We had the Mind Madness tournament this week, but this week has been filled with mind madness. Two of my students won the trivia tournament–one former student, one former/now current–and the campus gets pretty crazy during this time. People argue, go on Twitter and vent (or just vent), celebrate, laugh, get serious, all in the name of a contest that offers a winner.
48 teams, 47 losers. And, once again, the winning team did not house any of our super-genius kids. Oh, they might be super geniuses, but their class rankings don’t reflect that brilliance. Of the four students, only one is in the top 50 of the class. And, you may say that grades don’t matter, but I think that’s what I’m trying to point out–perhaps grades aren’t the best reflection of our best students. The students who won are all good students, but . . . in the final, they beat a team with NO student in the top 125 in their own class of under 450.
It’s the trouble with grades. We have four grade levels represented in Mind Madness. Where are all the top-ranked kids? I know, I know–it’s just a trivia competition. But, there’s something to be said for a last-team-standing competition. Really? We have kids who applied to, and think they have a chance of getting into Ivy League schools. We have students who think UCLA is their “safe” school. Maybe this contest was beneath them, and they didn’t even enter, for they didn’t win. And, I’ve had most of the top-ranked kids as my students and they did great in my class academically, plus are wonderful kids, too. Is this just a year-by-year, different-case-scenario situation where anyone can win and their numbers during FOUR years at school just mean nothing?
It’s been a long week so let me just flip over all the cards and give you the answer–we need plus/minus grades. There you go. I know that’s a weird way to get there, but a person who gets 89 percent should not get the same grade as someone who gets 80 percent.
Also, put a little more stock into AP scores. If you get an A in the class and a 1 on the AP test, something is wrong. If you get a B in the class and a 4 or 5 on the test, perhaps the student learned something and should get an A. Right? Am I being stupid (again)?
Also, put a little more stock into SAT/ACT scores. A student raises red flags (at least with me) if GPA and test scores don’t match up. If you’re a college–because we want students to go to college as our end product–do you take a kid with a 4.5 GPA and average test scores who also rarely passes an AP test? or, do you take the kid with under a 4.0 GPA with amazing test scores who passes every AP with 4’s or 5’s?
I know all this test talk has made you tired. Perhaps we can argue and discuss later over a Socratic Seminar. I’ll set my sundial.