http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2006/01/failing-freshmen-cant-go-to-university-right-away/ Challenge The Status Quo Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:35:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://www.toddseal.com/rodin/2006/01/failing-freshmen-cant-go-to-university-right-away/comment-page-1/#comment-72 Laura(southernxyl) Sat, 28 Jan 2006 00:57:00 +0000 http://www.toddseal.com/teaching/?p=30#comment-72 Is it possible that some of the kids who are playing around in 9th grade English already have the skills they're supposed to be learning? I was too compulsive to play around but I remember being bored stiff by all the work sheets about commas and clauses and all the other things we had gone over and over ad nauseum in middle school. If you had enough money to offer electives, maybe the kids could take a test to actually bypass 9th grade English, and go straight to some kind of interesting literature class. Then the middle school kids would have an incentive to pay attention, if they're told they can learn that stuff once and hopefully never have to fool with it again. And 9th grade English would be the remedial class, because you wouldn't have to worry about keeping the non-remedial kids busy. Is it possible that some of the kids who are playing around in 9th grade English already have the skills they’re supposed to be learning? I was too compulsive to play around but I remember being bored stiff by all the work sheets about commas and clauses and all the other things we had gone over and over ad nauseum in middle school. If you had enough money to offer electives, maybe the kids could take a test to actually bypass 9th grade English, and go straight to some kind of interesting literature class. Then the middle school kids would have an incentive to pay attention, if they’re told they can learn that stuff once and hopefully never have to fool with it again. And 9th grade English would be the remedial class, because you wouldn’t have to worry about keeping the non-remedial kids busy.

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