oh my god. well, if you want a higher grade required for passing, private schools’ lowest passing grade is 70, and a 96 average for each quarter is required to exempt an exam.
“Optimist” isn’t the word that I would use.
Having grown up in a rough part of town and going to an all black school, I think I feel I am an authority on this subject.
The school was Hartman Jr High in Houston Texas, near Belfort if any are familiar with it.
The teaching was adequate, the materials were adequate, but the tone and social attitude of the students was that they HAD to be there to pass, and meanwhile goof around with thier buddies in and out of school. Passing was the only concern for many of the people I went to school with. Learning was secondary and a postive consequence of being there by force from your parents and suspensions if you did not show.
My grades were also in the poor range because I didn’t really care either and did what I needed to do to go to the next level. I think a lot of it was the negative enviroment you are constantly around. Teachers getting shot, stores getting robbed across the school etc. The future seems dismal in this kind of community you live around.
Anyways, In 10th grade, I moved up North and went to a small town school and was it ever a culture shock.
Needless to say, my outlook changed and as a result so did my grades. From a ‘C’ average to an ‘A’ average, then on to college after I graduated.
The people were much more friendly and everyone cared about everyone. Unlike Hartman where it was how much hate you could stir up, and what kind of fights could you get into it, and be a bad*ss. Im glad I moved out of that city.
So, raising the grade requirement in NY for some, I feel will benefit them in the end. They will do what they have to do to pass, and the learning they recieve from this will be a side effect.