PA #6 -- Refutation
Find one small element (not the whole thing) of Carl Singleton's argument to disagree with and write a paragraph about it.
First, you'll have to state his opinion and explain it. Then, you'll have to state your opposing view and explain it. Finally, you'll have to find some valid source to support your point of view.
For now, use informal citation. ("According to Carl Singleton, 'blah, blah, blah'" and the like. See TSIS for appropriate transitions.)
Take some notes and bring them to class on Friday, 9/13. Blog the paragraph by Sunday 9/15 at 5 PM.
In Carl Singleton's essay, "WHAT OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM NEEDS IS MORE F"S", he argues that "Sending students home with final grades of F would force most parents to deal with the realities of their child's failure while it is happening and when it is yet possible to do something about it...". However, it could be said that sending children home with final grades of F could have the opposite effect. In my personal experience, I've seen parents do anything but "...deal with the realities of their child's failure...". Parents don't want to accept their child's failure, but instead with actively working with the child themselves, they hire tutors. When a child gets a bad grade specifically on a report card or interim in a specific class, the parents will send the student to grovel and beg the teacher for some kind of extra credit assignment to boost their grade. If that doesn't work, the parents will set up a triangle of communication, through e-mail, between them, the teacher, and their child's academic adviser/counselor to see if they can't work something out. After all that doesn't work , the parents will go and complain and protest to the school's principal. I've also seen parents practicing the acts of sending gift cards or some other menial prize, and send outstanding recommendations, to those teacher who were lenient, and flexible towards their child. I believe that parents will keep practicing these acts (groveling, begging, e-mailing, protesting, and complaining), and even more fervently and intensely if teachers start giving students more F's
ReplyDeleteJohn Rinaldi
ReplyDeleteENG 105/Prof.Burns
9/13/13
Paragraph # 6
In Carl Singletons article he states that toughening the grading scale would “Require us to demand as much of ourselves as of our students.” Singleton believes that in order to make the grading scale more challenging, teachers will need to raise their standard of teaching to guarantee that an unsuccessful failed student did not fail because of their teaching in class. However, I do not see this occurring. First off many teachers believe they are being underpaid, so they are not going to agree to put in more effort without a salary increase. In this economy, school systems are fighting to stay afloat with the money they have and salary increases are just not an option. Teachers who truly care about the well-being and education careers of their students will raise their standards, but it is expected to end up with a massive quantity of failing students with mediocre, undedicated teachers.
In Carl Singleton, What Our Education System Needs is More F’s; he talks about giving students F’s instead of D’s would improve school system. This action by the teacher, giving students F’s would challenge the students, parents, and the school system. Giving these students F’s “would force most parents to deal with the realities of their children’s failure” in and out of class. By the teacher doing this it makes the parents figure out a way that their children can be successful in the class and out. The most common advice would be “less time on TV,” less time on computers, and spend more time checking over their work. Carl Singleton mentions that this is just one of the steps of fixing the problem with our school systems.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton states in his essay, “What the Education System Needs Is More F’s”, is that he wants the professors to give “F’s whenever they [students] fail to learn the material.” Singleton thinks it would be beneficial in the long run to be all or nothing with teaching when it comes to learning. On the contrary, I feel that it would not be very beneficial because if students keep getting F’s then it will bring their self-esteem down. When a student takes a test on information that he/she is not very comfortable with to begin with, and studied hard for it, but only does averagely good on the test and then receives an F would just drop their hopes. And as a result, if the teacher game them an F when the really earned a C it will put a mind set in their minds of, “why do I even try if I can’t succeed even little bit.” But when you give that student a C then it give them hope to do better next time. And then in the long run, the student will still try to succeed to do better on the next test.
ReplyDelete"According to Carl Singleton, giving students F’s will make them learn the basic material needed to succeed in the classroom.” Carl is simply stating that kids these days are receiving A’s and B’s for assignments with false credit. I refute Carl’s statement because there are many children in schools who struggle to make even a C average in classes. In most cases, good teachers who see the student making an effort and steady improvement will curve the grade. Not for self-fulfillment, but as a reward for their good work ethic. A dedicated individual who is serious about school work will always make the necessary sacrifices for triumph. For instance, before a test a student can set up an appointment to review the material. This dedication is what motivates learners through trial and error.
ReplyDeleteDalia Lorenzo
ReplyDeleteEnglish 105.4
Giving out F’s
In the essay “What our education system needs is more F’s” by Carl Singleton, he explains that giving more F’s will help the education system. One point that Carl Singleton defines is that, teachers should give more F’s “only to the students who haven’t learned the required material.” With those F’s it will help the students in learning the material for another year and in the end it will reduce the college student who have basic skills to learn, but I believe that it may result into students giving up. Most students give up or lose focus when they get a bad grade. In a national study it states that “students who receive poor grades, who repeat a grade, or who are overage for their class are most likely to drop out.” Failing more students will not help the educational system; all of these children could have been helped more effectively than just giving out F’s. The U.S. Department of Study conducted a National Longitudinal Study, summarizing the key reasons of 8th to 10th grade students who dropped out. 39.9% of the students left school because they were failing. Carl Singleton illustrates the future of these students, those students will stay in school, and eventually go to college, but in reality part of those students won’t even manage to finish high school. So, in this point that Carl Singleton describes, I do not believe ii is the right way to help the education system. It leads students to contradict themselves, in every class they have and possibly drop out because of the dreadful F.
Michael Mora Brenes
ReplyDeleteEnglish 105
According to Carl Singleton in his essay, “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s”, by failing students who don’t acquire the required material, would encourage parents to make a change in their personal activities and “take an active part in their children’s education”. He believes that once these parents realize their children’s failure, they would do something about it (less time on TV or video games) in order to make an improvement in their kids’ achievement. I disagree with Singleton’s view because students should not pay the price for parents who don’t intend to get involved in their sons and daughters academic development. According to a study of the National Center for Education Statistics, only 67% of parents make sure their kids’ homework is done. The report shows that parents don’t get involved in their children’s educational process for reasons like: low education level, economical problems and poverty, lack of time, etc. It means that even if all the students started failing their grades, some parents couldn't make any difference in their children accomplishments. So, by reversing Singleton’s argument, a statement with more sense would be, “Johnny does not deserve to fail just because Daddy doesn't care or is ignorant”. I agree that there has to be a change in the American educational system, but giving more F’s is not the best solution.
In Carl Singleton essay “What our education system needs is more F’s”, I agree with the premise of the article yet I disagree with the manner of the premise. In how I read the article, Carl Singleton wants to punish failure not reward success. That has several degrees of flawed logic most notably it kills self-esteem of students, as the ones who get F’s are now mocked. However, Carl Singleton is correct in that the school system needs to give out more F’s, as written in his article such as falling literacy rates for graduating seniors. It is said we learn more from defeat than victory, which is perhaps Carl Singleton is arguing for by giving out more F’s but unless we also hold up examples of students of what should be the standard there could be a 100 F’s but they’ll be meaningless. In that we have nothing to show the opposite situation what is the A student. Yes our system needs more F’s but that is not the only solution.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton makes several arguments in his essay, “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s”, about how giving out failing grades would improve American education. One of his arguments is that “Sending students home with failing grades…would force most parents to deal with…their children’s failure…” According to Singleton, parents would actively help their children through means of encouragement if they brought home failing grades. However, Singleton does admit that there are some parents who wouldn’t care or couldn’t help their children. While this may be true for a small portion of concerned parents, most would help their children through anger and irritation towards the school and administration. If a child, who formerly brought home B’s and C’s, suddenly brings home several F’s, parents would blame the school because of this radical change in teaching. My experience during high school was similar to this. When the school board tried to impose a new curriculum which would have caused students to take far more advanced math and reading classes, so many parents objected that the plan did not go through. Students were excelling in their current math and reading classes so parents didn’t see a reason to add an extra layer of difficulty, as well as more money. If students are getting by, then parents don’t want change. Changing passing to failing would cause many parents to be angry and hostile towards the school.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton makes an argument in his essay, "Education Needs More F's," about illiteracy and high school students. He states, "Illiteracy among high school students is growing because those students have been passed rather than flunked." Personally, I believe this statement is false for the most part. Failing a student could cause lack of motivation. This lack of motivation could cause a student to drop out and become illiterate. Sometimes I believe teachers give some students grades other than F's to show the student that there is hope. By showing the student there is hope for passing, the student may work harder to apply themselves to learning the material. Conclusively, highschool illiteracy could be raising, but I believe it is not due to teachers not giving F's.
ReplyDeleteIn Carl Singleton’s article, he believes that F’s should be given to students who do not do the work. “Let me make it clear that I recommend giving those F’s-by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions-only to student’s who haven’t learned the required material.” Singleton thinks that the educational system has problems giving students credit when they haven’t earned it. I disagree with Singleton’s opinion, because I think that student’s shouldn’t get F’s either way. An F is a grade that shouldn’t be given freely, because it can cause stress for the student and their family. The student’s grade all depends on how they prepare for the exam or how they complete their homework. If they do not complete the required work, then they need to talk their teacher to solve the problem, but just giving an F is not the solution. Educational Systems need to improve their curriculum, so that the students who are struggling can easily get help, instead of failing. I, myself, struggled in High School with the workload, and I can honestly say it is not fun getting an F. Once help was offered to me, and I started to understand the material, my grade was easily brought up. It all depends on how much work the student and teacher are both willing to put into studying.
ReplyDeleteIn Carl Singleton’ s short essay “What our Educational System Needs is more F’s,” he supports the idea that students should receive more F’s in school. According to Singleton, “Sending students home with final grades of F would force most parents to deal with the realities of their children’s failure while it is happening and when it is yet possible to do something about it.” Singleton feels that there is responsibility with the parents and thinks that they should take action. In my opinion, I feel that parents have little control in how their children do in school. At home parents can restrict privileges, but that is never a good solution. Students will get the grades that they want. If students are consistently bringing home F’s, parents should go to the school and settle it. Parents should show concern and put positive pressure to do well, but it falls upon the children to get the good grades.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons that Singleton gives to justify his idea of wide spread of F's is that it helps parents be aware and deal with the fact that their kids are failing. He believes that the parents of the child will have to involve more of their time to make the student more productive. They’ll spend less of their evening on TV and actually invest it in the students future. In my opinion this is wrong. He hasn't considered the effects of consecutive F's and what they can bring on the future of the child that isn't from a good neighborhood or family. The child can loose hope and give up on his abilities to learn and finally drop out of school. Or the parents might give up on the child ,resulting to neglect. More so the student might feel beneath his peers , leading to violent and suicidal thoughts.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton stresses that students should not be given grades they do not deserve, and that teachers need not be afraid to give out F's more frequently. As much as awarding work with the appropriate grade is important, I disagree with Singleton's opinion. I believe there is a fine line between harsh encouragement and deterring students from putting forth more effort to succeed. For example, just last year my high school volleyball team acquired a new coach who used very harsh methods of encouragement; a very drastic change for my team. Many of my teammates took well to the new style of coaching, pushing themselves harder and growing as athletes, while others felt unappreciated and overworked for no greater reward. Throughout the season, I saw this later group of girls loose all interest in the game of volleyball, and many quit the team all together. Singleton's call for more F's could benefit some students, but would have extremely negative effects on others. This teaching approach should not be implemented by any school system or by any teacher.
ReplyDeleteAaron Caputo
ReplyDeleteProfessor Burns
English 105
September 16, 2013
In Carl Singleton’s essay “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s,” he makes the statement, “We have low quality teachers who should have never been certified in the first place.” His statement makes it sound like he believes that every teacher in the United States is uncertified. Also, he is making it sound like these teachers who haven’t have been passed don’t help their students learn. I believe that many teachers are high quality and impact students’ lives in huge ways. According to “Teacher’s First,” a website, “Teachers are one of the main pillars of a sound and progressive society.” This refutes Singleton because although he may believe the above statement, he explains in his essay how easy teachers are and how since they shouldn’t be qualified they are diminishing our society. Singleton’s statement does not have much credibility.
Carl Singleton makes a few refutable points in his essay, "What Our Educational System Needs is More F's", but there is one in particular I would like to argue. When he says, “.. giving credit where none has been earned,” I find that statement very untrue. There are many students who will spend hours studying material to try to understand it. Sometimes that material is very difficult and the teacher isn't able to explain it in a different way. This, for one, was my problem with math. My sophomore year teacher could only teach things one way and if you didn't understand it, you failed. Those F's weren't motivational to try to do better because no matter how hard you tried, the material still didn't make sense. It made me absolutely hate math; I haven't taken another math class since.
ReplyDeleteIn "What Our Education System Needs is More F's" Carl Singleton argues that failing more students will cause them to become more studious and responsible. This is not a very good argument because Singleton assumes that every student will be ashamed of failing and fix their ways. This is not the case in many students, though. In fact, getting F's causes students to give up and just take it. Giving out a lot of failing grades to students will not fix the problem, it fuels the flame. After receiving F after F, a student will just accept that the best they can do is still not good enough. This causes students to become depressed and has many horrible consequences. Giving students more F's will not fix anything, it will make things worse.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Carl Singleton’s essay “What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s” one of Singleton’s points that stood out was his view on parent involvement. When students, who are not grasping the learned material, take home F’s to their parents, the parents would then include themselves into their children’s studies, and be more concerned over their grades. I disagree with this statement. Singleton implies that unless students are receiving failing grades their parents are not involved. I know for a fact, that my academics have been a constant concern of my parents since I can remember. It did not take getting an F on an assignment for that to happen. I especially remember, when I would have vocabulary tests in elementary school my father would sit down with me and test me on the material until I felt confident I was ready. Even now, they like to know how I am doing with my studies and whether I have received any new grades.
ReplyDeleteIn "What Our Education many valid System Needs is More F's," Carl Singleton makes numerous arguments about improving the educational system by giving students more F's. One of his main points is that if students start to fail, their parents would spend extra time to help them improve their grades. Parents might create different study methods or take away electronics until homework has been completed. Although, from personal experience I've realized that not all parents are willing to help. Some parents may send their children to their room, but they don't actually check to see if work is being completed. Others may hire tutors so they don't have to take time to read assignments and help their children understand them. They also send emails to the teachers to try and improve grades. We also have the parents that won't do anything to help their children succeed. Overall, if a child is failing, some parents will be willing to put in time and effort to help, but others will just ignore the problem.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton, the author of "What Our Education System Needs Is More F's," believes that the "basic problem of our educational system is the common practice of giving credit when none has been earned." He found that the source of students failure to be literate and progressive thinkers on the college level to be a result of the parents, student board, and teachers negligence to give students F's so that they will learn the necessary material to be successful in life. I think the basic problem of our educational system is not having enough allocated funds to support the educators, students, and parents in our school's system. I was born and raised in Chicago and have gone through both public and private institutions through my childhood educational journey. I have attended an elementary school that didn't have a library, a play ground, or even air conditioning for the entire school where classes were overflowing with students. I believe if we make the environment more attractive and welcoming to students, we won't have a reason to fail them because they will be willing to learn.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton author of “What Our Educational System Needs is More F’s,” believes that passing out appropriate grades will, “force principals, school boards, and voters to come to terms with cost as a factor in improving our educational system.” Singleton believes that when students fall behind and get bad grades it costs the school more money to accommodate them. I believe that yes, it will cost the schools more money to accommodate those students who stayed back a level but, don’t they deserve to get the same education as their peers? According to Luisa N. Borrell, a professor at Lehman College, “everybody learns at a different rate and in different ways.” We cannot assume that students who get bad grades are not trying; they could have a disability, or just simply learn at a slower rate.
ReplyDeleteIn Carl Singleton's "What Our Education System Needs is more F's" essay, he shows his belief that notifying parents of their child's failure in school early would be a help to fixing our educational system. This problem, in Singleton's words, is "Show up to class and get your C's, laugh at my jokes and get your B's." This quote proves that Singleton's view on the issue is very exaggerated. According to the United States Census Bureau, over 70% of parents attended parent teacher grade related conferences in 2012. This shows that a lot of people do care about there child's success in the classroom. Carl Singleton is bringing up an unnecessary motion of notifying the parents about there kids and assuming parents don't care as much as the should.
ReplyDeleteIn Carl Singleton’ s short essay “What our Educational System Needs is more F’s,” he talks about how failing students will help the students and parents, get more involved in academics. But, i don't believe this is true in most cases. When students get failed, it makes them not care anymore and they tend to accept the grade. Once they get behind, kids think they cant get their grade back up. they are unmotivated and sometimes even their parents can't help. Ive seen from personal experience that parents really don't know what to do with students and their school work. They might tell their kids to do homework, but that doesn't mean the kids will get it done. They will just go to their room, act like they did something , and then tell their parents it is done. Parents don't know what kids homework or assignments are. So failing students not only makes them unmotivated, but in return there isn't much their parents can do to help.
ReplyDeleteIn Carl Singleton’s short essay “What our education needs is more F’s”, he believes that by giving out F’s to students who do not understand the material will force students to work harder for a good grade. I do not fully agree with this statement. Receiving an F letter grade is overly discouraging for a majority of students, mainly for those who repeatedly have trouble understanding the information. These students as well with those of low self esteem will be really demoralized and may beat themselves down, instead of finding that extra push to work hard for a quality grade. If a teacher recognizes a student Is working hard, but still doesn’t understand the material, I think the teacher should pull that student aside and ask him or her to stay for extra help if they want to improve their grade before they hand that student a failing grade and tear them down. Some students may benefit from this type of grading system, as some people will be encouraged to push themselves to work harder for a better grade. Giving out F's may be beneficial for a small portion of people, but not for the majority.
ReplyDeleteIn Carl Singleton’s essay “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s” he stresses that more F’s should be given out. if more F’s were given out that would only hurt students in the long run. instead of trying harder kids would just quit. In America effort means something, so the students who come for extra help should be rewarded a little. Most parents don't have time to give their kids more time so giving students more F’s would just stress the household more. The students that get A's are going to get A's and go to Harvard and be able to provide for their family easily. In the same
ReplyDeletecase the students who get C's are going to have to provide for themselves later on and giving F's will make it that much harder.
Sarah Shulman
ReplyDeleteParagraph #6
Carl Singleton states that giving F’s would, “force principles, school boards, and voters to come to terms with the cost as a factor in improving our education system.” I do not agree with this statement, I believe that today the education system is extremely underfunded for reasons beyond the general populations grade point average. It maybe true that for certain privet or progressive schools receive more money when test scores or grades are higher. But even still, the money that mainly supports those schools comes from individuals that have their own reasons for donating that money. Public schools are normally funded by taxes of those living in the same district, and that in it self is an issue because of the difference in tax prices per certain districts. One public school could have amazing facilities, updated technology, and so on. Another could have the complete opposite, all because of the area that school happens to be in. Yes, Carl Singleton makes an accurate point when he says that those principles, board members, and other voters’ attention would be caught with the sudden flooding of failing grades. But the idea that more money would come around because of this is arbitrary because of how schools are funded.
According to Carl Singleton's article What Education Needs Is More F's “sending students home with final grades of F would force most parents to deal with the realities of their children’s failure while it is happening and when it is yet possible to do something about it.” Singleton therefore believes that if students are failing parents will be more prone to step in and help them to improve their grades and understanding of the topics. What he does not realize though is some parents do step in and try to help out, but it still doesn't always help to improve the student's grade. You cannot force a student to learn they have to be willing to do it on their own and complete what they need to get done and ask for help on their own. Parents stepping in and constantly bugging the student about their grades is only going to persuade them even more to stop trying and give up because they feel pressured to do something that they do not want to do. So while Singleton's thoughts that parents doing something about a student's grade when they get a F will help improve students' understanding and learning is true in some cases in others it only makes it worse.
ReplyDelete