Michael,
I actually agree with both of you, as unlikely as that sounds. Ideally, grading and memorization shouldn't be absolutely necessary, but that will be hard to achieve on a widespread basis. Joey, who is 8, goes to a school where there are no conventional grades beyond 4th grade, just a detailed feedback report from parents to teachers. After that there are grades, mainly because students who transfer out need them. Teaching of subjects where memorization is required, like times tables and spelling, rely heavily on computers. But this is in a private school with a student/faculty ratio of 6:1, costing upwards of 5K a year. How can this be reasonably done in public schools?
Steve |
