Response to New York Times article "Report Cards Give Up As and Bs for 3s and 4s"
http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2009/03/25/education/25cards.html?permid=61#comment61
While parents, students, teachers and society at large would like to know how students are faring, a good grade is not the only measure of learning. In fact, for the bright student, an A may be a result of their excellent 'raw materials' yet once these bright students reach Algebra, most will have to buckle down and actually study to learn the quadratic formula.
In secondary Math, an 85 is an excellent grade since 15 points will be lost to 'fuzzy errors' made under the pressure of an exam. It is hard to get an A in Math. As Barbie said “Math is hard” and it can be -- while offering many other life skills such as
Problem-Solving, Critical Thinking, Optimizing Your Potential, Escaping the Perfectionism Trap, Appreciating Effort vs. Obsessing about Ability, Financial / Medical Information Fluency, Expanding your self-teaching Skills, Finding a (new) career, Lifelong Learning and Brain Fitness.
As a Math peak performance coach, I help students and their families to focus on the learning and the effort expended while quieting the quest for perfectionism.
As Jim Rohn says, "Make measurable progress in reasonable time".
Robin Schwartz, Math Confidence
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