Should Teachers Be Required to Curve?

[MilkmanAl]

Let's play nice, kids.

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[Forthegood]

let's play nice, kids.

but mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Forthegood]

Sounds good to me because i would have passed but the piling up of students would become so massive they would have to use the football stadium to teach organic chemistry.

Did your mother give you enough attention as a kid?

What was incorrect about what i said?

Theres your question and...

If you have students of even average intelligence, they can learn organic chemistry.

theres your answer.

This is good fun. Keep trying to inflate yourself and justify poor performance on students part. This attitude will get you far in higher education. For about 2 more years...

 

[cpants]

The quicker you lose the attitude that a poor performance on a test means A)there should be a fat curve, or B) the class isn't taught properly, the better. A poor performance is a failure of you and your preparation, nothing else. Your response should be to get help, work harder, and do better next time. Remember what you are preparing for. When you fail to make a diagnosis someday, excuses and entitlement aren't gonna cut it.

 

[236116]

This is good fun. Keep trying to inflate yourself and justify poor performance on students part. This attitude will get you far in higher education. For about 2 more years...

The quicker you lose the attitude that a poor performance on a test means A)there should be a fat curve, or B) the class isn't taught properly, the better. A poor performance is a failure of you and your preparation, nothing else. Your response should be to get help, work harder, and do better next time. Remember what you are preparing for. When you fail to make a diagnosis someday, excuses and entitlement aren't gonna cut it.

jurrasicpark = nomoreamcas = douchebag

... dude, even f_w requires ip proof before making statements like that. and girls can't be dbs, it's one of the few gendered slurs left.

 

[236116]

Let's play nice, kids.

but mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seconded. Mooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



ilu al

 

[Kaustikos]

The quicker you lose the attitude that a poor performance on a test means A)there should be a fat curve, or B) the class isn't taught properly, the better. A poor performance is a failure of you and your preparation, nothing else. Your response should be to get help, work harder, and do better next time. Remember what you are preparing for. When you fail to make a diagnosis someday, excuses and entitlement aren't gonna cut it.

I just want to chime in and say that my professors never curved individual tests but used previous tests to help gauge whether or not they were doing a good enough job of teaching the material. Thus, if the first exam average was a 40%, the professor would work with the TAs to see if the mistake was on their part and blah blah blah. End result? The course has consistently shown a class average of around 70% - which is how it should be. The only reason I know this is because of our first test average and the insanity that broke out and large demand for a "curve". This is your first test, use it as an instrument to better prepare yourself for the next test. What's so hard about doing that?
In the end, if you're complaining about a curve after one test, you're only setting yourself up for disaster because of the attitude you'll have towards the course.


And the CC argument is ridiculous. Hand holding, cheating or what have you occurs in ANY university, regardless of whether or not it's a community college. Not to mention the idea that they're "easier". If we're going to have that attitude, then we should have ivy league undergrads come in here and start berating our own achievements at non-ivy league universities because they aren't in the same league as ivy league and thus not as hard.

 

[boggvir]

Post-bacc students have more knowledge than first time through the system undergrads. Plus, post-bacc GPA's are always higher, always.

Most of us hadn't taken sciences courses before, so no. And the amount of credits we took isn't much different than seniors that you speak of. So the difference is negligible. Yes, post-bac GPAs are higher - I wonder why? The exams are the same, so why are the averages so high? Maybe because they tend to study and be motivated to do well?

Sorry, but if other people can average 88 on the same Test, then a 40 means that person didn't learn enough through his own faults and deserves a fail. Obviously, professors usually don't fail them because of rampant grade inflation these days. But I would say that the test of what grade you get should be how much material you know, not how much material you know compared to other idiots in the class.

 

[236116]

The colored and bolded are beautifully put.

So to jurassicpark, Absolutely BEAUTIFULLY PUT!!!!!!!!

 

[redlight]

yerp, it's been my experience that it's way easier to ace uncurved classes. it's no secret, either. in their syllabus, professors openly state that they intend to have the class avg around 60, and then X percent of the class will get A/A-. weed-out courses indeed. they want to control the # of A's.

 

[Kaustikos]

yerp, it's been my experience that it's way easier to ace uncurved classes. it's no secret, either. in their syllabus, professors openly state that they intend to have the class avg around 60, and then X percent of the class will get A/A-. weed-out courses indeed. they want to control the # of A's.

But
But
But


NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND!!!!

 

[scarletgirl777]

The quicker you lose the attitude that a poor performance on a test means A)there should be a fat curve, or B) the class isn't taught properly, the better. A poor performance is a failure of you and your preparation, nothing else. Your response should be to get help, work harder, and do better next time. Remember what you are preparing for. When you fail to make a diagnosis someday, excuses and entitlement aren't gonna cut it.

Are you saying that it is impossible for a professor to design a test that most of the class will not be able to earn, say 50% on? Are you saying that any student is capable of acing any exam?

 

[scarletgirl777]

If even one person can achieve an A on a test, it doesn't matter how many others do horrible. It means the professor has done their job. Once you've done one test, you should use that to figure out the testing style of the professor. Most professors keep the same style. otherwise talk to people who've taken the class before you with the same professor and get a feel for how the professor tests and what not if you want to know how to study.

I agree with people that the blame usually lies in us when we fail or don't perform as well as we could, and does not lie with the professor.

I don't know. I've taken tests that were so long that the vast majority of the class simply didn't finish. The professor, secure in the knowledge that the test would be curved, felt no qualms about that result. Most people were simply incapable of thinking/writing/calculating that quickly on that test. Just because a couple people out of a class of a few hundred were able to score in the 90s doesn't mean a curve is a ridiculous idea. Obviously, you always need to try as hard as possible to do as well as possible, but that doesn't mean there aren't bad teachers or bad testmakers. Students should strive to be great students, but teachers should also strive to be great teachers.

 

[MDman87]

If even one person can achieve an A on a test, it doesn't matter how many others do horrible. It means the professor has done their job

I would say that means that the one student has done his job. Classes like the one I've been complaining about are almost entirely self-taught. We have 2 lectures of week that last a combined 3 hours, but we have to study maybe 20+ hours a week. So I would say an A is a reflection of the student, not the teacher

 

[Kaustikos]

I don't know. I've taken tests that were so long that the vast majority of the class simply didn't finish. The professor, secure in the knowledge that the test would be curved, felt no qualms about that result. Most people were simply incapable of thinking/writing/calculating that quickly on that test. Just because a couple people out of a class of a few hundred were able to score in the 90s doesn't mean a curve is a ridiculous idea. Obviously, you always need to try as hard as possible to do as well as possible, but that doesn't mean there aren't bad teachers or bad testmakers. Students should strive to be great students, but teachers should also strive to be great teachers.

But it's testing your understanding of the material. There has to be a line drawn where we acknowledge that at this percentage for an average, there can't really be any fault on the professor.

 

[scarletgirl777]

But it's testing your understanding of the material. There has to be a line drawn where we acknowledge that at this percentage for an average, there can't really be any fault on the professor.

Oh definitely, there has to be a line drawn. But some people seem to be suggesting that there is no line. Like, if the average is in the 30s, it's ok, so long as 1 person scores in the 90s. That's just silly. Obviously, everyone has different intellectual capacities and work ethic, and that student is an outlier. A professor is supposed to design a test that tests fundamental concepts in a particular subject matter. In some situations, depending on the subject and the capabilities of the students, doing that may result in a really high average. So, in order to prevent their class from becoming a joke, they are going to force everyone to "dig deeper" and therefore design tests that are going to create terrible averages, and then they are going to give a curve. I don't think that's such a terrible thing.