Grade Assignment

[Catholic]

A high school senior I teach failed my semester course by 1 point. It was due largely to a lack of understanding rather than a lack of work, as he was meeting with me near the end of the term for extra help. I have been asked by the administration to offer him the option of completing an additional assignment to “earn” the extra point, since he would have to take a summer course to graduate. Is this ethical? Aside from the general concern of simply raising a grade, part of the concern is the other students whose grades are on the borderline (79s and 89s, for example) who are not given this option. I would like to give him this option if it is not unethical to do so.

 

[Indyann]

Can you not offer a 5 point “extra credit” to all the class?

 

[aggiecatholic05]

Can you not offer a 5 point “extra credit” to all the class?

well since it said ‘failed’ not might or will it may be too late for that. however if it is possible then i think it is ethical to a degree if it is offered to all.

however what about the long term? is it ethical to just give him the point or some small assignment(i didnt know if 1 point or 1 percantage point was involved, depending on the class it could be a big difference). by is it ethical i mean is it fair to him. either through tuition or taxpayer funds an education has been paid for. thats basically a contract that for the money and the results/grades he gets knowledge & credit.

by passing him you could be depriving him of what he could have learned in summer school. yes he may not need it or use it but he has a right to learn it.

personally i am opposed to the idea of passing someone for effort. so what if he tried. by that logic why not let people into and through med school whose grades arent quite up to par if they tried. it may seem like a kindness to do it, but i think it is actually the opposite.

reffering to people who skipped or wanted the day before a holiday off one of my college profs used to say"education is the only thing people can be happy with when they dont get what they paid for"

it may not be unethical, but make him earn it by the s.o.p.

 

[Spirithound]

A high school senior I teach failed my semester course by 1 point. It was due largely to a lack of understanding rather than a lack of work, as he was meeting with me near the end of the term for extra help. I have been asked by the administration to offer him the option of completing an additional assignment to “earn” the extra point, since he would have to take a summer course to graduate. Is this ethical? Aside from the general concern of simply raising a grade, part of the concern is the other students whose grades are on the borderline (79s and 89s, for example) who are not given this option. I would like to give him this option if it is not unethical to do so.

I always thought it was common practice to raise a 49 to 50 and a 50 to 51.

 

[andy120]

Is this ethical? Aside from the general concern of simply raising a grade, part of the concern is the other students whose grades are on the borderline (79s and 89s, for example) who are not given this option. I would like to give him this option if it is not unethical to do so.

Unless there are others failing (by one point) who are not being offered the extra credit, I would say it is not unethical. If I were in your situation, I would offer the assignment to earn the extra point.

 

[PaulinVA]

As a parent of teens, I always thought the “participation” component of the grade was the subjective way to give a little help to those kids who are trying and fall short by a point or two.

I don’t think it’s unethical to help with a point.

As an aside, my kid’s school district has the following grading scale:

A 94-100 C 74-79
B+ 90-93 D+ 70-73
B 84-89 D 64-69
C+ 80-83 F Below 64

Messes up GPAs, I’ll tell you.

 

[aggiecatholic05]

As an aside, my kid’s school district has the following grading scale:

A 94-100 C 74-79
B+ 90-93 D+ 70-73
B 84-89 D 64-69
C+ 80-83 F Below 64

Messes up GPAs, I’ll tell you.

ive seen this scale, or a very similar version used in a few places. personally i like it. whats wrong with raising the standards.

 

[PaulinVA]

ive seen this scale, or a very similar version used in a few places. personally i like it. whats wrong with raising the standards.

It puts college-bound kids at a disadvantage.

Both of our children get a 90 in a course. Your child gets an A, and 4.0 points for his GPA. My child gets a B+ and 3.5 points for his GPA. Over four years, that can lead to a significant difference, and puts kids on the “harder” scale at a competitive disadvantage.

Didn’t mean to hijack the thread. Sorry.

 

[kage_ar]

When I was in high school (homeschooled), 79% was a failing grade.

 

[puzzleannie]

. I have been asked by the administration to offer him the option of completing an additional assignment to “earn” the extra point, since he would have to take a summer course to graduate. Is this ethical? .

if the suggestion comes from the administration presumably it is within the rules and guidelines for grading, so I would have no hesitation.

 

[manualman]

How could it be unethical if you have determined that the student has now displayed a grasp of the materials necessary to constitute a ‘passing grade?’

Really, the rest of it is all irrelevent fluff. All that matters is: How well does he know the material?

 

[Highwayhound]

During my years of coaching I told my athletes that if they walked into the classroom and breathed they should get a ‘C’. The teacher has everything laid out and prepared for them. I also told my athletes that a kid has to work at getting an ‘F’. Meaning they seriously have to avoid their studies in order to get that low of a percentage. Teachers were to be respected and homework was to be done, and grades were to be up or no playing time. Given the proper motivation and encouragement I never saw a kid fail.

Two questions.

As a high school senior was he aware of the need to do homework in a timely fashion in order to earn the needed points to pass the class? (My guess is ‘yes’ he was aware.)

Was he given the exact same opportunities that the other students were given? (Again my guess is ‘yes’.)

Most likely (but I could be wrong) he chose to engage in other actvities with time, i.e. Guitar Hero, movies, etc.

God bless

 

[wjp984]

It puts college-bound kids at a disadvantage.

Both of our children get a 90 in a course. Your child gets an A, and 4.0 points for his GPA. My child gets a B+ and 3.5 points for his GPA. Over four years, that can lead to a significant difference, and puts kids on the “harder” scale at a competitive disadvantage.

Didn’t mean to hijack the thread. Sorry.

There is something called the personal letter where you can explain this grading system. Also, I wouldn’t be sureprised if college know this already about certain schools. Colleged don’t use the same gpa anyways. My high school gpa was higher than the one that the colleges said I had when I applied based on their standards.

 

[Newbie2]

How could it be unethical if you have determined that the student has now displayed a grasp of the materials necessary to constitute a ‘passing grade?’

Really, the rest of it is all irrelevent fluff. All that matters is: How well does he know the material?

Exactomundo!

What is the purpose of schooling? To see if the kids can pass a test of for them to learn at least a certain amount of material on each subject taught?

It seems that it’s not a matter of lowering the bar for every one else in the class, keeping anyone else from achieveing their potential or considering passing a kid who simply cannot grasp the material.

 

[LilyM]

During my years of coaching I told my athletes that if they walked into the classroom and breathed they should get a ‘C’. The teacher has everything laid out and prepared for them. I also told my athletes that a kid has to work at getting an ‘F’. Meaning they seriously have to avoid their studies in order to get that low of a percentage. Teachers were to be respected and homework was to be done, and grades were to be up or no playing time. Given the proper motivation and encouragement I never saw a kid fail.

Great way of putting it.

As for playing ‘Guitar Hero’ and goofing off in general - for all you know there are other more naturally bright kids who wasted just as much time and still passed.

But then I suppose you could say ‘it’s relative, the kid should work harder than them if he needs to’. Doesn’t make it suck any less. And I say that as one of the brighter ones who didn’t need to make much of an effort to pass in high school.

Of course I was in for a rude shock at university, so the kids who learned to work hard because they had to got the advantage over me in the end.

 

[Just_Lurking]

For me, the question would be why you are giving this kid the opportunity to pass. Is it because he really deserves it, or because the administration is leaning on you?

I don’t see any reason you would have to give everyone on the borderline a chance to raise their grade by one letter. At most, this notion of fairness would apply only to those who are failing but are one point away from passing. And even then, you would have to ask if those other students deserve it.

So for me, the question is “does this particular student deserve it”?

 

[LilyM]

For me, the question would be why you are giving this kid the opportunity to pass. Is it because he really deserves it, or because the administration is leaning on you?

I don’t see any reason you would have to give everyone on the borderline a chance to raise their grade by one letter. At most, this notion of fairness would apply only to those who are failing but are one point away from passing. And even then, you would have to ask if those other students deserve it.

So for me, the question is “does this particular student deserve it”?

Depends on the grading system. In our schools percentage points count, so if everyone had their mark raised by 1% all would receive a benefit.

 

[Caesar517]

Raise his grade, it looks to me like he was putting extra effort into it (during the end at least). I’m in college and it’s common practice for the professors to raise final grades by a few points if they are a borderline grade and the student was putting in the effort to raise it. Usually, there is something that the professor will check, but not grade (homework, attendance, participation, effort outside of class), and the possibility of boosting the students’ grades when they’re close to the next level is based on that.

 

[Indyann]

For me, the question would be why you are giving this kid the opportunity to pass. Is it because he really deserves it, or because the administration is leaning on you?

I don’t see any reason you would have to give everyone on the borderline a chance to raise their grade by one letter. At most, this notion of fairness would apply only to those who are failing but are one point away from passing. And even then, you would have to ask if those other students deserve it.

So for me, the question is “does this particular student deserve it”?

Grades should be based on objective data. If one student benefits, ALL students should benefit.

If GPA is considered, then all students in that class should be offered the same consideration.

 

[Just_Lurking]

Grades should be based on objective data. If one student benefits, ALL students should benefit.

If GPA is considered, then all students in that class should be offered the same consideration.

I disagree. Teachers are intelligent, capable professionals, not mere calculators running on objective data. They should be able to use their judgment, even about the subjective aspects of a situation, to do what is best.