4 Years of Grading Bullies High School Students

This is something I said years ago.  Giving grades, term after term, and year after year doesn't help. The grading system is the equivalent of bullying high school students.  It's no wonder why students choose to get high on drugs to cope with the grading system.  Not only that, but the grading system focuses too much on speed of learning, and not enough on long term memory, and real life problem solving.

I had no idea how bad it was until I worked at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, where Scientists, most of them with post doctoral degrees, needed reminders of the basics when it came time for peer reviewing other scientists.  If it is bad at a place that is considered more reputable than the Ivy Leagues, why haven't we put more effort in things such as study skills for the college bound folk?

Please teachers and professors of all kinds, stop focusing on how fast, and instead focus on retention related skills.  If it goes into the mind for a test, and pops out before the end of not just a semester, but after several years, that is something that should be taken into strong consideration.

The real test is should be one you can't prepare for, but comes at a completely random time.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/07/09/what-your-high-school-transcript-didn-include-grades/h9V1ZtSTWQqWmqIBzbYwPJ/story.html

All People Are Created Equal?

In order for the quote to be true, that "All men are created equal before the law." We must append it with under the law, which is wishful thinking, because this idea was put forth during a time were slavery was both legal and practiced.

"If I were to make a nomination for the most destructive belief in our culture, it would be the belief that some people are born smart and others are born dumb. This belief is not only badly off target as a shorthand description of reality, it is the source of many social pathologies and lost opportunities" - The Lie Quoted (http://qz.com/340304/degrees-dont-matter-anymore-skills-do):

If you read the article, notice how they don't use any statistics or data to back up any of their claims. I will go with my Psychology 101 Professor taught at college, Rutgers. He asked for his students to raise their hands if they believed that everyone has an equal ABILITY to succeed aside from circumstance. Most of the class raised their hands, like QZ would. Then, the Prof went on to say that given everything that is known (the real data that is - not just some sort of heartfelt concoction like "We are all created equal because if we weren't that would be unfair to my conscience") indicates that people are not alike in their abilities. There IS such a thing as innate APTITUDE!, and it won't go away despite the fact that so many people dislike it.

Think about it. If someone has a disability like Down's Syndrome, they are never going to be able to score a 150 in an IQ test because their academic ability is less at birth. I don't claim this saying that it doesn't offend my sense of idealism. However, let's be honest with ourselves!!!

We are not all the same; here is but one way that we are different. Chabad.org):

"There are four types of student. One who is quick to understand and quick to forget--his flaw cancels his virtue. One who is slow to understand and slow to forget--his virtue cancels his flaw. One who is quick to understand and slow to forget--his is a good portion. One who is slow to understand and quick to forget--his is a bad portion." - The Truth Quoted (Ethics of the Fathers 5:12)