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Education Leaders Should Be Awarded Zeroes Themselves

June 28, 2013 by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) at 06:50 AM

I'm quoted in this column in the KW Record yesterday. It concerns the "new" ministry/school board no-zeroes policy. As you might guess, I'm not a fan.

Here is feedback from Tony Lea, athlete, former teacher of physical education, and current executive director of the KW St. John's Ambulance Association.

"Like you, I was once again taken aback, appalled and annoyed to read that our Education Decision Makers have got it wrong. They continue to reinforce a concept that does not exist in the real world – namely, that one cannot fail. But if one cannot fail, then de facto one cannot succeed.

"This political view point is of course really affecting my subject of Physical Education. Apparently our future parents/ leaders/ entrepreneurs/ athletes are to get a Participation Certificate when ‘competing’ in Track and Field.

"Years ago, when I was teaching at Farnham College in Surrey and was nationally known for being the originator of the ‘A’ level in Physical Education, I was invited to join a national committee that wanted to take the object of competition and aggression out of certain sports - e.g. there would be no ball in soccer/rugby/tennis; and no shuttle cock in badminton. The players would just run around and perform the Human Movement without actually hitting or striking the object of aggression. Upon completing the movement, the player would say, “To You!” and this ridiculous process would be completed again and again, until someone decided it was time to sit down and study the dandelions.

"NUTS!! These people are NUTS!"

Comments

POSTED ON BEHALF OF DOUG

I don’t think much of Tony Lea’s hyper-competitive attitude but I also don’t think much of no zero’s policy.

I know what they are driving at. Kid takes 4 credits in a semester gets 90, 80, 85, 0 therefore average is 63 ?

This give a distorted picture, hated that subject or that teacher, the fat kid who would not show up in PE you get the picture.

I don’t believe the answer is 0 nor do I think it is give the kid 40% or whatever. There needs to be another answer. In university we would get INCOMPLETE or something.

At the end of the day giving a mark of whatever 35-40% for a kid you cannot pick out of a lineup due to not showing up and not handing in any assignments is not the way. You are not doing anybody any favours.

Posted by Malkin Dare on 06/28 at 08:15 AM

Relativism at its best with twisted logic and can only be found in the K to 12 alternative reality. Where up is down and a zero grade is not a zero grade.

All done in the name of getting the students out of the K to 12 system, regardless if the kids have no skills that are of no use in the real world.

Posted by Nancy on 06/28 at 01:46 PM

‘No Zeros’ is not a totally weird idea, it sort of reflects what goes in in the workplace. We somewhat value the ‘low-maintenance’ employees who deliver on-time with reasonable quality, and we put up with every sort of nonsense from our star players. The problematic case is the disruptive employee that delivers poor-quality work, and they don’t last long.

The good part of ‘No Zeros’ is that academic grades reflect what the student knows, independent of a student’s behavior. That is as it should be.

I think the outrage on this topic is because we are thinking of the student who doesn’t hand in assignments, has not learned the materials, and can’t be fired. Don’t worry, he will be soon enough.

Posted by Tom on 06/30 at 05:51 AM

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Education Leaders Should Be Awarded Zeroes Themselves

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