July 10, 2013 Article

The Old Coot misses straight-A students.

By Merlin Lessler

“She’s a straight A student!” That’s how a kid (not me) who excelled in school was referred to. It definitely was a coveted description. An A in every subject! I got my meager supply of A’s one at a time. I rotated them through the subjects, most coming in secondary courses like gym and wood shop. But, if they gave a grade for it, I would have gotten a load of A’s for the essays I was forced to write explaining why I would never throw spitballs in class again or stick “Kick me!” signs on classmate’s backs. 

Straight A’s! That said it all. It cut right to the heart of the matter. Now, I guess the best we can say about a kid in elementary school is they get all S’s. They are satisfactory and at grade level in all subjects. In high school it’s expressed even more mundanely, using percentile terms. “He’s an excellent student; he carries a 96% average.”

Back when A’s and B’s and C’s ruled the stage, an A meant a kid had a test average of 94 to 100 for the semester. He or she could have a misstep or two and still wear a “Straight A” crown of distinction. We are left with a mediocre marking system that has no impact, no pizzazz. “How’s your kid doing in school?” – “Oh, she maintains an average across her subjects that exceeds 94%.” What an unwieldy response! As opposed to saying, “She’s a Straight A student!”

And, what about the kids that weren’t Straight A students but got all A’s and B’s. Another highly noteworthy accomplishment with a powerhouse description, “She gets all A’s and B’s!”  Now, it’s reduced to a meek, “She maintains an average that ranges above 87%.” The poor kid, like Rodney Dangerfield, “Gets no respect!”

You would think an education system so focused on testing would include a grading system that gives students something to strive for, like the “all- star” designation in sports. You can tell the politicians and the Regents, who continuously treat our education system as a laboratory experiment, were not straight A students when they were in school. It’s more likely they were the kids who wildly waved their hand to get the teacher’s attention so they could tell her, “Bobby has a Superman comic hidden inside his history book!”

 
No, I wasn’t a straight A student. I had a different goal each year, to get the word “promoted” circled at the bottom of my report card. As for my Straight A friends, some did well in life and some didn’t. It isn’t just what you learn in the classroom that prepares you for life. The lessons learned on the playground are just as important.