“the best intentions”
My district has implemented a 50% minimum grade - As in, the lowest score I can give a students on ANY assignment is 50%.
It was done with the intention to better serve our population of students who struggle, so their grades are never unsavable.
It was done with the best intentions.
But, to quote Alan Grant in Jurassic Park 3:
“Some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions.”
After teaching with this grade cap for four years now, I can tell you, it does not work. It does the opposite of what it intended. Instead of now offering students grace and giving them a chance to succeed, it has actually made them more lazy, less capable, and learning less.
Think about the math here.
A student has to do just 10% of the workload to pass the class.
A student who leaves a test blank, and a student who tries but gets most of it wrong, each earn the same grade.
A student can miss weeks of class, come back, and still only see they are 10% away from passing.
Now, I have done a lot of things to my gradebook and assignment weight to try and counteract this, but no matter what I do, it still teaches students this simple rule:
You don’t even have to try to get halfway there.
Imagine being dropped off at the midway point of every single hike, but still telling yourself, and everyone else, that you hiked the whole thing.
A lot has changed with education, many things for the best, but there are some things we went way too far the other direction.
Grades used to matter. Attendance used to matter. Being on time used to matter. Turning things in late used to matter.
The Pandemic did a lot of damage, yes.
The social justice movement, aiming to focus on young black boys and those furthest from educational justice played a huge, and extremely necessary, role, absolutely.
Our shift in society towards more individualism and creativity, moving away from factory systems, has changed the point of education, for the better, I believe.
Technology has overwhelmed teenagers in ways we didn’t see coming, and it’s scary.
And now AI is everywhere, in everything, and we can’t escape it.
Are we fighting the wrong things? Are we choosing the right ways to evolve?
What should be the intentions of the education system?
Or are we fighting a winless battle?