Current Events > Baltimore High School Student near Top Half of Class with 0.13 gpa

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/city-student-passes-3-classes-in-four-years-ranks-near-top-half-of-class-with-013-gpa

Only passed 3 classes through all of high school. City needs to be abolished for allowing this to happen.

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Why did he skip 272 days

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Oh this topic is gonna be good I can just feel it

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No child left behind

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The mom in this article was kinda dumb about this tbh

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Feel sorry for the kid.

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His transcripts show hes passed just three classes in four years, earning 2.5 credits, placing him in ninth grade. But France says she didnt know that until February. She has three children and works three jobs. She thought her oldest son was doing well because even though he failed most of his classes, he was being promoted.

As we dig deeper into her sons records, we can see in his first three years at Augusta Fells, he failed 22 classes and was late or absent 272 days.

At some point this is on them.

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Baltimore continues to be a dumpster fire trying to compete with Detroit for worse place in the country.

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His transcripts show he failed Spanish I and Algebra I but was promoted to Spanish II and Algebra II. He also failed English II but was passed on to English III.

wat

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s0nicfan posted...

Baltimore continues to be a dumpster fire trying to compete with Detroit for worse place in the country.

What do these two cities have in common

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this was brought to my attention with S4 of The Wire.

the school system simply doesn't have the resources necessary to properly hold back kids who fail -- this would cause the grades to explode in size beyond what the school has resources for. their answer to this is "social promotion" where they basically just shove kids along regardless of what was learned (or not) because they simply have no alternative.

it's one thing for a school to hold back a couple of kids each year, but when 50% of the grade "fails" it's simply not maintainable to keep them all back. and when you have a child who is clearly not motivated at all to receive an education, what can you do? it's sad, but the system basically treats them as lost causes and instead focuses what little resources it has on the students with the most potential.


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g0ldie posted...

wat

Schools have very little incentive to actually hold a student back, and in many cases will try and just push them through and get them out the door so that the kid doesn't become a perpetual liability for them.

Public education has a lot of resources for students that are struggling, but not enough resources for kids that are doing that spectacularly bad.

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She thought her oldest son was doing well because even though he failed most of his classes

https://i.imgur.com/lB5wmMp.png

Giant_Aspirin posted...

this was brought to my attention with S4 of The Wire.

the school system simply doesn't have the resources necessary to properly hold back kids who fail -- this would cause the grades to explode in size beyond what the school has resources for. their answer to this is "social promotion" where they basically just shove kids along regardless of what was learned (or not) because they simply have no alternative.

it's one thing for a school to hold back a couple of kids each year, but when 50% of the grade "fails" it's simply not maintainable to keep them all back. and when you have a child who is clearly not motivated at all to receive an education, what can you do? it's sad, but the system basically treats them as lost causes and instead focuses what little resources it has on the students with the most potential.

How is a kid who failed a class supposed to pass a harder version that requires knowledge from the previous class? These kids are being setup for failure

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To be fair, that is the number they came up with when asked to calculate their gpa.

This joke may be too subtle.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

this was brought to my attention with S4 of The Wire.

the school system simply doesn't have the resources necessary to properly hold back kids who fail -- this would cause the grades to explode in size beyond what the school has resources for. their answer to this is "social promotion" where they basically just shove kids along regardless of what was learned (or not) because they simply have no alternative.

it's one thing for a school to hold back a couple of kids each year, but when 50% of the grade "fails" it's simply not maintainable to keep them all back. and when you have a child who is clearly not motivated at all to receive an education, what can you do? it's sad, but the system basically treats them as lost causes and instead focuses what little resources it has on the students with the most potential.

Yeah the Wire made the whole situation seem so hopeless. Like wtf are you even supposed to do to begin to fix it.

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Blue_Inigo posted...

How is a kid who failed a class supposed to pass a harder version that requires knowledge from the previous class? These kids are being setup for failure

they are, but what is the alternative? when 50% of kids (an example) fail English 1, that means next year's English 1 class will have 1.5 times as many students. this process repeats and repeats and the school suddenly has way more students than it has resources for.

for "normal" schools it's not a problem to hold back a few students each year. but when you have a significant percentage of students failing, like we see here, what in the actual fuck can be done?

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Blue_Inigo posted...

How is a kid who failed a class supposed to pass a harder version that requires knowledge from the previous class? These kids are being setup for failure

Theres only so much a school can do.

Parents still have to parent and be interested/get involved with schoolwork.
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Baltimore ranks near the top in per pupil spending for the entire state, for those who think its a funding issue

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s0nicfan posted...

Schools have very little incentive to actually hold a student back, and in many cases will try and just push them through and get them out the door so that the kid doesn't become a perpetual liability for them.

Public education has a lot of resources for students that are struggling, but not enough resources for kids that are doing that spectacularly bad.

I remember how being held back was such a threat back in school, it's surprising to find out how rare it actually is.

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shockthemonkey posted...

If thats still the top half then this is a systematic failure

It can be more than one thing

A kid who misses nearly 300 days of class in around 3 years deserves some blame too

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I can tell you exactly what happened here.
Giant_Aspirin posted...

this was brought to my attention with S4 of The Wire.

the school system simply doesn't have the resources necessary to properly hold back kids who fail -- this would cause the grades to explode in size beyond what the school has resources for. their answer to this is "social promotion" where they basically just shove kids along regardless of what was learned (or not) because they simply have no alternative.

it's one thing for a school to hold back a couple of kids each year, but when 50% of the grade "fails" it's simply not maintainable to keep them all back. and when you have a child who is clearly not motivated at all to receive an education, what can you do? it's sad, but the system basically treats them as lost causes and instead focuses what little resources it has on the students with the most potential.

I'm a teacher in a large city, this is the truth folks. It sucks but you get hounded by administration to basically just pass the kids along.

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Squall28 posted...

Yeah the Wire made the whole situation seem so hopeless. Like wtf are you even supposed to do to begin to fix it.

Hard to apply a fix for the current students.

I'd say do some sort of analysis, grade by grade, to see where the decline really begins. Are kids doing fine until 6th grade, then starting to fall off?

Well what changes in 6th grade, are they going from an elementary school to a middle school, and given more freedoms?

I find it hard to believe this is a problem starting in the beginning of elementary school, and if it is, what is different in their elementary schools compared to the rest of the nations? I'd be more inclined to think it is somewhere in middle school where school stops being "cool" and once the kids know they'll get passed along they just don't care.

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i already mentioned it once, but S4 of The Wire is so enlightening about how hard it is for kids in this situation to pull out of it. watching that basically converted me from a Libertarian to a Liberal

SergeantGander posted...

I find it hard to believe this is a problem starting in the beginning of elementary school, and if it is,

i have the impression that it is. most kids in those poverty stricken areas never take school seriously.

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TommyG663513 posted...

It can be more than one thing

A kid who misses nearly 300 days of class in around 3 years deserves some blame too

This. Granted, there should be changes to make it so kids actually have more investment in school and don't feel hopeless about their situation. But when you skip that much and know you're failing your classes, it shouldn't come as a surprise that you won't graduate. :l

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justaguy3492 posted...

I'm a teacher in a large city, this is the truth folks. It sucks but you get hounded by administration to basically just pass the kids along.

Yep. There is strong administrative pressure to pass kids, even those who are astoundingly behind and not receiving the systemic support they desperately need. Additionally, if kids aren't marked as "in danger of failing" on progress reports or report cards every time, they can't be failed later. At least in the districts i'm familiar with. It's worse than ever now with distance learning, as the pressure to pass at all costs is just increased.

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RebelElite791 posted...

Yep. There is strong administrative pressure to pass kids, even those who are astoundingly behind and not receiving the systemic support they desperately need. Additionally, if kids aren't marked as "in danger of failing" on progress reports or report cards every time, they can't be failed later. At least in the districts i'm familiar with. It's worse than ever now with distance learning, as the pressure to pass at all costs is just increased.

Why is this? I'm very curious. Is it part of that old No Child Left Behind policy?

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How are her other kids doing?

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TommyG663513 posted...

A kid who misses nearly 300 days of class in around 3 years deserves some blame too

And so does a parent that says "I thought he was doing well even though he failed most of his classes."

Giant_Aspirin posted...

this was brought to my attention with S4 of The Wire.

the school system simply doesn't have the resources necessary to properly hold back kids who fail -- this would cause the grades to explode in size beyond what the school has resources for. their answer to this is "social promotion" where they basically just shove kids along regardless of what was learned (or not) because they simply have no alternative.

it's one thing for a school to hold back a couple of kids each year, but when 50% of the grade "fails" it's simply not maintainable to keep them all back. and when you have a child who is clearly not motivated at all to receive an education, what can you do? it's sad, but the system basically treats them as lost causes and instead focuses what little resources it has on the students with the most potential.

Expelling them is also a option. Just get rid of the ridiculous 'leave no child behind' policy. Boot out the trash who dont want to be there or try, and who's parents arent doing their damn jobs and focus and consolidate their resources towards the kids actually trying.

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Prismsblade posted...

Expelling them is also a option. Just get rid of the ridiculous 'leave no child behind' policy. Boot out the trash who dont want to be there or try, and who's parents arent doing their damn jobs and focus and consolidate their resources towards the kids actually trying.

Boy im glad youre not in education or setting education policy

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shockthemonkey posted...

The systematic issue here isnt that this one individual wont graduate. Its that one individual who wont graduate has been continually promoted and is in the top half of his class.

I mean in general, there's that systemic issue where if you can get 50% on a test in most of the world, you pass. Here, you aren't passing with anything less than 60% and it's not an A unless you're at over 90%. That's a big part of what discourages kids from trying harder.

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gunplagirl posted...

I mean in general, there's that systemic issue where if you can get 50% on a test in most of the world, you pass. Here, you aren't passing with anything less than 60% and it's not an A unless you're at over 90%. That's a big part of what discourages kids from trying harder.

The biggest reason kids arent passing in high school is not doing the work. It isnt from getting a 50% on a test.

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Ivynn posted...

Why is this? I'm very curious. Is it part of that old No Child Left Behind policy?

The student population would become bottlenecked where there is a large portion of students in lower level classes while the upper level classes are close to empty. There's other reasons as well, but lack of resources is the main problem.

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There are larger systemic issues at play here. But the state should be invested in keeping children in school, and creating an incentive structure which maintains it.

Allowing education systems to stagnate and crumble, allowing students to fall through the cracks, is a failing of our government.

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gunplagirl posted...

I mean in general, there's that systemic issue where if you can get 50% on a test in most of the world, you pass. Here, you aren't passing with anything less than 60% and it's not an A unless you're at over 90%. That's a big part of what discourages kids from trying harder.

The solution here can't possibly be "lower the standards until fewer kids are failing".

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RebelElite791 posted...

Boy im glad youre not in education or setting education policy

As opposed to whose in charge now clearly doing a stellar job. Lmao.

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Bodymore murderland

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Imagine failing algebra and the school is like "congrats! Welcome to calculus!" <____<

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Prismsblade posted...

As opposed to whose in charge now clearly doing a stellar job. Lmao.

Students need more resources and support, not to be referred to as trash and discarded. Fuck outta here

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s0nicfan posted...

The solution here can't possibly be "lower the standards until fewer kids are failing".

It creates extra, and unnecessary, stress on students to have to do significantly better than their European peers simply to pass with a "C" or "average" grade.

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gunplagirl posted...

It creates extra, and unnecessary, stress on students to have to do significantly better than their European peers simply to pass with a "C" or "average" grade.

A) read my earlier post. The biggest reason for low grades is straight up missing work.
B) a D is passing.

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gunplagirl posted...

It creates extra, and unnecessary, stress on students to have to do significantly better than their European peers simply to pass with a "C" or "average" grade.

RebelElite791 posted...

Boy im glad youre not in education or setting education policy

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gunplagirl posted...

It creates extra, and unnecessary, stress on students to have to do significantly better than their European peers simply to pass with a "C" or "average" grade.

I was a student once and literally never one time did I think "it's so stressful how European students don't have to do as well to get a C."