Carl Singleton's essay takes a very distinct attitude toward solving America's educational problems. Look again at his essay. Discover his underlying assumption(s).
Consequently, please blog a set of discussion notes below. The material doesn't have to be in paragraph (or even sentence) form. Just imagine arguments and counterarguments against his position and write them down.
Also, include some evidence for your point of view. If you are on Singleton's side, note that he does a pretty poor job of providing supporting evidence. Help him out.
If you want to argue against Singleton, think of arguments and examples that would fuel a refutation.
No worries here. Just get some material down that you can use during the discussion.
Post your notes by Sunday, 2/12, and bring them to class on Monday. They will become the basis for our class discussion that day.
What Singleton is saying:
ReplyDeleteGive more F’s to students who don’t master the required material
Giving more F’s will motivate students to try harder
More F’s will get parents involved in their kids education
More F’s will make teaching methods and tests of a higher standard
More F’s will give the schools more money to help students
Possible arguments:
More F’s could motivate students to do better
More F’s could give schools more money so they can afford more tutors to help the students
Possible counterarguments:
Giving more F’s will not help to motivate students
Giving more F’s could result in more student dropouts
Giving more F’s could result in more stress, depression, and anxiety among the students (unhealthy)
What I think:
I think that giving more F’s could help motivate the students to try harder in school; however I believe that failing more students could also cause a lot of stress, depression, and anxiety. The more stress and anxiety the students have the less likely the will be able to focus on school work and get things done.
Singleton Discussion Notes
ReplyDeleteBig improvements require smaller improvements throughout the process (Agree)
Don’t need more money or different teachers-Need more F’s (Disagree)
Still not sure what all giving an F would prove
Give F’s only to those who haven’t learned required material--But everyone makes mistakes, if they understand the material about 80% then B would be better than an F
Students do need to understand the effort and time they must take to get good grades or earn something they really want, however, maybe an F wouldn’t work on every type of person as motivation to work harder
Bad grades are not motivation for everyone to work harder
People should have to earn what they want (Agree)
At one point, some schools were giving students better grades than they deserved just because they became buddy-buddy with the teacher
Sending home F’s will allow parents to see the reality of their child’s education and might encourage them to put more effort towards solving the problem (Possibly)
As the level of fails increases, more money would be spent to accommodate them (How?)
Teachers would realize where adjustments need to be made if they gave out proper grades (makes sense) no teacher wants to feel like they have failed their students
Teachers need to understand each student and how they work best
Giving F’s won’t solve all the education problems, but it is a start towards bigger and better improvements (True, but maybe there is a smaller improvement to start with rather than F’s)
Students should only be able to pass if they meet the requirements--you should have the proper knowledge in order to pass
Singleton does have some good points, however, I don’t agree with every part of his ideas. There are improvements that need to be made in the education system and students need to work to earn what they want. However, each student is different and understanding each student before deciding how to motivate them to work harder to pass is important. Not everyone handles an F very well.
1. The incentive that Carl Singleton offers to improve the education system is intriguing and could work. Since more students will get F’s , this will put the education system as a whole under scrutiny. Thus the government will be concerned as to why so many students are failing and will look into the matter.
ReplyDelete2. The problem with singleton’s argument is that he believes parents will eventually start caring for their children’s grades. There is no probable cause to believe that since parents who already don’t care wont even care afterwards.
3. The second argument that Singleton uses is that he believes since children will get bad grades they will start studying more. This is also a huge assumption and there is no evidence that children will automatically start studying just because they are getting bad grades. Students who are used to getting bad grades won’t care if they fail.
4. A problem with Singleton’s argument is that he doesn’t realize how much grade retention affects student drop out rate. Students who will be unable to cope with the pressure of the new grading system will eventually dropout. A study conducted by R and D connections shows that in a school in Texas, where there is grade retention, the dropout rate is around 69.18%.
5. Another assumption Singleton makes is that having a strict grade policy will result in students studying more and preparing themselves for college. This is also problematic since most students pick different courses in college and studies in college are a lot different from high school. Hence this will definitely not prepare them for college and some students might not even go to college then.
- Taimur Iftikhar
Singleton Discussion Notes
ReplyDeleteSingleton:
Handing out more F’s to students that do not master material
F’s will motivate students to study harder
More F’s will provide more money for schools
F’s will make teaching methods and tests a higher priority
Government would look hard into why so many students are failing.
Arguments:
F’s will have students try harder to master material
Schools would need more money to provide as much help as needed for the students to master material
Parents will become involved as why their child is failing
Rebuttal:
Students will not be motivated considering their personality and work ethic
Students can be put under stress anxiety which would be unhealthy for the student
More F’s could cause more students to drop out because it is too hard for them
Parents would be getting involved with their child but only for a negative reason
I think the education system is fine the way it is. Students may not remember every detail or what they are supposed to but if they put in the effort then I think the student should be able to pass. If the time and effort to learn the material they are given then I think that should be put into consideration. If tests are made to be higher priorities than they are now, then I think that the stress that is put on the students to pass is not healthy for them especially for a teenager.
Carl Singleton:
ReplyDelete- Illiteracy in students is because students are given enough F’s
- Parents would show more concern if students received F’s
- More F’s would cause the student board and staff to raise the education standard
- A higher amount of failing grades means the level of tests and classroom discussions would be higher as well
- Teachers would have to be more qualified to teach at a higher level
- This make the students that work the hardest stick out from the students that do not put the effort in
Counterarguments:
- Failing students would cause them to drop out of school
- High school dropouts struggle to find drops and struggle to support themselves
- This would make it very hard for kids growing up to have a good future
My Opinion:
- Grading should be stricter but not just giving out more F’s
- Challenge students more to make sure they know the information
- Teach kids how to properly study to help them get ready for higher-level schooling
- Have the tests and class presentations be more difficult but have teachers help the students to learn how to prepare and learn the information
Carl Singleton=
ReplyDelete- students aren’t grasping the material b/c of teachers passing them anyways
- Parents would show more concern if students received F’s
- More F’s would cause the student board and staff to pay more attention education
- Teachers would have to provide better teaching skills for all kids
- This would make all students work their hardest
Counterarguments=
- students who fail might drop out
- High school dropouts struggle to find jobs or have a future
- Kids who grow up in bad families don’t have the support they need
- bad parents can’t provide support
- kids that come from a bad family/area won’t care if they fail or not
My Opinion=
- Giving more F’s in certain areas will cause an increase in dropouts
- Teachers need to spend tie with students to get to know them, so they can help teach the material better
- Try to help kids, no matter what background they come from, that they can succeed
- Talk to all parents to get a sense of how they could better support their children
Singletons arguments
ReplyDeletehe argues how he believes that the present education system is lacking in merit because of the underuse of ‘F’ grades.
giving failing grades will force america to realize and assess the major problems that flaw our education system.
our school system gives passing grades that were not earned
cost for each failing students to the school districts, would demand more out of the teachers and make teachers self evaluate.
f’s will get parents more involved because thats where the responsibility is supposed to be.
F’s would cause students to engage more in there work
Counter arguments
Stress of bad grades is unhealthy
parents that aren't involved wont get involved just because of bad grades
Some kids might buckle from the stress and drop out and now they are far more behind than before.
F’s would cause americans to complain about school system but nothing would happen
My opinion
More F’s would cause to much stress but grading should be based of the work shown.
teachers should spend time on study techniques
less workload, less work but more effort instead of a lot of work that you can glide through.
Singleton:
ReplyDeleteGiving more F’s who don’t master the material will bring attention to the school board.
Attention on parents.
It will also help the students by motivating them
Teachers would have to teach in a way that challenge students
Counterargument:
F’s will result in students dropping out.
Must hire teachers that mastered the material.
School could get closed.
What I think:
Giving F’s would be a thing that’s heavily enforced rather than being earned.
Teachers will feel uncomfortable because they probably understand a student will be nothing in life if he/she receives F’s!
More F’s will make students not like school that much more.
Singleton’s idea is essentially to make students feel like they aren't good enough
ReplyDeleteI understand how this could motivate some people, but worry about mental effects (not everyone is going to be motivated by consistent failure until perfection)
“Required material” is a very vague term (he says to give F’s to those who haven't learned that)
He says to give credit where credit is earned, but a student could work much harder than another only to receive a lower grade → what does it mean to “earn” a grade?
There are so many studies about the effects of grades on students, it's a fairly talked about issue in the first place
Parents are as involved as they want to be no matter what. Relationships with parents is very important when it comes to being successful in school and enough kids have issues with that anyways.
Many benefits come to schools with good grades
Singleton uses a shocking title to state that students should be given more F’s but does not provide any actual evidence to back up his arguments
ReplyDeleteHis wording makes it seem that he believes that giving that only by giving students more F’s will they do better in school and waits until the 12th paragraph to “claim that giving F’s will solve all the problems, but I do argue that unless and until we start failing those students who should be failed, other suggested solutions make little progress toward improving education.”
I partially agree/disagree with this
Although Singleton does not believe that students should not be passed if they really do not understand the material, he is not open to other ideas that could be just as, if not more, effective
In the first paragraph, Singleton states that the schools do not need more money or better teaching
I disagree
Schools could use money to hire tutors for the students
Better facilities and resources for students = better grades
Based on my experience (going to a Baltimore city public elementary and middle school) the environment can be partially blamed
From very poor families, don’t care about education, weren’t raised to care about education
Now the school has high school student tutors for troubled students to help them understand the material
School is doing better as a whole
No Child Left Behind Act (was recently replaced by the Every Child Succeeds Act but present in my years of schooling)
Schools that don’t have “proficient” test scores are labelled as failing
A policy at my elementary/middle school
I agree that this is not the best solution
Allows students to breeze through school because there are no consequences, however all students should have access more resources
Replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act
Many students don’t have good role models to look up to
Don’t feel encouraged by the school to do better
Not trusting
Overall I agree with Singleton that school systems should give honest grades to their students, however there are many other ways to inspire and help students do better than flat out failing them. More money should be put into schools in order to hire tutors and better staff, buy new technology, update facilities, and update textbooks.
Singleton:
ReplyDeleteBy arguing on the current education system, Singleton believes giving more F’s will be beneficial as he believes it will motivate students to do better.
By giving more failing grades it will enable teachers to carefully teach curriculum.
There are cases of giving passing grades even though they deserved a failing one.
Would cause students to strive to earn higher grades.
Counter:
Potential dismissal based on failing from certain institutions.
Outside of the classroom, one might not be able to find the help from perhaps a parent.
Dropouts in high school tend to have it harder in life through seeking employment.
Stress can cause these grades to remain.
My opinion:
Would still cause a lot more stress than needed.
More effort in understanding the material with teachers giving extra detail.
Would still have an effect on kids getting kicked out of schools, and or dropping out.
Would have more students seeking more help to improve grade
Singleton’s points:
ReplyDelete-If students are doing F work they should be given Fs. Babying and “helping” students get through school with better grades does not help them in the long run.
-Passing unprepared students leaves them unprepared and having to relearn basic information in college wasting time and money.
-More Fs will raise awareness that there is an issue and from that hopefully people will try to address the issue.
-Lying to ourselves and the students that they are doing well will not help anything.
-It would force parents to become more involved with their students education.
Issues with Singleton’s Points
-Just issuing more Fs is overly simplistic and he admits this but it is still way to broad of a suggestion. He has no strategies and claims even the teachers are not qualified. How will they know when to stop giving Fs, or recognize improvement. Maybe suggest harsher grader and not just throwing out Fs.
-Easy chance that students will lose motivation if they keep getting Fs. There needs to be a support system where once the student gets an F they can go back revise their work and continue to learn about what they did wrong and fix it. It can’t just be “you get an F, end of story”.
-If all the teachers are incompetent who will be implementing your new system. You can’t just bring in new teachers because they all learned in the failed system you’re complaining about.
-Students with no support at home would have an extreme amount of trouble succeeding in this environment.
-Dropout rates would skyrocket.