Re: EDUCATION: Genius Schools

James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Fri, 03 Jan 1997 16:52:37 -0800


At 11:30 PM 1/2/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>>Grades and degrees are meaningless in this type of school since each student
>>is responsible for acheiving the results they want, and they will be
>receiving
>>constant feedback on how well they are doing. One doesn't need a degree to
>>"get a good job", since the point is to become a free agent and create one's
>>own business.
>
>Aren't grades and degrees a feedback? They do exactly that: say how well
>you are doing now, and whether the teacher thinks you learned the course.
>Jobs without degrees bring another issue - it turns the gifted school into
>an autonomous economic and political unit. Which is a whole new set of
>problems.

I have to disagree. Grades and degrees reflect that you did the work
expected of you. They do not reflect that you learned anything. This may
be a fault of the system more than anything, but I don't think grades or
degrees reflect knowledge. I know many people who have degrees in technical
fields who are unqualified by any other standard. I have gotten mediocre
grades in classes because I didn't do any of the homework, even though I got
A's on all the exams and was possibly more qualified than the teacher.

Schools are ineffective because they don't reward learning. They reward work.

-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com