why stop there? Why not just make the ACT minimum 18 too? Where would this end?

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Having taught at two high schools that had this policy, I can tell you that it is in place mostly to allow the kids who do nothing to pass. (It's also a safeguard against the dickhead teachers who refuse to give kids who ordinarily work hard the occasional break.)

It's definitely allowed students of mine to pass. Passing is 60%. A 50% is damn near that. With zeroes, these students would not have passed.

Meanwhile, many of these kids are a drain on resources or teacher attention. Or they disrupt the class.

CPS already has a problem with promoting kids. Special Ed kids who have their own cadre of tutors (it's a good thing they have this, by the way) but who do nothing cannot be flunked. Why not? Because, the reasoning goes, we're giving the student three teachers per subject, and they still can't get him to pass? Principals just can't justify not passing a kid who gets all this extra help. So the teachers have to play a make-believe game and the students know how to milk it.

Give the good kids a break. (It's not arbitrary; you can clearly conventionalize it in many ways.) Flunk the other ones--and then explain how they can earn breaks themselves, try to motivate them to make some changes, and celebrate them when those changes become permanent.

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Yes they can. Often times they do but it can't be skewed to the point where you are providing 50% for doing absolutely nothing. There has to be grade integrity. Some teachers actually have it. This policy was instituted solely for the purpose of reducing failure rates and it is terrible because it cheats the system.

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