I'm with Steve. Call Kevorkian. But don't point him at yourself or any of
your students. Sic him on this system that inconceivably and against all
sense, common or otherwise, insists on sorting students by chronological
age and assuming that a relatively inflexible curriculum will meet the
needs of an inevitably diverse group of people.
I usually rant against 'grade' as ranking tool, but 'grade' as segregated
chrono-sorted layers is just about as nasty when it comes to impeding the
work of educators and students. It ain't your fault, Jan. And it ain't your
students' fault. You've all been put in an untenable situation and left to
fend for yourselves.
Rather than getting exasperated with them, I'd suggest getting angry at the
system.
--Eric
(already angry)
Eric Crump, University of Missouri-Columbia Learning Center
WLERIC@showme.missouri.edu & http://www.missouri.edu/~wleric
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"The best students always are flunking. Every good teacher knows that."
--Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance