Comments on: Why Isn’t Decatur High a “Top High School”?

By: Emily Kandetzki

Emily Kandetzki — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:45:15 +0000

On a better note, the DHS band concert tonight was magnificent!

By: Winnona Judy

Winnona Judy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:49:35 +0000

No, that grading system has nothing to do with IB. IB was extremely challenging and required many of us to study at least 4 or 5 hours per night. I only wish we could have taken some of our tests twice – maybe I would’ve gotten higher than a C+ in geometry!

By: cranky old timer

cranky old timer — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:00:03 +0000

Wow. Thank you for posting Ms. Norton’s opinion piece. I’m sure this young woman will be able to do well in college, but I worry about her less motivated peers with this new grading system. Is this really the way IB works? I am not familiar with it…..

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:45:37 +0000

I don’t know any of the details about the new grading system, but my heart swelled with hope for the future when I read this. The piece was written by teenagers who show a complete understanding that success and achievement are directly tied to the amount of effort they put forth, and that failure is a valuable learning experience.

CSD Mom, thanks for posting this, and these kids’ parents should be proud of the smart and motivated children they’ve raised.

By: Sweettea

Sweettea — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:31:26 +0000

Ms. Norton is right on. She needs to submit that piece to every college to which she applies. That article give her a significant boost toward admission at a highly competitive college. My husband works in admissions at a local university, and professors are dismayed at the soft, squishy, whiny excuses for college students that they are burdened with these days. They all look good on paper, but many of them are incapable of accomplishing anything of quality on time. Their sweet little selves have been coddled for 18 years and never once allowed to fail.

These types of grading policies are for Lake Wobegon preschoolers, not young adults heading out into the real world.

But it is the latest educational Prada, so you know our admins here in Decatur just have to buy it.

This is putting a band-aid on the achievement gap, not healing it. It’s still festering underneath.

And we wonder why so many kids drop or fail out of college.