The Is For Absent By Chris Piper

While reading Ken Bain’s book “What the Best College Students Do” of the five different types of students he describes, I feel like I fall under the label of one having mediocre grades but achieving success. I make good grades, however I do not necessarily believe my grades always reflect my hard work, determination and effort put in, similar to his theory on false hope in standardized testing. Throughout my school career, I have consistently made A and B grades. I can remember only one C grade, which was a quarter grade, and very disappointing, but a lesson learned. At the same time though, and as Bain helped me realize through his text, grades are not everything and making a C is not something that is going to kill me; there is simply more to school than a letter grade. In fact he points out through most of the 1800s schools only used two grades, pass or fail. As seen nowadays, schools have since adopted the letter grade system.

Staples argues, “Departments shower students with A’s to fill poorly attended courses that might otherwise be canceled.” By arguing this way, Staples suggests the only option professors have in order to not have class cancelations is inflation of grades. This argument ignores the possibility of classes being very specific for one major and good grades being a result of students who are invested in the class and the major that requires the class. General education classes are going to have high a number of students because they are required for all students; however, very specific classes, such as sculpting which is a requirement for art majors, are going to have a lower number of students because only some students need the class. Staples also ignores the possibility that good grades are a result of students who are dedicated to those very specific classes for their major. The either-or argument Staples makes is the opposite of effective because he chose to ignore real possibilities that do not help his

In “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s”, Staples argues that teacher inflate grades so that their course will not be canceled. Furthermore, teachers will inflate grades so that they can keep their jobs. Additionally, students are trying to find ways to get

There is nothing left. The town is destroyed. Families are destroyed. Much of the nation is destroyed. How is one to survive and prosper after a nuclear bombing? How can one possibly move on when everything they once knew is forever changed? These are the questions that faced every individual still alive in Fort Repose.

Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, “The real question of life after death isn 't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.” The idea that death is inevitable is well known by everyone, yet no one is certain as to what happens afterwards. Even though the subject of life after death has been argued for centuries by many philosophers and theologians. In the article Sign Here If You Exist, Jill Sisson Quinn adequately employs figurative language, rhetoric questionings, and personal anecdotes to demonstrate a controversial argument on the topic of life after death.

It is suggested by data from NAEP testing that school absences is one of the factors that has a negative impact on student learning and therefore on overall grade point average and test scores. In a table that shows the coloration of school days missed with the percent of student with a 3.0 of higher grade point average, in the Sioux Falls school district in South Dakota, data suggests that as

Student tardy rates have significantly hindered their attendance at CSI zero period classes. This has affected student achievement levels, and the rate at which students are retained in the CSI program, thus leading to a high student retention rate in CSI from year to year. This also results in large CSI class sizes that are not beneficial to student learning. In addition, when interviewing CSI teachers, it is apparent that numerous attempts were made to communicate with parents and remedy the attendance problem, however students continued to show up late to school, or miss zero period completely.

Building in-class continuity will help prepare young adults for the work world and requiring class attendance will help develop students for a thriving career. Fortunately, in grade school you are required to go to school. If you don’t there will be some form of consequences. However, once students enter college they now have the choice of attending class, thus, teaching inconsistency. Doing so holds back other students in the class

In the essay “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s” the author Brent Staples states that for the past years many colleges have changed their grading policies in order to make them less strict and more permissive. The author explains that there are several reasons behind this change. According to Staples, this trend is happening due to the need to make less appealing classes more attractive to students. Also, he adds that the demand from parents and students have led to more lenient grading policies to avoid hassle. Lastly, the author expresses that when professors do not give students high grades, they possibly will be given negative comments and evaluations from students that could affect their salary and tenure. Grade inflation devalues college diplomas and put society at risk.

In “Invisible Child,” a New York Times article written by Andrea Elliot, we follow a day in the life of a young African American girl, Dasani, growing up in New York City. However, instead of living in an “Empire State of Mind,” Dasani lives in the slums, growing up homeless with her two drug addicted parents and seven siblings. Dasani often finds herself taking care of her siblings, making sure they have enough to eat, tying shoelaces, changing diapers, getting them to the bus stop in time, and the list goes on. An 11 year old girl, essentially taking care of a whole family, as well as taking care of herself by going to school, receiving an education, and partaking in extra-curricular activities. Elliot captures the life and struggles of a family well under the poverty line, giving us an unprecedented look into what Dasani must do each day not just to grow up in New York City, but to survive.

Erickson passionately reasoned that many schools, including his own, take in unrelated components in order to determine one’s grade. He stressed that things like disruptive behavior, dishonest work, and averaging can decrease a grade that is supposed to measure a student’s understanding of a subject. Erickson specifically recalled an instance where a student was doing poor in an advanced placement class. Because of her poor performance, the student decided to switch to a regular level class. She then thrived and succeeded, ending her second quarter grade with a B+. To her amazement, her final grade for the semester was a D+. Erickson then suggested what grade would suitably represent the knowledge she acquired from this course. This example strengthened his argument that certain criteria can falsify a student’s

School is slave labor. Rather than enjoying or learning from their classes, students are forced to do useless work that will often be forgotten immediately. Grades are meant to show much a student understands a class, but instead are used as a scale of how well a student can regurgitate answers onto a test. Students only work for good grades because of the threat of being punished for failure, and the promise of reward for passing. The punishments in this case are detention or trouble from teachers, and the rewards are making the honor roll or getting bragging rights. The real reward for learning should be having new knowledge, but this is not taken into consideration. Jerry Farber, a professor at U.S.D, made the strong claim that grades are useless and harmful in his essay, “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System.” I wholeheartedly agree with Farber’s objection to our current grading system.

When you start to read the first words of a book by Jeff Zentner, you immediately become entranced by it. Especially with his second novel Goodbye Days, page after page you want to know more of what’s to come and it’s not an easy book to put down.

While studying or even registering for a class presents a challenge to some college students, the greatest obstacle remains, going to class. Attending college is supposed to signify a new found freedom to make many important choices regarding education without high school mandatory attendance policies. However, students everywhere are coming to the staggering realization that college is not too different from high school. Teachers still take class roll and students are still expected to be at every class on time. What next, hall monitors in the hall? The time has come for action to be taken. Colleges must abolish mandatory student attendance policies for several reasons to be further discussed.

Many people believe success in college is rocket science, but actually it’s the exact opposite. College is set up for students with the most basic high school knowledge to have a chance to excel. It’s the simple things that can make or break a student’s college career. Things such as going or not going to class. No brainer right? Sometimes sleep seems so much better than eight o’clock A.M. math, but a successful college student has to have the willpower to resist the temptation to not skip out on class. College is all about learning and not cutting corners, which only will hurt in the end. Everyday of missed class information will be lost, therefore the lack of understanding will show on a test or pop quiz. Attendance is a key to success. If I don’t go