Okay, stories like THIS irritate me (emphasis mine):
Pittsburgh Public Schools officials say they want to give struggling children a chance, but the district is raising eyebrows with a policy that sets 50 percent as the minimum score a student can receive for assignments, tests and other work.
At the same time, they said, the 50 percent minimum gives children a chance to catch up and a reason to keep trying. If a student gets a 20 percent in a class for the first marking period, Ms. Pugh said, he or she would need a 100 percent during the second marking period just to squeak through the semester.
“We want to create situations where students can recover and not give up,” she said, adding a sense of helplessness can lead to behavior and attendance problems.
While some districts use “F” as a failing grade, the city uses an “E.”
“The ‘E’ is to be recorded no lower than a 50 percent, regardless of the actual percent earned. For example, if the student earns a 20 percent on a class assignment, the grade is recorded as a 50 percent,” said the memo from Jerri Lippert, the district’s executive director of curriculum…
This is just stupid! It lowers the value of a diploma and doesn’t prepare kids for real life… the harsh reality where people don’t care how you feel and performance is king. A quote by Albert Einstein in a RECENT POST of mine comes to mind:
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the universe.”
A burglar who broke into a home just east of Fresno rubbed food seasoning over the body of one of two men as they slept in their rooms and then used an 8-inch sausage to whack the other man on the face and head before running out of the house, Fresno County sheriff’s deputies said Saturday.
More specifically, Pappy’s Seasoning was used.
…the piece of sausage used in the attack was discarded by the suspect and eaten by a dog.
I recently ran across a few quotes that I feel worth mentioning here. The first 3 relate to technology, and are noteworthy. The remaining ones deal with stupidity. They may seen overly negative to some, but they are intended to be read with an bit of humor.
Arthur C. Clark’s three “laws” of prediction:
When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
The 3rd law was rephrased by NASA’s J. Porter Clark into one of my favorite quotes:
“Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.”
A corollary to this is called Hanlon’s razor:
“Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.”
And while I’m on the subject, here’s a great quote from Albert Einstein:
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the universe.”
Finally, German General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord (what a name) shared these observations about the risks of human stupidity:
“I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!”
About
Tom Distler is a senior software engineer at Pelco. He has a beautiful wife and a strapping baby boy. He enjoys playing the drums and writing about himself in the 3rd-person (not really :-)). Read more...
Okay, stories like THIS irritate me (emphasis mine):
I can’t make 
