It is not well known that in
the Province of Ontario, the percentage of ‘Ontario Scholars’ (those attaining
at least 80% in 6 best qualifying Grade 12 courses) that makes up part of the
yearly secondary school graduating class has steadily increased since inception
of the honour in the 1960’s.
With province-wide, standard,
compulsory final exams (then known as ‘departmentals’) in now extinct Grade 13,
5% of graduates achieved ‘Ontario Scholar’ status. With ‘finals’ having lost
their pre-eminent role course averages in the 1980’s, 40% of Grade 12 graduates
received certificates of recognition. Later still, it has been reported as
recently as 2014, without contradiction, that around 60% of the graduating
year is privileged to call themselves ‘Ontario Scholars’.
Even in the eyes of the
general public, that is quite an increase ... that has no official
explanation.
But, maybe there is an
‘explanation’, a reason that is whispered among school teachers and
administrators, while shouted out by critics of current education: ‘grade
inflation’.
The
trend has been regarded by some as a creeping, insidious problem that has
gradually compromised the means by which teachers (even in post-secondary
settings *) assess a student’s performance relative to his or her classmates.
Some go further and decry the seeming watershed of ‘A’s’ as recognition of
superior achievement that, having regard to objective standards, is not
merited. The controversy continues, yet the fact remains that ‘grade inflation’
is here to stay (what has been widely handed out is hard to retreat from).
The clustering of averages
above 80% has impacted approaches by students as each progresses through the
middle to upper grades, particularly when evidence of significant achievement
is needed to matriculate to a better college, university, limited enrollment
programs and professional courses. Some have appreciated that the need to be well
beyond 80% has to be addressed, but not everyone is able to independently
reach the required average (percentile).
Quality tutoring can and
does significantly contribute to adding the all important additional percentage
points, by means of individual attention, disciplined achievement in course
assignments, plus proper, sophisticated study habits and preparation for final
exams, and especially for required external (entrance/qualifying) exams
(outside school boards) that institutions outside Ontario and other provinces
may insist upon. There are next to no second chances to better an average and
competition has never been keener in terms of number of applicants to
post-secondary education and the prevalence of that ‘cluster’.
Quite frankly, whatever
students and parents think about ‘grade inflation’ in school systems in
Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal, it remains that
professional tutoring is very often needed to work beneficially and maximize
results in order to account for and offset the negative aspects of a trend that
simply isn’t going away. In that important regard, Book Smart Tutors is
just a toll-free phone call or email away.
( * for example, in a controversial
attempt to counteract ‘grade inflation’, Princeton University in 2004 introduced a requirement that only a maximum of 37% of those taking a
course could receive ‘A’s’.)
(Robert MacFarlane is a graduate of
Princeton University, and he has been associated with Book Smart Tutors
for several years, tutoring in English and its
use in other disciplines.)
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