<p>At my middle school, kids were being given extra credit if they didn’t use their two bathroom passes for the semester. So, bladder control = higher grade. Parents complained, and the policy was changed.</p>
<p>“I can name several times that my S did not receive all the points he could have obtained in comparison to others because the teacher “expected more from him”. I hold nothing against these teachers if their desire was to challenge my S.” </p>
<p>Sorry, but I can’t agree with that philosophy. When you reach a certain level of coursework, all students should be expected to be performing at a certain level. If someone who is a gifted public speaker gives a presentation which would be considered as meeting expectations for a less gifted speaker, should they be penalized because the teacher expected more of them? What if in addition to the presentation due that day they also had an AP Chem exam, a paper due in AP English and an Honors French IV exam? </p>
<p>Many of the extra credit opportunities I referenced in a previous post involve $$. And transportation. And time to do them. What about the kid who doesn’t have those kinds of resources? </p>
<p>Teachers are human and the majority of them do a great job; but there comes a point when you have to recognize that the superior student is the one who is excelling on the assigned work and isn’t padding their grade with extra credit. That does a disservice to all students - including the one doing the padding.</p>
<p>Yes, this is common in public school. At our school, the extra credit given is usually very, very negligible – maybe a few points out of the hundreds that accumulate through a semester.</p>
<p>In seventh grade French class, we all got fat on chocolate mousse. My friend Ann brought it in every Friday for extra credit.</p>
<p>My three kids are in public schools…I sure WISH they got extra credit for all the things they are asked to bring in…more dry erase markers, facial tissue, money to pay for a broken overhead bulb. We try to do our part because I know I make a lot more money than a public school teacher. But it would be nice if the school gave the teachers more supplies.</p>
<p>It does benefit those who can pay and have transportation. I know with the donuts we had to leave early and drive to the donut shop which was the opposite direction of the school. The donuts had to be donut shop type not the grocery store boxed.</p>
<p>sabaray…no need to apologize, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I never said that my S was given a lower score then the rest of the class, just that he was held accountable to his level not anyone else’s. I just do not believe we live in a perfect world where everyone is treated exactly the same and the same level is expected from everyone. </p>
<p>I coach a sport team at a highly competitive level. Each one of these players has merited to be on the team. I expect each do their part and perform at their best capacity. But I also know that for the team to be successful, there are several members who have the capability to make a greater impact because they play a significant role on the team. If I catered to the least common denominator, the team’s performance and all the players would suffer. Yes, there are several players that I expect to impact the team at a higher level and that is from where I coach them. I challenge each of them to continually improve, not just for the team today, but for themselves and their future in the sport if that is what they choose to do. If one of my “lesser impact” players has a fantastic game, do I tell them they only did OK because comparatively the “higher impact” player is still a better athlete? No! Therefore, if it means that my S is being compared at his own high level, then I am fine with this. </p>
<p>But, I digress, back to the OP topic and my original point. There are so many ways to give EC or a point or two here and there regardless of the economic level of the student. This may be a bit controversial, but why would I, as a teacher, want to give busy work to a student that I know will turn in a very good EC paper without any effort, I would rather have that box of tissues that would benefit the whole class. For other students I would perhaps ask for some curriculum work that shows me that they are trying to make an effort. </p>
<p>OK, I’m done. To each their own.</p>
<p>yeah my spanish teacher had done something like that too back in 9th grade…</p>
<p>Yes, to each their own. Can’t quite make the leap between equating athletic performance and academic achievement. If an athlete on a highly competitive soccer team scores three goals (I know that’s a hat trick in hockey), coaches at a school recruiting for soccer talent are going to take notice. How about the student who gets a “B” because their teacher believes them capable of performing better than their classmates and judges them accordingly? How will that be reflected in the transcript or on college applications? One student gets an “A” in an AP course because they padded with extra credit, other student receives a “B” because they’re judged capable of better performance based on their superior ability - who is being hurt here? I’d say both students. And as far as I know, classroom performance isn’t a team effort for the most part.</p>
<p>folks need to remember along the way school is supposed to be fun. Bringing doughnuts or pizza for ap study sessions isn’t bad teaching, it’s bringing a little fun to the place. </p>
<p>I don’t think the example of a teacher expecting more from a student isn’t where they are downgrading their final marks. Some teachers as well as coaches recognize the big fish in the little pond will someday head out to sea. </p>
<p>If they’re capable of being a giant of the deep, why not expect a little more now? For some kids the best thing they need to learn is that they are in competition with themselves and if they don’t strive to beat (better) themselves very often, eventually they settle into average. Look around there are examples everywhere. Bless the coach or the educator who recognizes there’s more to give.</p>
<p>sabaray…where you are not understanding me is when I make the distinction between performance as part of a curriculum and performance based on the student’s personal level. I am not saying that if a student does better on a presentation than others in the class that he should receive a lesser grade if it doesn’t meet their own lofty potential. On the contrary, if the work is good, then they should be given a fair grade. You seem to be caught up in the grade. But I want my child challenged to reach greater heights and expand his potential. Some people have to work really hard to get the same grade as another who can just mail it in. In the end, they will both receive the same grade, but only one would have been challenged to improve themselves while the other is being rewarded for minimal effort. Personally, if my son is getting straight A’s by just mailing it in, then he is not being challenged to improve; how will he react when he is truly challenged one day. </p>
<p>Scoring 3 goals is not the issue here, it is how were those goals scored; who started the play, was their an assist? Scoring 3 goals is fine as long as your team did not allow 8 in. There is so much more involved as in education and life.</p>
<p>Umm, no, I’m not caught up in the grade. I don’t think you’re understanding what I’m saying. I definitely want my D to work to her potential. But the reality is that the student who can mail it in and the student who has to work really hard for a similar result may not receive the same grade due to subjectivity in some areas of assessment. Tests and quantifiable objectives are black and white; presentations, essays and the like are not. I have no problem with a teacher saying to my D - while this was an A, it was not your best effort and you could have improved it by xyz. I’ve just been through too much with our school system with more being expected of my D than other students because of her “potential”. How did we get off the extra credit issue anyway? I’m sure neither one of us is going to change the other’s mind and it may be we are speaking the same language but just aren’t the best communicators. I’ll give you a B+ for effort, though! <joke, smile=“”></joke,></p>
<p>Son got extra credit for tissues in middle school, but not in high school.</p>
<p>There might be more to this story than is being passed along.</p>
<p>The idea of giving so much extra credit–for tissues–that a student’s grade is actually changed is just crazy to me, particularly at the HS level and as an opportunity extended only to one student. But perhaps this student really is only one or two points away from an “A”. The teacher knows she’s put in great effort, knows that she legitimately deserves the “A” grade (maybe she misunderstood a HW assignment and didn’t get any credit for what she’d done, maybe she was unavoidably absent on a day where all of the students had an opportunity to receive in-class extra credit, etc.), and so, semi-jokingly, strikes this grade-boosting deal. The student gets the grade that the teacher feels she deserves, the points all work out, and the class gets tissues. No other students are harmed because none were in comparable academic positions. Maybe this boost is just a silly (but practical) way of making up for the student getting shorted earlier in the semester. </p>
<p>Now, obviously the above is 100% hypothetical, but the point is that there could be more to this story than meets the eye, and it could have been very harmless. Definitely not saying that it was…just that it could have been.</p>
<p>When I taught General Science (not the college prep track) at an inner city high school in East San Jose, I discovered that not one of my students had a library card. I promptly offered 100 points (a full test grade) of extra credit if they showed my a library card by the following Monday. Most of the students had one on Monday; the rest got 50 points for the library card by the following week. </p>
<p>The next week a student came up to me and said “I never thought someone in the government would trust me with a book on loan for two weeks. That’s really cool!”</p>
<p>A few kids passed who might not have without the extra credit, but I have no regrets.</p>
<p>Our kids got some points for having their grade reports signed by the parents. I think this ended in middle school, or freshman year HS…</p>
<p>actually every year i have been in school teachers have made us bring stuff to school (tissues, gloves, hand sanitizer, paper towel, dry erase markers) for either extra credit or for a grade.</p>
<p>you pretty much expect it now</p>