Wednesday, August 14, 2013

College Class Farce


High school students are given the opportunity to take college level classes in their home school.  Seems like a great idea, right?  Well, guess what, it sucks.  The people in the charge on the college level do not want anyone to fail, in fact, they don't want anyone to get under a C.  The teachers, wanting to keep their jobs are passing everyone, no matter what grade they actually earned, how often they did not come to class and how little work they produced.

This is bad on so many levels.  First, colleges are getting wind of this and are not accepting these courses and the kids are not getting the credit they were promised.  Even those that did all that was required are losing out.  Second, teachers are being forced to have no standards at all.   The kids know they will pass, no matter what and play on this for an easy grade.  Last is the long range affect this has on their college performance.  Since they got away with doing nothing in a college course they assume they can get away with the same behavior in college.  They waste time, money and valuable financial aid by failing every class. 

College level classes in the high school used to be a great thing for kids to take. Now, it is just the opposite.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG! Makes me think what exam/credits will be watered down next! Neuro Surgeon? I hesitate to think what our future generation of doctors will be like!

burntoutteacher said...

I thought it was just me and my school. A number of years ago I stopped teaching College Now because I was forced to pass a student who not only barely showed up to class but never handed in a final project. The head of the entire program -- not just our school's rep. -- called me personally to tell me to pass her and I had to not only reverse the F to a passing grade, I had to give her a B! Even the secretary weighed in that my grades were too low. That's when I decided that the joy I had in teaching more challenging college courses was no longer worth it. Since I came from a college teaching background prior to joining the DoE, I was appalled at the lack of respect. I am sorry to learn that this is wide-spread.