Grade Inflation? Pfffftttt....

We got back from our all-too-brief vacation last Sunday night, and fired up the computer to make sure that all the homework assignments given over vacation were done. (Yes, school vacation seems to mean that you don't have to be physically present in the classroom. It does not mean that the work has stopped. Think summer reading lists on steroids. Gack!!) 

The only assignment that A. had brought with him on his trip to Denmark was from his French class: he had 2 books to read -  a play from the Middle Ages (love that vocabulary!), and a contemporary murder-mystery set in an abbey in the Middle Ages - both great examples of cross-curricular enrichment. (Yes, history this year is focussed on the Middle Ages!) The computer, however, revealed that  A's teachers had decided to pile on the homework while we were gone. PANIC! The major assignments: revise for tests to be given during the week following vacation. English: test, Math, test, Latin, test, History, test, Physics, test, Biology, test.... I suppose that the reasoning  behind all this testing is to ensure that the children don't neglect their studies during their time off, so that time in class can be devoted to learning, not relearning. The other reason is that grades closed at the end of the week, and this was the last chance to get something on paper.

Sunday night, then, was rather stressful, as were Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. By Friday evening however, the stress level had fallen back to normal levels, and we went down the street to see Skyfall. This is the type of stress that I like (even if my son teases me about shaking throughout the scary parts. I was cold, I say!)

Grades come out next week: French teachers grade on a 1 - 20 scale that is difficult to compare with American grades. In the words of one French commenter - " I got a 12 on my baccalaureat, which put me in the top 20 percent, with the comment of "Assez Bien," but to translate this into American grades - a D minus? Hardly..."

When I googled French-American grade correspondance, I found this comment from an American who had taught in France, and wanted to know how to grade his assignments. This person was told: 

20 c'est pour le bon dieu
19 le prof
18 le meilleur élève du monde
donc tu notes les copies vraiment parfaites 17 ! 

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=981125&langid=6

Can you imagine a typical American high school class being told that no-one would get a grade higher than 90 percent? (Well, I know this happens in private schools, but I just can't imagine this happening at our local middle school, where upwards of 20 percent of the school body belongs to NHS!)

Additionally, there are no grades given out for effort or behavior, and comments are rather sparse. 

There is a very French institution that happens every trimester: it is called "La conseil de classe," and is made up of the classroom teachers, the principal, and 2 elected students from every class. They sit around a table for a couple of hours, and review each student's grades and give input into character and work ethic. So for example, they might say, Person X has been working very hard, even if the grades don't reflect this. Or the opposite, Person Y's grades are outstanding, but the work is superficial and not representative of true ability. The parental grapevine assures me that comments of these types (and more) are quite common.

Finally, I don't know what happens at my son's school, but in many schools, it is common to list grades and names together and post the results on the classroom wall at the end of the year. Adolescents who have taken the admittance tests for the "Grandes Ecoles" are told that their results are posted on the wall at a precise hour on a specific day, and they find out if they will become part of France's elite (or more likely not, as the admittance rate is quite low) in the company of their peers.

It sure doesn't pay to have a thin skin in this country. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad, although I can see where it could be helpful in life.

In any case, seeing how the scoreboard lined up helped me understand a couple of things. As far as A. is concerned? He knows that he's learning a ton, and that's the important focus... ah yes, wisdom from the children. 

The traditional French grading system is from 0-20.Here is a chart to convert French grades to US-type letter grades according to the Franco-American Commission Guidelines:

18-20	16-17	13-15	12	11	10	9	8	7	6
A+	A	A-	B/B+	B-/B	C+/B-	C/C+	C-/C	D+/C-	D/D+

For reasons steeped in tradition, however, it is more difficult to obtain a high grade in the humanities than it is in the sciences. In French literature, for example, a grade of 13 is probably equivalent to a 15 or even a 16 in math or in physics.  source: http://www.eabjm.org/en/faq#q1215

Update: Nov 28. My father just sent me an article that captured how he felt about one (many?) of his undergrad classes at MIT. It seems that his experience (and others for many years to come) were similar to what A. is going through now. Now I know why he so often says "forewarned is forearmed." It takes the sting out of 20 percent (or less!)