Overreacting or no big deal?

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This past Tuesday my DD wanted to go to Jersey Mikes for dinner. Seems her middle school was giving 5 grade points to every student who ate there Tuesday from 5-9 pm.

Is it me or is that a big WTF. Buying grades? I'm sure they were donating some $$ for every visitor from the school but shouldn't that be voluntary? We couldn't make it so my DD couldn't get the grade points some of her classmates did and I'm P'd off. Ready to discuss it with school officials and board or am I overreacting?

 

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LOL! Yeah, grade points? WTF?! Normally its a competition between grades, class with most points gets a pizza party or something like that, but never heard of grade points lmao

 

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I'd be mad. What if your busy or don't have the money, then your kid doesn't have the chance to get the extra points?? Extra points should be given based on extra work, not who is not busy or has money to go out to eat!! That is crazy!!

 

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Was on the news last night a school in N.C. was giving 10 points on a test for 20 bucks. I agree WTH is with that stuff?

What if a family didn't have it???? bad enough for those who can't afford Pay to play, but pay for grades????

 

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Why study when you can eat at Jersey Mikes? Where was this program when I was growing up?

 

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This past Tuesday my DD wanted to go to Jersey Mikes for dinner. Seems her middle school was giving 5 grade points to every student who ate there Tuesday from 5-9 pm.

Is it me or is that a big WTF. Buying grades? I'm sure they were donating some $$ for every visitor from the school but shouldn't that be voluntary? We couldn't make it so my DD couldn't get the grade points some of her classmates did and I'm P'd off. Ready to discuss it with school officials and board or am I overreacting?

Overreacting!!

 

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Overreacting!!

How? Is the $20 for 10 points they do in N.C. alright? What if next year they bumped it to $50 for 50 points or $100 for a bump of a grade level? Do we say it's okay to buy grade points but we need a czar to tell us where the cut off is because you would never get everyone to agree on one?

And what about a family that couldn't afford to go out to dinner at whatever restaurant or couldn't afford the $20? May not seem like much but 5 or 10 points could mean the difference between being on the honor roll or not, from a D average or C average or B average or an A average. Why should dollars paid be one of the factors? Seems like a slippery slope, a bad precedent and a bad example for the kids.

I'm convinced, it's not overreacting.

 

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I'm with you on this one Musty !

It is really setting a bad example to the kids as far as a life lesson. Wonder if people would have the same opinion on here if it was :

Coach - "Take hitting lessons from my friend and I will move you up in the lineup."

Player - " I already have a hitting instructor."

Coach - "Then be happy your in the lineup."

Grades are like anything else in life, you earn them.

Just a thought.

 

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shouldn't grades be a measure of how a student performs in a given class/subject? Giving points for anything else seems to defeat the purpose of giving a grade in the first place.

 

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If this were ME, I would be making phone calls and sending emails. I am a former classroom teacher and grades should be based on performance (classroom, homework, tests, projects, etc), not on where a family chooses to eat dinner. In my mind this is NOT ok.

 

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If it's grade points, they are in big trouble per a teacher I have known for 30 plus years!

 

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I had a sociology teacher in the 9th grade who went to each student and asked questions before a test. He would bring around a deck of the oversized cards and play blackjack if you answered your question correctly. The prize was bonus points toward the test. You could double up and everything. There were times when students would win enough points and wouldn't have to take the test:yahoo:

 

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Get the Reuben on wheat - Mike's way.

 

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I had a sociology teacher in the 9th grade who went to each student and asked questions before a test. He would bring around a deck of the oversized cards and play blackjack if you answered your question correctly. The prize was bonus points toward the test. You could double up and everything. There were times when students would win enough points and wouldn't have to take the test:yahoo:

Now that's what I'm talkin' about! That's my kind of class!

What would be funny is if the teacher in question in the first post actually owned the Jersey Mike's franchise. Of course, I don't agree with the whole idea, but it would be kind of funny.

 

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I am assuming these were extra credit type points. I agree with many that isn't fair to some families. Extra points need to be attainable by any and all students. Now the only factor that would change my mind is if there was another form of bonus points available to the students who were unable to go to the restaurant. I would be contacting someone at the school seems unfair.

To ladyknigts~curious why do you think it is overreacting?

 

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I guess for me it would depend on what the class was and if the points were normal credit or extra credit. To me "extra credit" is 5/0, not 5/5 in the grade book. 5/5, or 5pts. out of 5 available says that it was a requirement for the class and her grade suffers since she did not go. Plus, I'd like to see some relevance to the subject matter in the particular course of study. If she basically scored a 0 out of 5 for this assignment... you are absolutely not over-reacting!

 

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My dd also attends this school, which is large and consists of 5 teams of 7th and 5 teams of eight graders. It was a "competition" at different restaurants between each of the "teams" and a portion of the profits was donated back to the school. The restaurants ranged from Wendy's to Subway, Jersey Mikes, etc. I think all the teams offered "extra credit" for coming as we have many different things that money is raised for throughout the year. Although I agree that grades should certainly be earned, there are plenty of options for extra credit that would not entail spending money. I think the 5 points was just a way to get more people to participate. We also did not attend this year, but neither my 7th or 8th grader feel cheated for not attending. I think it was truely just a harmless fund raiser and would encourage it to continue whether or not the extra credit points are offered.

 

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Fundraisers for school are great but NOT when tied into grades. Buying grades is wrong at a small level and at a large level and for any reason. No mater how noble. I buy the crapola and the magazines and the Market Day food, happy to help. Read my prior post and answer some of those questions.

Momto77; Check Sam's grades. Just found out they had a dance a couple months ago, $5.00 to attend and if you did you received 5 grade points. Mandy didn't go and on her progress report it shows it as a 0/5.

 

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Fundraisers for school are great but NOT when tied into grades. Buying grades is wrong at a small level and at a large level and for any reason. No mater how noble. I buy the crapola and the magazines and the Market Day food, happy to help. Read my prior post and answer some of those questions.

Momto77; Check Sam's grades. Just found out they had a dance a couple months ago, $5.00 to attend and if you did you received 5 grade points. Mandy didn't go and on her progress report it shows it as a 0/5.

You are 100% correct! This is WRONG.
Unfortunately, with todays economic times teachers are put in a bad position to get things for the classroom.
So, they give extra credit/incentives for students to bring in objects for the classroom or students. (Sometimes the District or Administration is aware sometimes not).

As a parent my wife and I make sure we stay on the school and DD teachers just to make sure things are on the up and up.
Look at your DD syllabus for this class and see if this event is listed in the course or activities if not, ask for a parent teacher conference and find out why.

 

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How? Is the $20 for 10 points they do in N.C. alright? What if next year they bumped it to $50 for 50 points or $100 for a bump of a grade level? Do we say it's okay to buy grade points but we need a czar to tell us where the cut off is because you would never get everyone to agree on one?

And what about a family that couldn't afford to go out to dinner at whatever restaurant or couldn't afford the $20? May not seem like much but 5 or 10 points could mean the difference between being on the honor roll or not, from a D average or C average or B average or an A average. Why should dollars paid be one of the factors? Seems like a slippery slope, a bad precedent and a bad example for the kids.

I'm convinced, it's not overreacting.

I commented on your post where no money was involved, if my memory serves me correctly?;&

But you're still overreacting!!