I don’t have a problem with bonus points, but they need to be earned with something other than cash.
I don’t see a problem. It’s how I get Kleenex for my students. However, there are also enough points in my classes that unless you’re r.ight on the bubble it’s not going to change your grade. Unless you mean ten percentage points, in which case it’s ridiculous.
I see two problems, both of them serious and troubling.
The first is that, as fervour clarified in Post #16, a substantial number of bonus points, enough to significantly affect grades, are essentially for sale. So, students can “earn” a decent grade in the course without knowing diddly squat about, or exerting any effort directly related to, the subject matter the class is supposed to cover. Result: Grade inflation, loss of academic integrity, and a rude awakening if and when those students get into a good college, or some other environment where they can’t get away with trying to substitute showing up and buying stuff for knowledge and effort.
The second problem is that the principal is requiring the teachers to do this, which would really piss me off if I were a teacher there.
However, by participating in research studies (presumably, psychological ones), you are learning about psychological research by experiencing it.
Some classes (even at the college level, according to my experience) have a “participation” grade that can make the difference between an A or a B if you are on the line. The participation grade is given for taking part in class discussions. If you take part in class discussions, that means that you are either learning or demonstrating learning related to the subject matter of the course.
Buying a yearbook doesn’t give you any Math practice beyond a trivial, elementary school level (did you get the right change back?)
If I were a teacher, I’d make my total points during the year approach several thousand so that 10 here or there made very little difference.
If you were a teacher at that school, you’d probably be called into the principal’s office, where you would be reprimanded for undercutting his program.
I know that private schools of all sorts are always teetering on the verge of financial disaster, with the possible exception of the extremely wealthy East Coast prep schools. Even so, I wouldn’t approve of what the OP describes. Perhaps the principal is just expecting that every kid will buy a yearbook so therefore it won’t actually benefit any one more than any other, but even so I’d find it borderline unethical.
I don’t know his credentials. I think I was told that he had turned the school around; that is, the school was struggling financially and when he arrived he helped the school to become financially sound------He’s been there a long time.
I don’t know.
I was told (and believe) that the students do well on standardized, college entrance exams. Those exams are administered by objective third parties. So the kids are learning something.
I was told that the final exams at the school were designed to prepare the kids for college work.
See, I almost think the same thing—almost. I agree with you that sooner or later one learns that rich people can buy basically anything. But I’ve never heard of a school trying to teach that lesson so bluntly. I find it nearly impossible to believe that the lesson is intentional.
Here at the U of A, participating in psych research studies is mandatory for students in first-year psych courses, not an extra credit activity. It’s considered to be the “lab” portion of the course, and part of your education. When you show up on the day (they don’t tell you the experiment in advance), you can opt out if you happen to have any objection to participating (e.g. if you find the questions they ask too intrusive), but you have to do an alternative written assignment that’s at least as time-consuming as participating. The only other way I’ve seen studies entice volunteers is with money, never with grades.
[Tangent]I wonder how validly psych research studies done on college students studying psychology can be generalized to the general population.[/tangent]
Wouldn’t this be somewhere along the line of buying an Indulgence?
I think fervour and/or fervour’s friend ought to do some theses-nailing.
I’m actually for this and think it’s a good thing. It shows people with more money get benefits you don’t. The more money you have, the more you get. The less money you have, the less you get. I think should prepare kids for the real world. Where not everyone is equal. Rich people often get to their buy way in/out of things.
We should steal the lunch money of the poorer children and give it to the richer children, too, to make sure they truly understand the way things work.
I give 5 points for a box of Kleenex, but that is figured into a total of somewhere around 2400 points. Not a huge deal.
I guess it’s not such a big deal when the points have such a minimal impact so as to just be decoration. But, even then, I’d feel ethically obligated to let poorer people have an extra way to gain those points.
Yes, and then we can hold a mock trail about it. The rich kid won’t show up and the poor kid will have to keep going until they can’t because they used all their sick days. The case will be dismissed.
I don’t think there’s anything unethical about it, but the institution that principal is in charge of is no longer a school.
So raise tuition by $50 a year and give everyone a yearbook.
Buying and selling grades is without exception a grave immorality,
and far from being some kind of “life lesson” it sends all all the
wrong messages to our youth.
Private schools must surely be subject to state accreditation. I would
tell my friend that he should call the appropriate state authority, and
maybe the news media also, and that whether he does I not I will.
Like many have said before: what are these points considered? Are they simply being added to an assignment, or to the overall average?
I’m a high school teacher who’s offered extra credit for a variety of non-academic tasks that involve an exchange of goods:
- buying tissues (after the administration assured us that they would provide us with boxes. It was single ply, rough paper in a box that was 1" high and was replaced maybe every other month. I think each box lasted 2 or 3 days. :smack:)
- donating summer reading books (some students buy their summer reading book rather than going to the library, then have no intention of using it ever again. Why not build a collection for the school?)
- attending school-related events (culture fair, the spring play, etc.)
These practices are fairly common in my department and are not frowned upon in any way. They give the students an opportunity to help their school or support their peers, either at an event or as members of the classroom.
Buying a yearbook is a costly thing. I think mine (less than 10 years ago) cost somewhere around $85. It’s one thing to give students some bonus points for bringing in a $2 box of tissues or pay $5 to attend an event at the school (and support their peers!). A yearbook far exceeds a small “token” cost that is likely affordable by most of the student population. While I can see that there is some benefit in purchasing the yearbook (affording the technology needed, supporting peers, boosting school morale), one has to think that there must be a better way to drum up support for the yearbook. Can’t there be a drawing for all purchasers of the yearbook so that grades are kept out of it?