Comments on: Grades for sale: $20 for 20 test points

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:21:32 +0000

Heh. This reminds me of the time when the French club at my high school was selling cards as a fundraiser. My French teacher said that she’d give extra credit to anyone who bought a card. Without stopping to think, I immediately blurted out, “So we’re basically buying our grades?” My teacher was most displeased.

By: Don Bemont

Don Bemont — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:22:03 +0000

Obviously a terrible idea.

But understand that this was a PR fiasco, not a serious aberration. Grades are so routinely pressured, manipulated, replaced, inflated, and otherwise altered that it just didn’t occur to anyone that this particular grade alteration would look so much worse than all the others.

If you could sneak reporters into a hundred high schools late in the term, you could get gather so many stories of similar embarrassment value that there would not be enough space in the paper to print them all. It has been bad for a long time, but since school results have become publicly compared, it has become ridiculous.

By: Darren

Darren — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:59:40 +0000

Someone should lose a job.

By: Give It Away at The Core Knowledge Blog

Give It Away at The Core Knowledge Blog — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:12:52 +0000

[...] le blogosphere is high dudgeon over a North Carolina middle school fundraiser offering extra 20 points [...]

By: Hall Monitor

Hall Monitor — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:57:21 +0000

I think this about sums up the emphasis some school districts are putting on a decent education. It’s obvious that money comes first.

Hall Monitor
http://detentionslip.org

By: Richard Nieporent

Richard Nieporent — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:41:20 +0000

Don’t be too hard on their bribery skills Allen. After all this is their first lesson in bribery. Some day they will know exactly how much to bribe in order to get out of trouble or win a contract and they will owe it all to what they learned at middle school.

By: Tweets that mention Grades for sale: $20 for 20 test points « Joanne Jacobs -- Topsy.com

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:24:26 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by kriley19 and JoanneLeeJacobs, Kimberly Swygert. Kimberly Swygert said: RT @JoanneLeeJacbos: Grades for sale: $20 for 20 test points at NC middle school: http://bit.ly/2Mdqta [...]

By: allen

allen — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:35:18 +0000

The worst idea ever? Man, that’s some pretty tough competition.

I think this shows how utterly incompetent public education personnel are when it comes to market dynamics. For instance, is 20 points worth twenty dollars? Perhaps it’s worth quite a bit more but we’ll never know.

The principal, in her painful unfamiliarity with the operation of the free market, simply set a price.

A savvier marketer would’ve put the points up for bid on Ebay, with some reasonable reserve, and let the market determine the value of her offering.

Oh, maybe she’s savvier then I thought.

By: Andrew Bell

Andrew Bell — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:17:31 +0000

Bad, bad idea. Of course, the idea came from parents – local control of schools and all. Too bad the principal didn’t have the guts to stand up and say no.

By: Swede

Swede — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:46:30 +0000

This may be the worst idea in education ever. Seriously, who is in charge there? If it is the principal’s idea, then she should be seriously reprimanded.