Participation Trophy Redux.....

People seem to agree that awarding trophies for all "participants" in children's' athletic leagues is a no-no. They make serious videos about this on social media and they throw the trophies away! It's funny how the same people expect participation trophies for school discipline and school academic work though--and somehow this dichotomy is perfectly acceptable. A former counterpart of mine on the school board summed up his philosophy very succinctly on the subject of earning grades versus  being given marks that were not earned.  His comments were given in a meeting we had in April of 2015:  "It's all about being honest and true with those kids.  It's not 10-year old baseball where everybody gets a trophy.  You earn it. And it needs to always be that way." 

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with a recently retired middle school teacher.  This teacher taught for many years at an Escambia County District 1 Middle School which I won't name.

I have known this teacher for a number of years and can say with confidence that this person is a straight-shooter, a retired military officer, and what this person says is true--this person would not lie about something having to do with the schools-or anything else for that matter so far as I can tell.

As we talked some politics and current events, the subject of teaching came up. Invariably the topic of school discipline came up. Yes, this teacher lamented the lax discipline and the torn up referrals.  This teacher didn't care for that.  And then I segued into an area of special interest that I pursued when I was on the school board.  "No Zero Grading"  (If you want the history of this, you can read what I wrote on this subject a few years back here, here, here, here, here and here.)

My opinion on this in a Nutshell:  No Zero grading is a horrible, terrible construct that coddles students and forces teachers to give grades to students that are not earned.  And the system rewards students who are lazy, while simultaneously punishing students that work hard and try their best.  Nobody gets less than a 50% ever, no matter what, even if work is not completed.  It artificially inflates student grades, allowing students to earn passing grades where these same students, based upon their actual work and mastery of the subject, would fail in truly rigorous systems like the ones you and I and most of us went to when we were in school.

(So I'm glad when I read about teachers and entire school districts that push back against this scheme...)

Like the dumbing-down of discipline expectations and punishments that was rampant in the schools locally and nationally to produce "better and lower suspension numbers"--this is the dumbing-down of .academic rigor and expectations.  It's lazy.  It's feckless.  It short-changes students. It's modern day social promotion.  It's dishonest.   And most importantly--- it does not prepare students for the realities of life and the real world.

"Yeah, that was a standard expectation at the school---I thought everyone knew this?" was the reaction I got when I told this teacher this surprised me.  "I never liked it, I was never comfortable with it--but we were expected to do it.  And at the end of the quarter and  semester, the principal would put pressure on us to move these students' grades up" this teacher continued. "If I had 150 students and 15 or 20 were failing, I was  put on the spot because of it--even though the students were getting the grade they earned"  this person continued.  "I did not like it and again--I never felt comfortable with it but it was what we were expected to do" this individual continued.

I left the school board in late 2016 after serving 10 years.  I brought this "No Zero" grading issue up in early 2015 when I got wind of it-------and the board was told "This is NOT happening in this district"

So it is somewhat infuriating, but not entirely surprising, to hear this teacher say that it is and was happening, as a standard practice,  up through last year when this teacher retired.  

In 2015--when I got a whiff of this happening without the board's approval (and in contravention to the school board's grading scale and policy), I brought the issue to a meeting and the board and the superintendent discussed this.

My District 2 Counterpart on the school board at that time, Gerald Boone, made one of the most profound speeches I ever remember hearing him give --and it was on this subject.  It was short, but as usual he was spot on. As a 35 year teacher, he didn't seem to support giving students grades for work they did not do. His powerful, three- minute statement on this subject starts at 54:50 of the first video section of this meeting.  People should watch this

And the superintendent at that time assured us this was not happening in this district.  He even


 stated, at that meeting, that he would send a memo memorializing the fact that this scheme was not permitted.

I guess either the memo was never sent, or people just disregarded it.

Or maybe the memo was never meant to be taken seriously.

Whatever the case was, the practice continued through at least 2017-2018 according to the teacher that was subjected to this de facto "policy."

Now that we will be hiring our superintendent locally after the referendum passed--I hope the school board hires one that supports truth in grading and not this no-zero grading rubbish.

Come to think of it---I wonder if the current school board even knows  that this is happening right now in their schools, in our schools?