At what point did learning in school become just about making the grade?

It's because of the way that acheiving a college degree is considered the social norm in order to be "successful".

People aren't going to school anymore to learn more about a career they hope to spend their life doing, they go simply in order to get a piece of paper that they can show to employers and say "see I'm qualified!"

People just care about the fact of having a degree, and not the knowledge that comes with the degree.

 

I found this interesting...

 

At what point did we determine that it's just about the grade?

 

What I mean is. . . Why not set the high standard
and teach it to all the kids


instead of making these tiered systems

Rocket River

 

That's called private and charter schooling.

 

Really.

I thought it was about how many times my dad can bust my ass and lock me in my room until the next report card.

 

Its really sad what the educational system has become. Through government subsidies and backing, financing has shot through the roof creating huge amounts of demand for a rather fixed (though it grew but not as much) which caused educational inflation to skyrocket from 1980 to present.

Moreso than even healthcare inflation and the industry hasn't seen the significant technological advancements that healthcare has produced though the inflation there is also based on other factors.

The sad part is that incomes have not fallen suit so the return on investment from education has fallen dramatically and easy financing has left people six figures in debt with no degree to even cling to. Other facilities like the Art Institutes are scams that have horrendous ROI's to their students. Unlike most other debt, Sallie Mae and these other government intertwined organizations don't allow you to go bankrupt. And if you do, the government pays the loan in full then charges the government to go after the person that defaulted!!

It incentivizes SLM and the government to give virtually unlimited education money to everybody though it will cripple many of these people.

As these ROI's fall, I think the growth in autodidact education, self-taught entrepeneurs and business people will grow and shift away from this horrendous cost on many people that end up working in jobs that they could have gotten without school anyway.

 

The focus in this thread is all over the place. At the heart of the matter is what education is for. Some enlightened policy makers over history considered an educated republic a cornerstone of a strong democracy.

Decades ago it was seen as a tool to guarantee high wage employment.

Now that the focus is lost as people have become more greedy and major where the market pays handsomely over pure intellectual pursuits.

If you compress this thread, many of the complaints are contradictory. "People are too focused upon jobs to care what they learn!" "Do people even learn in the first place or is it just for a piece of paper??" "Is learning even adequate for either purpose?"

All of this reeks of uncoordinated frustration over a monolithic system that people feel can't be changed to meet todays needs. Yet we haven't even addressed what today's needs are or what the root causes of the current education system that's preventing us from getting there.

Just my 2 cents on breaking up the monotony of the topic...

 

It became about the grade when GPA thresholds came about.

 

Can you expand on that? It doesn't make sense.

 

Do all kids need Advanced Calculus in high school?

 

To the majority it came about "making the grade" when degrees are seen as a requirement for anything above minimum wage employment.

The changing job markets have enforced that ideal since the manufacturing industry has been replaced by business management and service industries.

It's unlikely that the general population has gotten "smarter" so those students who would have in the past probably dropped out of high school to be a machinist is now encouraged to finish high school and go on to college instead of a trade school or apprenticeship.

TL;DR version: You have students who don't want to be there so they do the minimum amount of work to get by.

 

Since the beginning:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abitur
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_CeWip5BpU

 

Everyone WANTS to cut corners. Or people outsmart themselves finding the most "efficient" means to get through something. (Which is why I think "efficiency" can be overrated, cuz it leads to "minimalism"). Nothing new there.

Is this "sheet of paper" approach on -

the STUDENT side?
The PARENT side?
The EDUCTATION INSTITUTION side?
The EMPLOYER EXPECTATION side?
The GOVERNMENT/ACADEMIA over-ambitious sappy message of college education being the most vital thing?

There's a lot of variable parts in it. One can affect the other. If employers exceedingly wants college graduates as a pre-requisite, you'll just have to graduate college. A parent will pick up on that (or will PERCEIVE that to be the requirement), and will force their kid through the system whether the kid likes its or not.

Is it supposed to the be STUDENT who WANTS THE college to value education and retaining the knowledge? I doubt students will ever make a collective demand for that lol they're generally the reluctant participants. Its not just the superstar basketball players with the 1 season "1 and done" approach, its ALL STUDENTS if they COULD.

I suppose its THERE where you then say WHY is it so EXPENSIVE and PRICEY then? And is it REALLY worth the STEEP COSTS and CRIPPING DEBT to get the "graduate" distinction. You're probably saying if its about "education" for REAL, then the system should truly ACT like its about real EDUCATION to JUSTIFY the hype at least.

So need to find out what the end result of college is "SUPPOSED" to be. And find out if the ALTERNATIVES to college should be more robust and acceptible.

 

Well . . . for 1
Why should Calculus get 6 points
and Geometry get 4?

As someone stated the GPA is more important than the what they learned.

Students will strategically take this class or avoid this class
in order to preserve or enhance GPA
When it really should be about learning and enhancing their prep for life

Rocket River