Re: What to do when your son tell you he hates you.

Beliavsky <beliavsky@xxxxxxx> wrote:

On Oct 24, 1:22 pm, Nan <Badmam@#1.net> wrote:
<snip>>
I obviously don't think parents should crack a whip, but if you show
that your attitude is that the assignment is pointless, that will be
what your child learns and it's not always the best thing for them
when they get to the point that "grades matter for college". I really
just don't understand that type of thinking.

Ah - the old Permanent Record. This will go on your PERMANENT RECORD
(scary music).

After some reasonable number of years, the school trashes the
permanent record except for the actual class grade ***. There was a
notice in the local paper that students that graduated between certain
years could come and get all the stuff in the record except the
official transcript if they wanted it. Otherwise it was going to
shred ed and thrown out. My oldest's records had already gone (she
graduated hs in 1979), but I got the other ones. (1981, 1986 and
1989)

It is true that grades do count, but basically there's always a
college that will accept hs grads even if their grades are abysmal.
Maybe not their first choice, but they can go somewhere.

It certainly is possible give students an assignment that takes
considerable time but does not teach enough to justify the time spent.
Consider for example the essay

http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2006/1225/139.html
Assignment: Wombats
Peter Huber 12.25.06

where the kids spend 1/2 hour on research and writing and 2 1/2 hours
on formatting . What will matter for student's success in high school
and college is not the quality of his wombat presentation in 7th grade
but how well he learned the principles of biology and other core
subjects.

IMHO middle school is a waste of everyone's time. DH and I both used
to teach middle school. I've asked my kids (who managed to graduate
at the top of their HS classes and gone to college and gotten advanced
degrees) what they remembered about 7th grade, and they couldn't
remember anything about it.
.

Quantcast