Rewarding Everyone

Today will be my last class of PC Repair, at least for this semester.  And I should be getting an A in the class.  I only took two classes this semester, but made certain that I got an A in each of them.  I studied and studied and read the expensive books I had to buy and earned my grades.  I’m not quite ready to get a degree yet, but once I am, I will have earned it!  But there are some idiots here in town who think you should still be part of a graduation even if you don’t earn it!

Apparently a lot of students here in Clark County (That’s the county where Las Vegas and Henderson are located in the state of Nevada) have been traditionally allowed to go through graduation and receive a “certificate of attendance” or something like that if they don’t pass some state proficiency test and qualify to graduate from high school. 

Now the graduation rate in Clark County is pretty low.  I guess Nevada ranks around #49 out of the 50 states in education.  Hard to believe that there is a state dumber than Nevada.  I can now understand why when I go to a McDonald’s the kid running the cash register screws up my order, or why the kid running the register at Walmart can’t figure out how to count change back to me if I pay in cash.

Now I’ve heard all the arguments about how some people aren’t good taking tests, and how it’s a lot of pressure to put on a kid, and how it’s not right to let some kid go to a graduation with his friends just because he or she didn’t pass some test.  But I’ve also been told that they start giving these proficiency tests in the sophomore year of high school and the kids have three years to pass them.  THREE YEARS!  If you fail the first time, they can put you in special classes to help you study to take the exam again.  There are tutors and you can easily find the things you need to study for these exams.  And the students are given chance after chance to re-take failed portions, but people don’t think their kids need to do that.

Why work hard for something when you can just get it for nothing?  So many parents are upset saying “My kid deserves this” and “My kid deserves that”.  Your kid deserves the chance to succeed, but if you don’t do the work, you don’t deserve the rewards!  What the hell happened?  When did we become a bunch of whiners who think you should get a reward just for participation?

So what do these kids tell an employer when they’re trying to get a job and they are asked if they’ve graduated from high school?  Do they proudly show their certificate of attendance and say they went to school once in a while?  “Yeah, I was there to see all my friends.  I may show up at work once in a while, but don’t expect much from me.”  Would you hire someone who said this?  I guess some places have.  You don’t want mom and dad suing your company for discrimination against your kid because he didn’t graduate!

The whole controversy now is that the school district will no longer allow these under achievers to attend the graduations and get their “certificate of attendance”.  I saw one woman ranting that her kid had a “3.4” grade point average, and should still be allowed to graduate even though she didn’t pass the proficiency tests.  That makes me wonder how she got such an average in the first place.  Did she cheat?  Or take classes like “How to unbutton a shirt”?  How does the girl have a high grade point average without being able to pass basic proficiency tests?  I know we want to protect our children, but come on!

I think the school district is doing the right thing.  Can you imagine after a few law suits colleges having to hand out certificates of attendance during actual college degree ceremonies?  Maybe we can have hospitals full of doctors who didn’t pass any exams, but were registered at a medical school and have an attendance certificate from there?  You can have a fire department full of fireman who may, or may not show up if your house is on fire.  They have a certificate of attendance and may, or may not feel like actually fighting fires. 

We already have shops full of cashiers who need a calculator because I’m trying to buy one watermelon that’s on sale 2 for $10 and the clerk can’t figure out how much to charge me for just one.  Must we keep dumbing down our society?  I’m glad I went back to college and am proud of the grades I will receive for this semester.  And I’m proud to have actually earned my grades.

Don’t bother trying to rant away at me about what your child deserves or doesn’t deserve.  I don’t care.  When I enlisted in the Air Force you had to be a high school graduate.  Not a high school “attendee”, but a GRADUATE!  I had to give an actual copy of my diploma to my recruiter.  I had to earn my way in.  And even if they allow kids to enlist without graduating, you’ll have to actually pass Air Force school courses to get a good military career assignment.  Also keep in mind the Air Force tests for you to get promoted past a certain rank.  No “certificate of attendance” for that! 

Ok, my rant about this is over.  I just thought I’d write a bit about what was going on here.  I’ll go back to reading the other news stories about drunk drivers, shootings, and stabbings now.  While I’m doing that, take a look at a clip from the movie Idiocracy.  This is where we’re headed.

Notes From College

Welcome back to school!

I've quit my job and have gone back to college.  I'm only taking two classes this semester, but they're obviously going to take some work.  I'm 47 years old and a bit rusty when it comes to school now.  The two classes I'm taking are Intro to Information Systems and PC Repair.  My first class was the Intro one and that was back on Thursday.  And yes, I was nervous.

Before I go on and on about school, let me just say that my last "serious" class was probably when I was in the United States Air Force over 25 years ago.  I had classes while I was working security yes, but to be honest they were stupid classes and I found it pretty hard to take them seriously.  College classes are different.  You take them seriously or you fail.  It's that simple.  And I don't want to fail.  I want to work with computers for a living and in order to do that, I need to pass these courses!  So onward we go!

I was anxious to get to my first class.  I didn't have a book for it, though.  There was a book listed online for my PC Repair class, but not for the Intro to Info one.  I asked at the college book store, but they weren't sure either and told me to ask the instructor at my first class.  Ok, no problem.  So I showed up for my first college course with nothing.  No notebook, no paper, no pen, no book, and apparently no forethought.  *chuckle*  When I told my niece about this (She's a straight A, 4.0, Associates degree in Business girl), she was horrified!  "Why didn't you at least take something to take notes with?" she asked me.  I don't know.  I guess I just wasn't sure what to expect.

The professor was really good about things though, and I wasn't the only one there without a book.  He went through everything and basically told us that if we don't want to show up for class, we don't have to!  We also don't have to pass.  He's not there to push us to succeed, he's there to teach.  If you don't want to learn, that's fine.  He said he doesn't like failing people, but last semester he failed a third of his class.  Wow.  That's...harsh.  But if you study and put in the work, you can easily pass the course.  And it WILL take work and study, too!  I can't just show up for class and then pass the tests.  I have to read the course book and if I want more than just a "C" for the class, I need to do the extra projects that will be assigned.  I want to do all the extra because that will not only help me with the tests, it will better my grade and help me learn the things I want to know.  The first assignment for this week:  Read chapters One through Five.  That's a good amount of reading, but I can do it.  Oh, here's a look at my "book":

On the left, you can see the five chapters that I've finished reading.  On the right is what's left.  Now as you can see it really isn't a book.  It's a bunch of loose leaf papers that don't have a binder.  So now I can either haul around a bunch of loose papers, or go and pay more money for a binder to put them in!  These papers cost me $112.50!  Part of that expense was for a code to get into something called "SAM" so I can do extra projects and things.  Another bad thing is that they won't buy this book back.  Because you're paying for the "code" inside, you can't get it used.  Oh well.  You can bet I'll probably be selling my PC Repair book back, though!  *chuckle*  I did buy that one used.

Today I head for my second class, the PC Repair one.  I have to drive way across town to get to the campus for this class.  I'll be heading there early just to find the classroom and to make sure I'm there on time.  And once I find everything, I'm sure there will be someplace where I can sit and read the course book while I wait for class to start.  And yes, for this class I'll not only have my book, I'll also take a notebook and pen to take notes with.  *chuckle*  I'll be a bit more prepared.  And hopefully this class will go just as well as my first one did.  I guess we'll find out.

More later...