quote:
Originally posted by Old Pitcher:
At my son's school, if you fail a test, then you can come the next morning and retake the test and get a 70 on it if you answer the questions you got wrong before correctly. What I'm wondering is, is this a common practice at other high schools in the area? If so, why is it?
I'm sorry if I've really bored some of you, but this is something that has always bothered me about my kids school.
I'm done!
OP- At my school we have many similar things. In almost all of my classes some sort of corrections are allowed. In my AP US History class, we have a quiz a week, and sometimes two. For every question we get wrong, we are allowed to do what is considered a "correction". That consists of stating the question, answer, and around a paragraph of why the answer is correct/other answers are wrong. This will give us 1/2 the credit possible. In my AP English class, our major grade (50% of our semester average before the exam) is our papers. We will write a paper and upon receiving our initial grade, have about 3 weeks to revise it. This usually calls for a meeting with the teacher, and lots of time studying how to improve quality and other literary elements. It's not easy, and believe it or not, not everyone does it. The maximum amount of points possible to receive on these corrections is 10. These are two examples of how my school allows for a second chance on things. What is important to note, and is different from your son's school, is that everyone in the class has these opportunities (a kid who gets a 95 can still do the corrections just like a kid who gets a 65-obviously one has more work). My school is a firm believer in that the learning process will come with many mistakes, and learning from those mistakes is almost more benefitial. Too many kids will take a test and immediately throw out that information. With these methods my school has put in place, these topics are on my mind for weeks at a time-after the test is given. Now does this mean my school would give these boys a second chance? Probably not and here's why. My coach is open to constructive criticism. A lot of coaches might disagree with this approach, and I will tell you, constructive criticism is on a VERY short leash. It's not like I'm saying that I can verbally yell, "why did you send Jimmy on that hit-and-run when you know Tommy can't hit." Our coach, normally early in the season when discussing overall strategy when it comes to bunts (defensive and offensive), baserunning, pitching, fielding situations, usually will listen if we say here's how I've been taught. Then from that he will either say, well here's how we do it and why, or will say, "hey that's a good idea as well." Maybe it should be called advice from the players. My point is, what these kids did wasn't constructive. If they had a problem with the coach's son being at practice, then a leader should've stepped up and talked to the coach. I don't know of a coach who would fault a kid for saying that something going on was taking away from the quality of practice. And maybe the coach was too intimidating, maybe he "had it out" for these kids. But I doubt those two things highly. Instead of being mature kids (about to head off to college), they took a childish route and are now paying the price. Also, I think the school might be making a statement of a larger issue. Yes we have free speech in this country, but using MySpace as a way to conduct that free speech isn't the smartest way to go about it. I apologize for the lengthiness of this message
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After I posted this long thing, I read a message by T-ball. I must say that not being prepared does happen from time to time and maybe from being able to correct that. But the student who wants to truly do well, will not let the ability to get back points later, stop him from what he's capable at the time. Also, the fact that these advantages are available to everyone means that even though you get a 70 and could end up with an 80, that guy with an 80 could end up with a 90. In a school where class rank is very competitive, I can tell you that that is enough fuel for the fire.
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