- #36
Pengwuino
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They seem to be doing it on a district by district basis. Our district allowed the idiots to walk because their sense of self-satisfaction is worth more then their education.
Yeah, if Pengwuino could pass the grammar part of the test, it must be pretty easy. :tongue:Pengwuino said:Bulls***. I took the harder prototype test and IT IS THAT EASY. It was a joke. What i find even more annoying was that our class had to take the test as a complete surprise and we still rocked its world, no "teaching the test" crap either.
I have a feeling the activists say its too hard because they probably couldn't pass it themselves...
Moonbear said:(like the student was in the ER the night before and on pain medication for a broken leg during the exam)
I believe they only need to correctly answer 60 percent of the English-language questions and 55 percent of the math questions in order to pass.Gokul43201 said:What's a passing score on this exit exam...typically ?
Moonbear said:If a school has students with 4.0 averages who are failing a basic skills test, and there isn't some extraordinary circumstance to explain it (like the student was in the ER the night before and on pain medication for a broken leg during the exam) then someone needs to look into those schools and why they've cheated those students of a proper education and given them the false impression they are succeeding.
Siegel and his supporters believe that inadequate funding and a lack of quality teachers puts Oakland students at a disadvantage for passing the exam, which the state requires to get a diploma.
"It doesn't matter how many times we can take the test and how many years we have to prepare when our schools have been messed up since we were in kindergarten," said Leslie Santiago, a 17-year-old junior at MetWest High School in Oakland and one of about 25 students who attended the board meeting to support Siegel's resolution.
Because the bankrupt district is under state control...
I'd really like to see one of these people that are suing against the exam on grounds that it's unfairly hard. I'd commend them on having the guts to show their faces in public.Math Is Hard said:I believe they only need to correctly answer 60 percent of the English-language questions and 55 percent of the math questions in order to pass.
Pengwuino said:And what's this BS about kids having 4.0's and not being able to pass the exit exam? SOMETHINGS WRONG THERE! I don't know what's worse, that someone could be so stupid as to not pass the exit exam or that the system is so corrupt that someone could be so stupid as to not pass the exit exam yet still get a 4.0.
0TheSwerve0 said:Where did it say anything about 4.0's?
Pengwuino was just helping to demonstrate the level of reading comprehension one can have and still pass the exam. (Sorry, Pengwuino, you're just too easy to pick on today. )0TheSwerve0 said:Where did it say anything about 4.0's?
Moonbear said:Pengwuino was just helping to demonstrate the level of reading comprehension one can have and still pass the exam. (Sorry, Pengwuino, you're just too easy to pick on today. )
Awww...sorry. Have another fish. It's only a day old (I got extra yesterday).Pengwuino said:And today I am super depressed. I'm going to go kill myself now. thanks a lot!
Good luck!Oh wait i have a job interview monday...
Moonbear said:Good luck!
It happens, though.0TheSwerve0 said:Where did it say anything about 4.0's?
The legal challenge to the California High School Exit Exam filed last week was almost as predictable as the rising of the sun. There was no way the state was going to deny diplomas to thousands of otherwise qualified students without facing a suit. But it was still a shocker.
The suit's named plaintiffs include several Richmond High School seniors. One, Liliana Valenzuela, has a grade point average of 3.84; the suit says she's 12th in a class of 413 students. Another, Laura Echavarria, has a GPA of 4.0.
According to the complaint, both took the English-Langauge Arts part of the test three times and failed it each time. In addition, the plaintiffs include eight or nine at other schools who had high averages and got praise from teachers, but couldn't pass either the English or math part of the test.
As long as they aren't both scheduled for the same time...:uhh:Pengwuino said:I have jury duty on the same day. I just realized this about 2 hours ago.
Pengwuino said:Wow, smart enough to know that you're entire education has been inadaquit since kindergarten yet not smart enough to know basic algebra...
They shouldn't be suing the state for the exit exam, they should be suing the school for giving them unrealistic expectations and inflated grades. There's no reason, whatsoever, that a 4.0 student shouldn't be able to pass an English exam after 3 tries if those questions you showed are representative. I'd be curious if those students took the SAT, and what their verbal scores were on that. If there was a huge discrepancy between the two standardized exams, then I might question the exit exam (i.e., if you can test well on the SAT, but not the exit exam, maybe there is a problem with it), but if they corroborate one another, then it would make it clearer that the school's grading is the problem.Math Is Hard said:It happens, though.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/14191213p-15018112c.html
0TheSwerve0 said:Might see them more akin to illiterates than mentally handicapped people. No need to read, all you have to do is look around to compare the conditions of a poor public school versus a rich one.
Moonbear said:They shouldn't be suing the state for the exit exam, they should be suing the school for giving them unrealistic expectations and inflated grades. There's no reason, whatsoever, that a 4.0 student shouldn't be able to pass an English exam after 3 tries if those questions you showed are representative. I'd be curious if those students took the SAT, and what their verbal scores were on that. If there was a huge discrepancy between the two standardized exams, then I might question the exit exam (i.e., if you can test well on the SAT, but not the exit exam, maybe there is a problem with it), but if they corroborate one another, then it would make it clearer that the school's grading is the problem.
Math Is Hard said:It happens, though.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/14191213p-15018112c.html
Well, we've already seen the shift of jobs that used to just require a high school diploma starting to require a college degree when the value of a high school diploma weakened and the push to just graduate students who weren't qualified really started up, so if that keeps up, the next generation is going to require a master's degree just to be a secretary. (And yes, some of those jobs didn't even used to require a high school diploma, just an 8th grade education).Math Is Hard said:I don't know why everyone is so upset. It's not like you need a high school diploma to go to college or anything.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/30/e...&en=c871f0b01330eca9&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Pengwuino said:If you realize you aren't getting a good education.... there's a thing called taking the initiative and self-studying.
Millions of destitute, impoverished kids do this in places where a textbook is a luxury, and America is next only to Paradise.0TheSwerve0 said:Very American "pick yourself up by your own bootstraps" logic.
Pengwuino said:Those girls are probably suck ups and cheerleaders
in more way then one
Gokul43201 said:Millions of destitute, impoverished kids do this in places where a textbook is a luxury, and America is next only to Paradise.
0TheSwerve0 said:True, but part of doing well is having other people expect you to do well. Students perform much better in an environment where they think someone actually cares whether or not they do. Plus, how well you can learn depends on the supplies you have. Besides teachers, you also need textbooks and supplies such as lab kits/tools, computers, etc. I don't know the specifics of the circumstance, but these lacks could explain it. I don't think you should underestimate the impact of teachers either, or peers to learn with. Home conditions and the physical conditions (e.g. temperature) have an impact on your brain.
And perhaps those who are able to teach themselves ARE the ones who are already passing the exam. Not every student is capable of self-study, many do need the assistance of a teacher to guide them through learning. It doesn't mean they aren't capable of learning, but that they do need a teacher to help them do it. If every kid was able to just teach themselves, why would we need schools or teachers at all?Pengwuino said:Teachers are also pretty much luck of the draw when you go to less then great school. Our school got a great deal of funding and most of the teachers still sucked
No, I haven't read it. Maybe there is a case to be made for the rare exception. I still find it hard to believe.0TheSwerve0 said:btw, have you read Savage Inequalities? He makes a pretty strong case for the children living in those cities. East St. Louis had one of the highest homicide rates, chemical spills, fumes and toxic waste polluting air and water, raw sewage flooding the area...in fact, people did comment in the book that it was just like a Third World country (coming from one guy who was from a Third World country).
We're not talking about performing well academically. We are talking about scoring a paltry 55-60% on a test that can, IMO be passed by someone who didn't attend a single day of school beyond the 8th grade. We're also talking about a document (the diploma) that is supposed to communicate something. What does a diploma from one of the above described schools actually say?Can you reasonably expect children living in such horrendous conditions to actually perform well academically?
Gokul43201 said:We're not talking about performing well academically. We are talking about scoring a paltry 55-60% on a test that can, IMO be passed by someone who didn't attend a single day of school beyond the 8th grade. We're also talking about a document (the diploma) that is supposed to communicate something. What does a diploma from one of the above described schools actually say?
Pengwuino said:Whoa... temperature? Is it only hot in poor schools? Besides, the only thing tested is math and english skills (which is strange in of itself...), you don't need lab kits and computers for that. Teachers are also pretty much luck of the draw when you go to less then great school. Our school got a great deal of funding and most of the teachers still sucked
0TheSwerve0 said:Apparently, the heating and air conditioning was out of whack at some of the schools. It would either be sweltering or freezing...hardly conducive to learning. I still think you need teachers to learn math and english. I believe the children in the example I gave from the book did not have textbooks, so they couldn't teach themselves. The kids at the Oakland school probably could, but there are other things that hamper and discourage children's ability and will to learn. Other opportunities might seem more attractive if they're convinced they can't succeed because they think they're unintelligent (several ways that could happen beyond the fact that they are). We don't really know what's going on at the school, but I think it's more complicated than students just being lazy and stupid.
Gokul43201 said:No, I haven't read it. Maybe there is a case to be made for the rare exception. I still find it hard to believe.
We're not talking about performing well academically. We are talking about scoring a paltry 55-60% on a test that can, IMO be passed by someone who didn't attend a single day of school beyond the 8th grade. We're also talking about a document (the diploma) that is supposed to communicate something. What does a diploma from one of the above described schools actually say?
A 16-year old student in the South Bronx tells me that he went to English class for two months in the fall of 1989 before the school supplied him with a textbook. He spent the entire year wihou a science text...In May of 1990 he is facing final exams, but, because the school requires students to pass in their textbooks one week prior to the end of the semester, he is forced to study without math and English texts. He wants to go to college and he knows that math and English are important, but he's feeling overwhelmed, especially in math. He asked his teacher if he could come in for extra help, but she informed him that she didn't have the time...Sitting in his kitchen, I attempt to help him with his math and English. In math, according to a practice test he has been given, he is asked to solve the following equation: "2x - 2 = 14. What is x?" He finds this baffling. In English, he is told he'll have to know the parts of speech. In the sentence "Jack walkds to the store," he is unable to identify the verb...In the fall of the year, he phones me at home. "There are 42 students in my science class, 40 in my English class-45 in my home room. When all the kids show up, five of us have to stand in the back."