Summarize the Singleton essay by first stating his main argument (his thesis) and then in a series of parallel sentences his sub-arguments (the MAIN arguments that support the thesis). Each of the sub-arguments may be developed with details in a subsequent sentence. Or you might consider quoting a phrase or two (briefly and within the structure of your own sentence) when such material adds clarity to your summary.
I'll be asking you to write a refutation of one of the sub-arguments above, but for now, just summarize.
Begin by identifying the basic structure of his argument. (Yes, it has one.) Seeing that structure will help you to write an effective summary.
Thus, the paragraph may look as follows:
5 Singleton's main idea. Don't forget to use his full name and the title of his essay
4 Sub-argument #1 (with brief quotation)
3 Development/ quotation (?)
4 Sub-argument #1 (with brief quotation)
3 Development/ quotation (?)
4 Sub-argument #1 (with brief quotation)
3 Development/ quotation (?)
4 Sub-argument #1 (with brief quotation)
3 Development/ quotation (?)
Some advice for those who missed class:
1. Don't overdo it. Summaries are supposed to be considerably shorter than the original.
2. Don't underdo it. You need to cover all his main points completely and accurately.
3. Above all, don't be boring. Your summary should sound objective, but it doesn't have to BE objective. Use strong verbs. Be lively but non-argumentative, at least in this summary paragraph. Let your opinion show but don't state it.
4. Post the draft of your paragraph by Wednesday so we can take a look at them in class.
In Carl Singleton’s “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s”, Mr. Singleton argues that more F’s need to be given to improve the educational system. He presents the effects of giving an F on the four major classes of people in the educational system. He first approaches the subject of the students. By giving students an F when they deserve, the students will be forced to be self-motivated and learn the material. Singleton states, “…by keeping them at one level until they did in time, one way or another, learn the material.” The effect an F would have on a student would be to ensue the fear of being retained on the same level and thus cause them to be self-motivated and learn the material. The second class of people that Singleton says will be affected by the F is the parents of the students receiving the F. His argument is, “Sending students home with final grades of F would force most parents to deal with the realities of their children’s failure…” When parents realize that their child is failing they will be forced to take a more active role and help their child learn the material that is needed to be learned and helping the student to better grades. Teachers are also affected by the proper giving of F’s. If the teacher does not put in the effort to teach their students the material, which would be obvious by the number of F’s properly given, then the students can not be expected to master the material. Singleton argues, “As every teacher knows, a failed student can be the product of a failed teacher.” A failed teacher will realize that they are not prepared to teach the students if the are forced to give the correct number of deserved F’s, and this realization will hopefully help improve the educational system, by improving the effort of the teachers. The last class of people from the educational system that the proper giving of F’s would affect is the administration. If students who deserve failing grades are retained at the same level until the material is learned, then the space occupied at each level will increase thus causing the need for more money. Singleton clearly states this argument when he says, “Giving an F whenever and wherever it is the only appropriate grade would force principals, school boards, and voters to come to terms with cost as a factor in improving our educational system.” Giving an F would cost more money than giving an A, but it would cause the administration to pay more attention to the quality of the educational system. In all Carl Singleton argues that giving F’s when they are deserved will eventually improve the educational system.
ReplyDeleteIn "What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s," Carl Singleton argues that the solution to the failing education system is to simply fail students more. Singleton begins by implying that students are motivated solely by grades. By passing back more F’s, he believes that students will be more determined than ever to work harder in order to get the passing grade. Continuing with his argument, Singleton emphasizes that educators need to step up and give the grades based on whether the required material was learned. He claims, “…we have low-quality teaching because of low-quality teachers who never should have been certified in the first place…” Singleton also pushes that giving out more F’s will have a large impact on the parents. As he explains, “…final grades of F would force most parents to deal with the realities of their children’s failure while it is happening and when it is yet possible to do something about it…” Bluntly, Singleton believes that once parents see their child’s failing grade, then they will be forced to do something about it. Finally, failing more students will catch the attention of the public including the school board. Singleton contends that F’s would “…force principals, school boards, and voters to come to terms with cost as a factor in improving our educational system.” Basing this argument on the fact that it will be costly to hold many students back, Singleton claims that the public will have to pay for those who do not learn the required material. Therefore, people will actually take notice and be proactive in getting children to learn required material to pass in school. In conclusion, Singleton attempts to argue that simply giving more F’s will solve the problems in the education system.
ReplyDeleteCarol Singleton, a professor at Fort Hayes State University, argues in “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s” that Americans do not actually care about their education as long as there are not disturbance and everything seems to be working fine. Students, parents, teachers and school administrators do not care if the material is being mastered when the student is “passing” the class. Singleton believes that the student will not work harder to master the material unless they are given an incentive to do so. “The basic problem of our education system is the common practice of giving credit where none has been earned…” teaching students that they do not need to actually work to get by or even succeed in life. According to Singleton, parents also are part of the problem since it takes an F to cause a parent to be concerned and take “themselves away from the TV seat… and take an active part in their children’s education.” As long their child is not in danger of failing a class parents do not care if he is learning. Since students and parents do not care about learning the material, but the grade received, it then falls to the teachers to grade realistically. “We have low-quality teaching because of low-quality teachers” who were bad students themselves and now allow poor work to pass as average or excellent. Singleton argues that the education system produces unqualified teachers who then perpetuate the problem and who are not held accountable. Similarly, the administrators responsible for monitoring the teachers to make sure that they are holding students accountable for their work is more concerned with the façade of improving education. The administrators are more concerned with “passing them [kids] on” and not making sure they are know the material and are qualified to pass, since this appears to be bad to the taxpaying voters. By giving enforcing stricter grading standards Singleton believes that it will then motivate students, parents, teachers and administrators to be more involved in the education process.
ReplyDeleteIn "What our Education System Needs is more F's" written by Carl Singleton, he argues that America's education system would benefit greatly from teachers distributing more F's to students. He first lays blame on the students who "haven't learned the required material." He accuses them of receiving good grades while not learning anything, therefore not earning their A's. He implies that by handing out F's more frequently, students will motivate themselves to actually learn the material and receive the grades they deserve. Singleton continues by targeting teachers and educators for the lack knowledge in students today. There is "low-quality teaching because of low-quality teachers" who have also raised the average grade from a B to a C, allowing more students to return home with better grades. Therefore, he stresses that the parents must become involved as well. If students must show their parents a failing grade, the parents may enforce "less time on TV, and more time on homework." If the students' parents make them study and learn at home, as well as in school, their grades will improve. Finally, Singleton argues that the school systems must improve education. He urges that students must learn the material or they will receive F's and be held back costing the school and town more money. He then assumes that parents and educators will be more likely to make students learn and understand the required material. Singleton believes that by giving more failing grades to students, they will learn and the future generations will become more literate.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton, author of “What our education systems needs is more F’s”, argues that the only immediate way to improve our educational system is by distributing failing grades on a massive scale. Singleton suggests that dealing out these F’s will cause a totally transformation in students as well as in parents, teachers, and administrators. He first touches upon the fact that students have not been mastering the material that they are given. Singleton suggests that, “Illiteracy among high-school graduates is growing because those students have been passed rather than flunked…” To reaffirm Singleton’s message, he suggests that these students should not be given these passing grades unless a complete mastery of the material is shown. Singleton next observes that parents will more likely be forced to be involved in their child’s education if they are faced with the issues of F’s constantly. Singleton then emphasizes that, “Giving an F where it is deserved would force concerned parents to get themselves away from the TV set, too, and take an active part in their children’s education.” The next big step that Singleton argues is that giving these F’s would “force principals, school boards, and voters to come to terms with cost as a factor I improving our education system.” More money would need to be appropriated towards education because accommodations would need to be made for students at each of their respective levels of failure. Lastly, Singleton advocates that teachers need to put in as much effort to improve their standards which in turn will improve the standards of their students. “Teaching methods, classroom presentations, and testing procedures would have to be of a very high standard…” Singleton claims, which would allow for the teachers to know that it wasn’t the quality of their teaching that was lacking but the effort put in by their students. Altogether, Carl Singleton acknowledges that the educational system is flawed, but insists that the only way to help secure the future of our students is to issue that big fat red F on their work unless it presents itself as a masterpiece of their combined knowledge as a student.
ReplyDeleteAs our country continues to value education less and less, Carl Singleton argues that we need to reinstill its value by making a very blunt statement.
ReplyDeleteEssentially, Singleton defends the idea of giving terrible grades to certain students who need a wake up call to make them try harder. It also puts the education of many children into the hands of sometimes only partially qualified teachers who coasted their way through college. Then, grades are often very unrepresentative of how well the student actually grasped the concepts and more of their compliance with what is expected in class and at home. Singleton also argues that giving out poor grades to some would put responsibility back to the parents, who are apparently the best determinant of whether or not a child should be able to pass. And students shouldn't not be able to pass class simply because "Daddy doesn't care or is ignorant". Parents need to put it on themselves and realize its not just about doing what's easy, its about doing what's right. He makes a valid point in saying that our country would rather do what is the cheapest and most convenient thing to do, passing students and saying what they know is good enough. This would completely shift the perception of what a teacher's responsibility in teaching is-- to teach the student the material backward and forwards, and not simply to teach them all that you can teach them in 9 months and hope it's enough--but students have different rates of learning. He isn't trying to be unreasonable in his argument, but simply trying to say that everyone has to work harder, and that it's a sacrifice of time that will pay off in the long run, we just have to learn to do things that are better for ourselves in the long run.
Receiving an F on a report card has never been less of a threat than it is today, however, if there were more F’s given out, there would be a revolution in within the educational system: this is exactly the argument that Carl Singleton proposes in “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s.” Singleton very readily points out that the American educational system is failing at an increasing rate by pointing out the high illiteracy rates among high school graduates. As well as the fact that if current teachers are uneducated, how could they possibly be teaching the students in a correct manner? Although Singletons point of view is rather radical, he makes it very clear that the positive effects of “giving an F wherever and wherever it is deserved” spread far and wide. He begins by arguing that students no longer care about their school work because they do not have to work hard in order to achieve a good grade, “at first there was a tolerance of students who did not fully measure up; then our grading system continued to deteriorate; finally we arrived at total accommodation.” Therefore, they have adapted a sense of laziness for life by being completely immersed in passing grades. Then he goes on to discuss how parents are becoming irresponsible and essentially ‘blowing off’ their children’s education. This is exemplified when he suggests, “Giving an F where it is deserved would force concerned parents to get themselves away from the TV set, too, and take an active part in their children’s education.” However, he later points out, that parents cannot motivate their students on their own, but they also need motivation from the teachers. Singleton insists, “the line between passing and failing would also require us to demand as much of ourselves as of our students. As every teacher knows, a failed student cane be the product of a failed teacher.” In this simple statement, Singleton applies much pressure to the teachers and endorses the idea that teachers are failing their students by not failing them. Lastly, Singleton believes that the culmination of the effects of an F on all subsequent parts would add up to the school board taking notice and then taking action. By school boards taking action to counteract the failing students, the ultimate goal of giving out millions of F’s will be accomplished. In fact, Singleton makes it a point to reiterate this idea at the closing of this essay by saying, “The single most important requirement for solving the problems of education in America today is the big fat F, written decisively in red ink millions of times in schools and colleges across the country.”
ReplyDeleteIn What Our Education System Needs is More F’s, Carl Singleton emphasizes the need to develop all the insufficiencies of the education system in American by only giving credit to students who have satisfactorily mastered their class material while failing those who have neglected to do so. Singleton implies that students have gotten lazy and frequently pass through school while avoiding mastering the material presented to them due to the lenient grading systems in schools around America. By grading students based solely on their academic knowledge of the material, many students will receive failing grades. A vast majority of students receiving unsatisfactory grades will become motivated them to learn the required material in order to pass to a higher level. Additionally, Singleton proposes that troubled parents would be compelled to participate in their child’s education as they deal with their child’s irresponsibility to learn the required material. Moreover, parents will confront their child’s studying habits and eliminate distractions such as the television that have hindered their child’s dedication to their school work. In addition, increased occurrences of students receiving bad grades will gain the attention of principals, school boards, and voters causing them to take action to help failing students. Both resources and money will be deposited into the education system to better assist the students who are unable to master class material. Finally, Singleton suggests that in order to improve the education system, new teaching methods, classroom presentations and testing procedures must be created. A new high standard system will guarantee that students who have not learned the class material will remain at the same level while those who have shown suitable knowledge will move on to a higher level. The mending of such problems in the American education system will provide for more competent knowledgeable society.
ReplyDelete“The single most important requirement for solving problems of education in America today is the big fat F, written decisively in red ink millions of times in schools and colleges across the country” states Carl Singleton, a faculty member at Fort Hays State University, in his essay What our education system needs is more F. Singleton stresses in his essay that the most important part of our education system should be the letter F. He believes that somehow many students are getting by with passing grades, not having learned the entirety of the material. “Let me make it clear that I recommend giving those F’s – by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions – only to students who haven’t learned the required material.” The problem with our education system today can be blamed on many things – lazy parents, lazy teachers, or just lazy kids. Singleton believes, however, that it is solely the teacher’s fault. “We have low-quality teaching because of low-quality teachers who never should have been certified in the first place.” Singleton places confidence in today’s teachers being the problem here. These teachers make up all of America’s school systems today, which have become easier to graduate from with good grades. “School systems have contributed to massive ignorance by issuing unearned passing grades over a period of some 20 years.” By recently, Singleton means that it has been in the last 20 years that this problem has progressively gotten worse. He believes that in order to fix this problem parents’ attention needs to be captured by a bad grade. “Giving an F where it is deserved would force concerned parents to get themselves away from the TV set, too, and take an active part in their children’s education.” All in all, Singleton knows that this is becoming more and more of a problem and lazy parents are doing nothing but fueling it unless they are given reason to act.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton, a professor at Fort Hays State University, argues in “What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s” that a stricter grading process will restore the quality of American education. Throughout the essay, Singleton explains his reasoning by exploring the effects F’s would have on our education system, the involvement of parents, quality of teachers, and the society as a whole. Singleton starts off by explaining why he wants a widespread of giving F’s. He highlights problems in society such as the growing rate of illiteracy among high school students, “Illiteracy among high-school graduates is growing because those students have been passed rather than flunked.” The essay goes on to discuss the continuing deterioration of the American grading protocols. Grades became problematic when the grading system became lackadaisical, “D’s became C’s, and B became the average grade.” Singleton explains that teachers first have to hold the responsibility of giving the F and then and only then will parents be objected to the reality of their children’s educational dilemma. The red, decisive F in the corner of the paper will concern parents to get more involved into their children’s education, “less time on TV, and more time on homework, perhaps?” The widespread distribution of F’s would demand higher quality teachers and teaching methods. Teachers would be self-conscious of if their reason the student can’t grasp the material. Singleton understands that giving out Fs may not solve all the problems of our education system; however, it will take us from deteriorating to making progress toward an improved educational system.
ReplyDeleteA professor at Fort Hays State University, Carl Singleton’s article “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s” is a way for students to do better in school by motivating students to master the material, parents to become more involved in their child’s education, and teachers to set higher standards. Singleton believes that by giving a student a failing grade, rather than just passing them along, the student will be more motivated to learn the required material. The author also believes that “the common practice of giving credit where none has been earned” is no longer acceptable and instead students need to master the material. Along with the motivation for students to do better in the classroom, parents need to be more motivated as well. As a response to seeing F’s on a report card, Singleton hopes that parents will “get themselves away from the tv set, too, and take an active part in their child’s education.” Teachers also need to be motivated to set a high standard in the classroom to give students the opportunity to master the material. By setting higher standards Singleton points out that “As every teacher knows, a failed student can be the product of a failed teacher,” which would require teachers to also work harder in the classroom to ensure that students mastered the material. As a way to better our educational system, all that needs to be done is hand out a few more F’s.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton argues in his essay "What Our Education System Needs is More F's" that the American education system needs to give more F's to students. He says F's, "By the dozens, hundreds,thousands, even millions," should be given to students who don't master the material required of them. His opinion is that the problem with our educational system is "The common practice of giving credit where none has been earned." He observes that "The school systems have contributed to massive ignorance by issuing unearned passing grades." The grading system then continues to go downhill because of this and deteriorate, hurting the students. Singleton believes that if students were sent home with these F's, their parents would be forced to "Deal with the realities of their children's failure." These parents would then start to keep a closer eye on their childrens school work. Giving an F when it is the deserved grade, He suggests, woulld force the school system and voters to "come to terms with cost as a factor in improving our educational systerm." Teaching methods would have to be changed and teachers to be taught how to help the students. Carl Singleton insists that giving F's across the country would be beneficial our school systems and the society.
ReplyDeleteIn his essay, “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s”, Carl Singleton argues that assigning more F’s to the students that deserve them will insure that only the students that have mastered the required material will graduate. He insists that “It would dramatically, emphatically, and immediately force into the open every major issue related to the inadequacies of American education”. Through flunking the students that should be, the problems of the US education system would be made more apparent. Far less students would graduate, making people much more aware of the issue. It would also stop the problem of illiteracy among high-school graduates. Singleton emphasizes that “…college students have to take basic reading, writing, and mathematics courses because they never learned those skills in classrooms from which they never should have been granted egress”. Believing that students are minimalists without the proper motivation, Singleton observed that securing a passing grade was all the students cared about. He claims that “Sending students home with final grades of F would force most parents to deal with the realities of their children’s failure while it is happening and when it is yet possible to do something about it”. Although he acknowledges that not all problems can be solved be handing out an F, he emphasizes that “…unless and until we start failing those students who should be failed, other suggested solutions will make little progress toward improving education”. This is an important issue which needs to be addressed in some regard.
ReplyDeleteThat the American education system in its entirety would benefit most from a major distribution of F’s is highlighted in Carl Singleton’s essay “What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s.” He points out that this dramatic increase in failing grades would “force into the open every major issue related to the inadequacies of American education.” This implies that the distribution of F’s would bring to light such issues as insufficient funding in public schools and low quality teaching. Singleton then clarifies that F’s should only be awarded to the students that have not actually learned the material. He explains that the problem is “the common practice of giving credit where none has been earned.” He then argues that tolerance has developed into complete ignorance as students who should have failed received D’s and a B became the average grade. He explains that this has caused “our grading system [to continue] to deteriorate.” He goes on to say that if parents were to see that their children were actually failing they would be forced to bring about change. Singleton explains this by saying that “giving an F where it is deserved would force concerned parents to… take an active part in their children’s education. He then points out that “respecting the line between passing and failing” would force school boards to pay to accommodate all the students being held back. This respect would also force teachers to work at least as hard as they expect their students to work. Ultimately Singleton asserts that distributing F’s where they’re deserved will increase the overall quality of our education system.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton believes that our educational system needs reform and more students need to be failed instead of passed. In Singleton’s essay “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s”, he believes that “instituting merit raises, getting back to basics, marrying the university to industry and…other recommendations will not achieve measurable success [in restoring quality to American education] until something even more basic is returned to practice.” That basic something is “simply a widespread giving of F’s.”, and Singleton thinks that this is necessary for greatly improving our education system. He argues that our education system has adopted a more permissive attitude and abandoning a firm stand when it comes to giving F’s. However, he is not suggesting that every single student in our schools should be given F’s, but “only to students who haven’t learned the required material.” In the essay, Singleton says that “The basic problem of our education system is the common practice of giving credit where none has been earned, a practice that has resulted in the sundry faults delineated by all the reports and studies over recent years.” This philosophy of hand-outs needs to be put to an end; what teachers need to do is force the kids to work for the grades, and if they fail then that the students will suffer the consequences. If a student doesn’t put much effort into a project and ends up receiving a B+, what does that teach the other students? “Sending students home with final grades of F would force more parents to deal with the realities of their children’s failure while it is happening and when it is yet possible to do something about it (less time on TV, and more time on homework, perhaps?).” If the parents lead an active role in a student’s academic well-being, then it will help lead the student down the right track. Things that parents can do such as making sure their children are doing their homework, helping them write or edit a paper, help them study for a quiz, test or exam, etc., will be beneficial to that struggling student. Another thing to do in order to fix our education system is to reform the way teachers do their job. “Insisting on respecting the fine line between passing and filing would also require us to demand as much of ourselves as of our students. As every teacher knows, a failed student can be the product of a failed teacher.” Sometimes the burden of responsibility is placed on the shoulders of the teacher, and some teachers are not as effective as others which results in the students not getting much out of the class. Schools need teachers that are qualified for the job, and can teach the required material at a high level. “I don’t claim that giving F’s will solve all of the problems” Singleton says, “but I do argue that unless and until we start failing those students who should be failed, other suggested solutions will make little progress toward improving education.” Forcing schools to look into this problem is another step in reforming our education system, by “Giving an F whenever and wherever it is the only appropriate grade would force principals, school boards, and voters to come to terms with cost as a factor in improving our educational system.” The fourth argument would be that students will be far more educated (and literate) when they enter college. In an article written by the U.S. Department of Education in December of 2005, the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) found that nearly a quarter of all American adults with “below basic” literacy skills had a high school diploma, and many of the people that were given their high school diploma could not read it. This discovery had pointed to the high school systems across the country as the culprit, and that the only solution to fix this illiteracy epidemic was drastic reform.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton, in his article, The Chronicles of Higher Education he passionately debates his perspective on the poisoning of our education system by a vicious cycle of awarding students merits when they deserve demerits- the “F”. He blames lazy parents, unqualified teachers and blames schools systems for such negligence and complacency towards the golden concept of a proper education. He speaks about how the Schools systems have lowered the standards of their grading system, which has deceived college admissions, parents and employers. He therefore, raises the important point of parents getting more involved in their children lives and taking responsibility of their education –encouraging them to aim for A’s and not settle for mediocrity. He simply does not want parents to coerce the school system into giving an A instead F but to teach their children the value of learning and working to achieve their educational goals. Singleton, also highlights the impact of teachers who are unqualified and are dishonest to towards their students. He implies the selfishness of these teachers who design report cards giving an “A”s when they deserve “F”s, just to prove their greatness and excellence as they are aware of performance of the student is a reflection of the ‘’great” teacher. Students need to understand that cheating the education system has negative effects for them later on in life. They too need to take responsibility and value the importance of learning the material in class. His remedy to doctor his diagnosis is to improve the quality of the education, higher the qualifications of the teacher and get the community involved in the future of the students. He concludes that grading students based on their actual performance is a good start at eliminating problems that plagues the American educational system.
ReplyDeleteIn his essay “What our Education System Needs is More F’s” Carl Singleton contends that we as a nation in order to produce a better quality of student need to be more willing to give F’s to underachieving students. Singleton first analyzes the effect that this practice would have on the American student. Students receiving F’s for unsatisfactory work will force them to proactive in their studies in order to earn the grade that they and their parents are pleased with. The next group of people Singleton believes would be affected by the administering of more F’s is the parents of the students. Parents will be forced to, “…deal with the realities of their children’s failure…” Failing students will cause parents to become more active in their children’s education in order to ensure their children meet the measure they require. Teachers would not be exempt from this radical change in the style of grading that has become standard across most of America. Teachers who have only a truly mediocre understanding of their subject matter would begin to look odd as they begin hand out few failing grades. This would open the teacher’s eyes to the fact they themselves need to reevaluate what and how they teach in order to provide a more in depth and challenging study of their subject. The last group of people that Singleton analyzes how giving more F’s would affect is the school administration. Giving more failing grades to students would, “force principals, school boards, and voters to come to terms with cost as a factor in improving our educational system.” Essentially Singleton is pointing out that this would not be the cheapest way to educate our students but the public would get a better quality young person.
ReplyDeleteGiving more F's will help our education system. At least that is what Carl Singleton, a teacher at Fort Hays State University, argues. Giving more F's to the students who don't know the required material would force them to actually learn to move to the next grade level. Students knowing the material will help the education system as they won't slide through on lousy grades and teach the next generation in teh same low grade manner in which they were taught. The students would then have a better chance of success in the world as they are not sent out without knowing the information they need. Althought the F's require more from the students, Singleton argues that it would also force parents to participate more. Parents will pay more attention to their student's education if the student has brought home bad grades, or been threatened of being held back. Parents would pay more attention but teachers would also focus more on what material is not known. The teachers would pay more attention because they don't want to be the cause of the bad grades. This would have teachers working harder and trying new teaching styles to improve the education given to students.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton’s “What Our Education Needs is More F’s” was written to show that giving a plethora of failing grades will fix student learning, teacher’s abilities, parent involvement, and the educational system as a whole. Singleton argues that students have “arrived at total accommodation” too many times by the teachers. He quotes that “we could not be accommodating them in the old sense of passing them on, but by keeping them at one level until they did in time, one way or another, learn the material.” If students were to master material instead of just focusing on what they need to get the grade, there would not be a need for such a mass amount of failing grades. Yet, we have to consider who is teaching the students and how literate they are with the teaching process. Singleton believes that “a failed student can be the product of a failed teacher.” This system of “low-quality teaching because of low-quality teachers who never should have been certified in the first place” is a reason for so many students not succeeding, yet are still able to move on to the next grade. Not only school teachers, but parental teachers are not active in ensuring better preparation. Singleton emphasizes that parents are not aware of their children not mastering the material, only that they are receiving passing grades. He suggests that by “sending students home with final grades of F would force most parents to deal with the realities of their children’s failure while it is happening…” This technique would get the parents more involved in their children’s education if they see that there is a struggle with their grades. All of these factors have an effect on the education our future students will be receiving and will only get worse if not fixed from the ground up. Singleton claims that, not only the teachers, but the entire educational system has failed to ensure that students are learning properly and efficiently to move on with their education. He advocates that “school systems have contributed to massive ignorance by issuing unearned passing grades…then our grading system continued to deteriorate...” With the whole system in shambles, there is no solid foundation for competent students, efficient teachers, and involved parents.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton, in his essay “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s,” boldly states that, contrary to popular belief, the faltering American educational system can not be fixed by the many purposed solutions until mass F’s are given out. From the very beginning Singleton identifies that the problem is credit is often given where none is deserved. Nobody likes being the bad guy, but Singleton insists giving out F’s “even by the millions” must be in order if we are to change anything. Singleton hopes that this massive F-bomb will coerce not only the students but the parents to wake up from their TV induced slumbers and get things back on track. He even claims the effects would be immediate, that “There would be no illiterate college graduates next spring” so teachers would not have to slow down and teach basic skills that should already be known. This means that professors now have more time to pack in the needed knowledge for someone heading out into the work force which (have you noticed the domino-like effect yet?) also has its benefits. We’re now at the root of our problem, “we have low-quality teaching because of low-quality teachers who never should have been certified in the first place,” as Singleton puts it. Our bad students are turning into bad teachers who are teaching the new students just as badly, and this will continue until something is done. Singleton ends with the fact that mass F’s will not solve everything, but it is the necessary start to turning around our otherwise doomed ship.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton, a professor at Fort Hays State University, bluntly puts it forth in his essay (“What Our Education System Needs is More F’s) that teachers should flunk those students who do not learn the material. “Higher salaries, more stringent certification procedures, getting back to basics” are to him of “little or no effect” to improving education unless we stop being so lenient. He is convinced that the ‘flunk them if they don’t learn’ tactic is the most vital measure needed today to revitalize the education system.
ReplyDelete“It would” he says, “dramatically, emphatically, and immediately force into the open every major issue related to the inadequacies of American education.”
He blames the root of several problems on the practice of not giving F’s. This includes growing illiteracy among high school graduates, large presence of incompetent teachers and lack of basic reading, writing, and math skills in college students. His common refrain throughout the essay is that the F be given – “by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions” - only to those who deserve it i.e. who haven’t learned their material.
He also vouches for the benefits of such a measure. Parents would be induced to take action on their wards because of low grades. He is very critical here of parents, assuming that they neglect their kids’ education and spend most of the time watching TV. Poor grades, he hopes would force them “to get themselves away from the TV set” and spend “more time on homework”. Mr. Singleton also pitches the idea that the practice would “force principals, school boards, and voters to come to terms with cost as a factor in improving our educational system.” He also believes that it would affect teachers and bolster them to do quality teaching due to the guilt associated with giving too many F’s. Their conscience, he feels, would be pricked because of the “failed student” being their product. In this way, he ends his essay maintaining his theory that students who do not learn their material should be retained until they do so.
In "What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s," Carl Singleton argues that the solution to the failing education system is to simply fail students who do not learn the required material. To support this idea, Singleton emphasizes that educators need to step up and give the grades based on whether the required material was actually learned. He claims, “…we have low-quality teaching because of low-quality teachers who never should have been certified in the first place…” In addition, Singleton pushes that giving out more F’s will have a large impact on parents and make them acknowledge their child’s lack of learning and progress in school. As he explains, “…final grades of F would force most parents to deal with the realities of their children’s failure while it is happening and when it is yet possible to do something about it…” Bluntly, Singleton believes that once parents see their child’s failing grade, then they will be forced to do something about it. Finally, failing more students will catch the attention of the public, including the school boards. Singleton contends that F’s would “…force principals, school boards, and voters to come to terms with cost as a factor in improving our educational system.” Basing this argument on the fact that it will be costly to hold many students back, Singleton claims that the public will have to pick up the check for those who do not learn the required material; therefore, people will actually take notice and become proactive in getting children to learn the required material to pass in school. In conclusion, Singleton attempts to argue that by simply giving more F’s students will learn the basic material, which will solve the problems in the education system.
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An interesting man named Carl Singleton-- a professor at Fort Hays State University-- is the proud author of "What Our Education System Needs is More F's", an essay discussing the demand for more failing grades. If there are more failing grades than there are C's or B's, our country will thrive. Singleton understands that these non-A's are simply a product of babying our youth instead of stretching them to their absolute capacity. "Finally we arrived at total accommodation (come to class and get your C's, laugh at my jokes and take home B's)." F's should be given when F's are due because scholars of any age should be well-rounded in every craft that they pursuit. Furthermore, he says that we will have better teachers. Teachers start out as students, and only become teachers once they have proven that they are ready. They prove their worth through their degree. "We have low-quality teachers who never should have been certified in the first place." Singleton continues to stress the incredible gift of F-givings in terms of the wake-up call they would give parents. "Giving an F where it is deserved would force concerned parents to get themselves away from the TV set, too and take an active part in their children's education." Carl Singleton believes that nothing will benefit our country more than flunking students more often.
ReplyDeleteIn Carl Singleton’s essay, “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s”, the argument is made that students who do not totally master the material given in class should receive only F’s. He does not think any student who does not put in the effort does not deserve a good grade. Singleton states that by doing this it would, “force out into the open every major issue related to the inadequacies of American education.” By forcing the faults out, it becomes clearer that good grades are given when they are not earned. This is causing a growing “illiteracy among high-school graduates.” The giving of F’s to students allows parents to face, “the realities of their children’s failure.” Singleton expands by saying parents will become more active if they realize their student is failing instead of just passing. The process of giving F’s, according to Singleton, would dramatically decrease the illiteracy rate and drastically increase the amount of students who have fully mastered required material.
ReplyDeleteCarl Singleton suggests, in his essay "What our education system needs is more F's", that in order to repair our education system teachers must fail students who haven't learned the required material. Singleton’s main point is that “School systems have contributed to massive ignorance…” and an easy solution is for teachers to refrain from “giving credit where none has been earned.” To emphasize this, Singleton informs us that "...college students have to take basic reading, writing, and mathematics courses because they never learned those skills..." However, Singleton also asserts that part of the blame should rest with the parents and that by giving an F where it is deserved "would force concerned parents to...take an active part in their children's education". Additionally, giving F's "by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions" would force school boards to take a serious look at its seriously falling standards. Singleton claims "principals, school boards, and voters" must come "to terms with cost as a factor in improving our educational system." Towards the end of the essay, Singleton assures us that the effects would be “immediately evident” and “there would be no illiterate college graduates next spring”, however he doesn’t claim it will solve all of the problems.
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ReplyDelete“The single most important requirement for solving problems of education in America today is the big fat F, written decisively in red ink millions of times in schools and colleges across the country” states Carl Singleton, a faculty member at Fort Hays State University, in his essay What our education system needs is more F. Singleton stresses that the most important part of our education system should be the letter F. He believes that somehow many students are getting by with passing grades, not having learned the entirety of the material. “Let me make it clear that I recommend giving those F’s – by the dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions – only to students who haven’t learned the required material.” The problem with our education system today can be blamed on many things – lazy parents, lazy teachers, or just lazy kids. Singleton argues however, that this problem lies mostly on the teachers. “We have low-quality teaching because of low-quality teachers who never should have been certified in the first place.” Singleton places confidence in today’s teachers being the main problem here. These teachers make up all of America’s school systems today, which have become easier to graduate from with good grades. “School systems have contributed to massive ignorance by issuing unearned passing grades over a period of some 20 years.” By recently, Singleton means that it has been in the last 20 years that this problem has progressively gotten worse. He claims that in order to fix this problem parents’ attention needs to be captured by a bad grade. “Giving an F where it is deserved would force concerned parents to get themselves away from the TV set, too, and take an active part in their children’s education.” All in all, Singleton knows that this is becoming more and more of a problem and lazy parents and teachers are doing nothing but fueling it unless they are given reason to act.
Carl Singleton, a professor at Fort Hays State University, bluntly puts it forth in his essay (“What Our Education System Needs is More F’s) that teachers should flunk those students who do not learn the material. “Higher salaries, more stringent certification procedures, getting back to basics” are to him of “little or no effect” in improving education unless we stop being so lenient in giving grades. He is convinced that the ‘flunk them if they don’t learn’ tactic is the most vital measure needed today to revitalize the education system. He blames the root of several problems on the practice of not giving F’s. This includes growing illiteracy among high school graduates, large presence of incompetent teachers and lack of basic skills in college students. He argues that leniency in grading, passing undeserving students has grown worse over the past twenty years. They have led to “massive ignorance” among school students. His common refrain throughout the essay is that the F be given to those who deserve it i.e. who haven’t learned their material. He also vouches for the benefits of such a measure. Parents would be induced to take action on their wards because of low grades. He is critical of parents, assuming that they neglect their kids’ education. Poor grades, he hopes, would force them “to get themselves away from the TV set” and spend “more time on homework”. Mr. Singleton also pitches the idea that giving F’s would “force principals, school boards, and voters to come to terms with cost as a factor” to improve the education system. He believes that teachers would be bolstered to do quality teaching due to the guilt associated with giving too many F’s. Their conscience, he feels, would be pricked because of the “failed student” being their product. In this way, he ends his essay maintaining his theory that students who do not learn their material should be retained until they do so.
ReplyDeleteCarol Singleton, a professor at Fort Hays State University, argues in “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s” that the American education system would vastly improve through the distribution of more failing grades to students that do not master the required material. Singleton makes this argument through the effects of three major groups involved in the education process. Singleton argues that parents would be affected by the designation of more failing grades to students that do not master the required material. Parents would be held more responsible, should their children receive a justified F, to get involved with their son or daughters education and study habits in order to ensure the mastering of required material. Singleton argues, “Giving an F where it is deserved would force concerned parents to get themselves away from the TV set, too, and take an active part in their children’s education.” In addition, Singleton shows that teachers would be affected by the increased assignment of F’s to students that do not master the required material. Teachers have to be responsible for the proper distribution of F’s, if F’s are not given when they are deserved, students and parents are unaware of the sub-par level of education he or she is performing at. Singleton claims, “the line between passing and failing would also require us to demand as much of ourselves as of our students. As every teacher knows, a failed student can be the product of a failed teacher.” The administration is the final group of individuals that would be affected by the increase in distribution of F’s to students that do not master the required material. Administrators are responsible for the supervision of teachers and have to set a standard of properly grading students, rather than advancing the student as to no longer deal with the responsibility and cost. Singleton remarks, “Giving an F whenever and wherever it is the only appropriate grade would force principals, school boards, and voters to come to terms with cost as a factor in improving our educational system.”
ReplyDeleteIn “ What Our Education System Needs Is More F’s,” Carl Singleton argues that Americans do not truly care about their education; and his solution to this poor habit is “ not more money or better teachings but simply a widespread giving of F’s.” The basic problem we have is that our educators are giving unworthy credit to those who have not learned the basic material. When handing out average grades we our giving ourselves a breather; oh hey I passed at least. This concept is generating nothing but a free be. Singleton believes that if we hand out more F’s we would be opening our students to pushing themselves harder to understand the material being taught. He claims that “our grading system continues to deteriorate, (D’s became C’s and B became the average grade); and finally we arrived at total accommodation ( come to class and get your C’s, laugh at my jokes and take home B’s). He identifies that there are these invisible standards that we are allowing ourselves to make more visible. The creditability to his beliefs are that students who go home with F’s will be an eye opener to parents, which will then allow them to push their children harder. His result in giving F’s where it is deserved for those students, will be no illiterate college graduates next spring and in any grade. In big red letters an F will be promised with immature learning.
ReplyDeleteAwsome article Waiting for more info dude !!
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