Minimum of 50% grade for doing no work (school)

Lavender Room
1

This is a thing. The school I left 2 decades ago adopted this grading system, which was actually better than the previous grading system which was tweaked to make it easier to pass classes without actually learning anything.

I recently saw a Youtube Short from a teacher who justified it by saying, “It’s UNFAIR that each letter grade had a 10% range, while an F had a 60% range.”

She makes it sound like a pizza just arrived, and every kid got 1 slice, but one of the kids got six slices, and that’s not “fair.”

2

50% of success is just showing up!

Seriously, though, maybe there’s something to it; if a kid shows up every day, is polite and supportive/not disruptive, participates in all in-class discussions and activities and shows potential, then maybe that’s half of it… The other half is the work, and you average the two?

3

50% of success is just showing up!

Seriously, though, maybe there’s something to it;** if a kid shows up every day, is polite and supportive/not disruptive, participates in all in-class discussions and activities and shows potential**, then maybe that’s half of it… The other half is the work, and you average the two?

What if they aren’t doing these things (or only doing 1 or 2), and not doing the work?

4

50% of success is just showing up!

Seriously, though, maybe there’s something to it;** if a kid shows up every day, is polite and supportive/not disruptive, participates in all in-class discussions and activities and shows potential**, then maybe that’s half of it… The other half is the work, and you average the two?

What if they aren’t doing these things (or only doing 1 or 2), and not doing the work?

In California, they still pass. It’s outrageous, and I speak as someone who did work in the system. I had to tutor 6th graders who didn’t know ABC’s. They ignored me, knowing it didn’t matter

5

50% of success is just showing up!

Seriously, though, maybe there’s something to it; if a kid shows up every day, is polite and supportive/not disruptive, participates in all in-class discussions and activities and shows potential, then maybe that’s half of it… The other half is the work, and you average the two?

There’s a lot of problems with this kind of system (I know from experience).

A grading system is meant to effectively evaluate a student’s performance in a subject. Students with high grades understand the subject very well. Those with low grades don’t. This tells the school, the student, and the parents how that student is doing in the subject, which determines if the student needs more help, needs to try harder, needs to be moved into easier classes, and whether or not they have an aptitude which can drive future school, career, and life decisions.

As a short example: I did well in math and science. I did not do well in english and history. My brother, OTOH, kind of screwed up everything despite having a high aptitude, but excelled in music. I became an engineer, he became a musician.

Another problem with this kind of system is that it completely ignores incentives. It assumes that every student is “trying their best,” and that bad grades are “accidents.” The reality is that if you lower the standards, kids will just do less. I had so many kids who would just give up for weeks at a time and consciously decide to just take the 50, as they’d been trained to since they were in 1st grade.

And BTW, when people say 50% of success is showing up, that’s not meant to be taken literally. It means that it puts you in a position to succeed, not that it is success in and of itself. As I type, I can hear the guy with the trimmer outside my window. His boss isn’t going to give him half pay if he shows up and doesn’t cut any of my grass. The phrase means, “Okay, you made it. You goy out of bed and you got here. Now that you’re here, you’ve got nothing better to do than to get some work done. Here’s the trimmer, now go and trim the edges of #17.”

The last point I want to make is that when kids get artificially passing grades in algebra 1, they go on to algebra 2, which they aren’t remotely prepared for.

Instead of giving a kid a 50%, a better system is to have them retake the test, with some small penalty built in to incentivize them to have their shit together the first time through. If they can ultimately actually pass the class, even if it requires a few retakes and tutoring sessions, that’s a hell of a lot better than just giving them the passing grade.

6

This is a thing. The school I left 2 decades ago adopted this grading system, which was actually better than the previous grading system which was tweaked to make it easier to pass classes without actually learning anything.

I recently saw a Youtube Short from a teacher who justified it by saying, “It’s UNFAIR that each letter grade had a 10% range, while an F had a 60% range.”

She makes it sound like a pizza just arrived, and every kid got 1 slice, but one of the kids got six slices, and that’s not “fair.”

I don’t have strong feelings but a 50 is still an F so I don’t think it matters a whole lot whether it’s a 0 or a 50.

7

This is a thing. The school I left 2 decades ago adopted this grading system, which was actually better than the previous grading system which was tweaked to make it easier to pass classes without actually learning anything.

I recently saw a Youtube Short from a teacher who justified it by saying, “It’s UNFAIR that each letter grade had a 10% range, while an F had a 60% range.”

She makes it sound like a pizza just arrived, and every kid got 1 slice, but one of the kids got six slices, and that’s not “fair.”

I don’t have strong feelings but a 50 is still an F so I don’t think it matters a whole lot whether it’s a 0 or a 50.

Well it makes it so that you only have to get 10% of whatever points the student puts some effort into rather 60% in order to pass.

OTOH, these kids probably don’t have the sort of home life that it really matters one way or another. You’re not going to beat knowledge into them when they have no interest in learning.

8

I have told my kids that 90% of life is simply showing up on time.

9

I’ve watched the video and there is some sense to it.

Consider two assignments.

0 + 100 = 50 (still failing)

Meanwhile, a classmate turns in something pretty awful and still fails the assignment.

50 + 100 = 75

That’s a lot of difference for not much difference in performance, in a lot of cases.

I think that it makes more sense if you lower the top instead of raising the floor though (compress the grades, so that you don’t have a range from 0 to 59 at the bottom).

0 = Didn’t do it.
10 = “D” level performance
20 = C
30 = B
40 = A

10

50% of success is just showing up!

Seriously, though, maybe there’s something to it; if a kid shows up every day, is polite and supportive/not disruptive, participates in all in-class discussions and activities and shows potential, then maybe that’s half of it… The other half is the work, and you average the two?

This is quite true. I think it is important to remember that 50%=Failure, and that failure catches up, and bites everyone in the ass at the end of the class and HS.
When there is practice, dedicated application, and demonstrated mastery, an increased %age is assigned. In 35yrs. I had no problem adding 10% if there was active and attentive participation.
What was truly crazy, was that the more I encouraged the 50%er, and the more I kept parents informed, the more I got blamed for singling out, and picking on the kid. Then, when the failure occurred, I would need to explain to an overly stressed administrator, why it had occurred; while providing the mountain of documented attempted student interventions and parental contacts. This would be rapidly followed by the admin. looking at me sideways, and say “We have too many incoming students next year. See if you can find 10% somewhere.” Kinda sounds like… “Just find me 11,800 votes.”

11

I have told my kids that 90% of life is simply showing up on time.

Same, but I also tell them, when they do show up, they have to do the work or just showing up on time doesn’t matter.

12

I have told my kids that 90% of life is simply showing up on time.

Same, but I also tell them, when they do show up, they have to do the work or just showing up on time doesn’t matter.

I’ll add…

After five years teaching in a public high school and now two decades as a professor, there is one thing that is too true, too often: When a student feels they have dug a grave (a zero on an assignment, for example) they actually stop trying altogether because things are just too bleak.

A scale that gives them a way out will encourage them to re-engage or stay engaged, and that is better for them and for society.

13

Currently teaching. My district hasn’t mandated the 50% rule, but some others have. I won’t issue a 50% unless a kid genuinely tried. Didn’t turn it in? Not giving you a 50%. Paid attention and tried but totally bombed it? I have no problems with a 50%.

A previous school did the standard based grading thing and when I got there the scale was 1-4. I hated it. Made it hard to get grades in the middle, where most kids really belonged, skill wise. We ended up changing to 1-8, which gave us more flexibility, but the weighting that was embedded basically made a 60% a C, so grades were inflated a bit. Kids would get A’s and B’s in classes then tank when they got to the SAT/ ACT.

The biggest issue I have seen is you set the bar so low the kids won’t event try until the assignment is heavily weighted (final project/ exam) in an attempt to just get the D and be done. And that’s pretty difficult to pull off if you haven’t been paying attention and/ or practicing.

14

My 21 year old son just graduated from SDSU cumma sum laude in aerospace engineering and will be starting the PhD program at UCLA in two months.

My 19 year old son is getting near perfect grades at Cal Poly SLO in mechanical engineering, helped the SAE Formula racing team get 6th place at the championship in Michigan, was promoted to lead engineer in charge of the carbon chassis construction for next year’s electric race car, and currently has an internship at Singer Vehicle Design.

They both show up on time and do the work.

15

My 21 year old son just graduated from SDSU cumma sum laude in aerospace engineering and will be starting the PhD program at UCLA in two months.

My 19 year old son is getting near perfect grades at Cal Poly SLO in mechanical engineering, helped the SAE Formula racing team get 6th place at the championship in Michigan, was promoted to lead engineer in charge of the carbon chassis construction for next year’s electric race car, and currently has an internship at Singer Vehicle Design.

They both show up on time and do the work.

My 33 year old son is an electrician, married to a great woman, they have two boys, 6 and 4. My 30 year old daughter works in the federal probation office, finishing her PhD in Forensic Psychology.

Ditto.

16

This is a thing. The school I left 2 decades ago adopted this grading system, which was actually better than the previous grading system which was tweaked to make it easier to pass classes without actually learning anything.

I recently saw a Youtube Short from a teacher who justified it by saying, “It’s UNFAIR that each letter grade had a 10% range, while an F had a 60% range.”

She makes it sound like a pizza just arrived, and every kid got 1 slice, but one of the kids got six slices, and that’s not “fair.”

I don’t have strong feelings but a 50 is still an F so I don’t think it matters a whole lot whether it’s a 0 or a 50.

Well it makes it so that you only have to get 10% of whatever points the student puts some effort into rather 60% in order to pass.

OTOH, these kids probably don’t have the sort of home life that it really matters one way or another. You’re not going to beat knowledge into them when they have no interest in learning.

My mistake, I thought this was for a report card grade or end of the year final grade. If we are talking specific assignments, then yes a 50 for not taking a test is just stupid.

17

I have told my kids that 90% of life is simply showing up on time.

I tell people -

Early is “on-time”

“On-time” is late.

18

In our province, we just did away with letter grades and percentage based grading entirely until grade 10. We kept them for grades 10-12 because those count towards college admissions. It’s completely insane.

Students will now receive comments of “Extending, proficient, Developing, or Emerging” instead of grades, along with written comments, to describe their performance.
The problem with this is that teachers aren’t allowed to give honest, negative feedback so those written comments are meaningless. A client of mine has a child with some learning disabilities like dyslexia and is reading at a grade 2 level despite them being in grade 6. The school is just passing and pushing the kid through because kids don’t fail anymore.

We are doing a huge disservice to kids by trying to nerf the world around them. Getting a bad grade doesn’t have to be a mark of shame.

19

I have told my kids that 90% of life is simply showing up on time.

I tell people -

Early is “on-time”

“On-time” is late.

It’s followed with, “If you’re late, you might as well not show up at all.”

So, by the transitive property:

Early = On Time = Late = Don’t bother showing up at all.

So you might as well just start by never going in the first place. Bingo!

20

My 21 year old son just graduated from SDSU cumma sum laude in aerospace engineering

I hope part of that education involved learning that the distinction is “summa cum laude”
.