My daughter graduated from high school in 1998, and I was pretty amazed when I attended her Class Night. She had a 3.7 grade point average -- grades I only dreamed of -- and she didn't rank in the top third of her class.
In fact, the top 20 percent were all above 4.0, thanks to advanced placement and honors classes. There were six or seven kids who all had perfect 4.5 averages, the highest you could get by taking a maximum number of AP classes.
Even though Pauline's grades were only great, she managed to enter college with nearly a third of the credits she needed to graduate. Of course, since we promised to pay for four years, she used the whole four years at UCLA and got two bachelor's degrees.
The purpose of this isn't to brag about my kids -- well, maybe a little -- but to ask you if your kids had the same competition for grades and the same grade inflation that we have here in Southern California.
When I graduated from Woodson in 1967, I had only about a 3.1 average. That was good enough to sneak into the top 20 percent of the class, and I don't think we were stupider back then than our kids are now.
For one thing, we had a tougher grading scale -- 94 for an A, 87 for a B, 80 for a C and 70 to pass. My kids were always on 90, 80, 70, 60.
It's odd. You may have noticed that Woodson now ranks consistently among the top 100 high schools in the country because of its large number of advanced placement and honors classes. We didn't have any of those, as I recall.
Did your kids enjoy themselves in school, or were they constantly working for grades?
5 comments:
I wish I could add my comments, but I was not fortunate enough to have children of my own.
Mike - your
my last 2 children both made straight a's.
my son made the number 1; top of his class position, even !
yet, i can tell you, there is more to a person than his grades.
it is a small part of what they are and what they may become.
i sucked at school; hated it.
i deliberately flunked a few classes...and would skip a few. the school stopped calling my mother in.
now, i realize i have a sensitive system....gluten, caffeine, weakened immune system.
my brain fog is finally lifting !
neither of my sisters have children.
deciding to raise children is merely a possible choice of experience here.
are you ready for 2012 ??????
nan.
I must have been interrupted when I was writing that earlier comment.
What I was going to say was:
Mike - your daughter is gorgeous and looks like she is just beaming with happiness. Very lovely.
Thanks, Dale. Pauline is a lovely young lady and a high achiever. She's a foreign service officer in the embassy in Beijing.
My daughter graduated from high school in 1996 and VT in 2000. I am proudest that she supports herself. She learned how to save money and invest in her future. By the time she was in her late 20's she already socked away more in her retirement account than her father and I had paid for our 2nd house. I think grade point averages are irrelevant, it's more important that our Children learn how to stand on their own 2 feet to survive in this world.
I don't think top of the class is everything. I think you have to balance your life to survive. A little common sense goes a long way!
Jonee
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