Fairness in rewarding students?

I've noticed that also. People at the top of their class get rewarded for their grades, or for being teachers' favorites. Some people try very hard, yet no one ever recgonizes it. I know (from experience) that people don't need to try very hard to be the top of their class, or even grade, but some people I know work extremely hard to get the 85% on the test, but some people who study for a few minutes get the 95% and get congratulated.

Effort needs to be rewarded too.

What a great question!

A good teacher recognizes effort - and often breaks the class into units so the kid who is struggling doesn't have to compete with the kid who absorbs information as easily as breathing.

That's one of the problems with any of the bell-curve ranking systems. A, B, C etc. And in some classes, for example in spelling, one kid may get 100% of words correct, a whole group get 98% of words right, and a few get 95% of the words right. In any other world, 95% would seem a pretty good mark, but it could earn only a C or D in bell curve ranking. And yes, that would be very discouraging.

What we really need is smaller classes, and more teacher aides to look after the paperwork that swamps most teachers today. Give good teachers the time to work with kids and they can set enrichment projects for the fast learners and work with the other kids to help them achieve their potential.

We should also quit comparing kids. No two are alike, no two have the same capabilities and we do them a disservice by holding up 'A' students as an example to the others. That's like holding up the most athletic kid in the class as an example in phys ed. S/he likely has the best skeletal system, the best developed musculature, the fastest reaction times and has likely been an athlete since he or she could walk. There is no earthly point in saying to the kid who wears glasses, has braces on one leg and waks with a limp, "There, go be like that one!"

It ain't gonna happen. But that's what some teachers do in the academic world.

I guess what I'm saying is we have to learn to look at each student as an individual. Perhaps that's why home schooled students do so well -- their parents have the time to spend with them, and they aren't being put down by comparisons to other members of their class, because there aren't any others in the class.

Effort IS rewarded: you get a better grade and you learn more than you would have if you didn't do any work.

And the unfortunate fact is that some people can work really hard and not learn anything: they just don't have the ability. That's the way life goes. If grades measure achievement rather than effort, then they are more useful: when I hire a dentist, an electrician, an architect, etc. I want someone who both put in the effort and has the ability, not someone who worked really hard in school, but just never mastered chemistry, electric current, static forces, etc.

i think that all students should be rewarded the same not grades but with other aspects. that way it will encourage the one at the bottom to reach the top. good and positive feed back have always work regardless.

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