SK> What I would want to counter with (if a business person lodged
SK> such complaint with me) was whether they had checked the
SK> students high school transcripts. If the kid had all "As" in math
SK> and still couldn't do the operations, then the guy has a valid
SK> complaint. But if the kid had poor grades in math and this guy
SK> hired him anyhow (with or without checking his transcripts), well,
SK> that wasn't too smart now, was it?
-> Bingo!  I'm not sure (and short of tracking down the business person,
-> I'll never know) Given the response, I would hope it was the former
-> (for the sake of the validity of the survey) but it could easily be
-> the latter--and I do think that that is a problem as well.
Well, I guess we'll never know, as you seem to indicate a problem with
finding this out (tracking the person down), but I would be surprised if
he had examined the transcripts.
There is a problem all too prevalent in our society today to place blame
anywhere but on the student. I don't know why or when holding the
student accountable for his own performance went out of style, but it
sure didn't do the student any good. He found out that he could be
careless, put in minimal (or no) effort, produce shoddy work, and blame
someone else (schools, teachers, society, etc...). Result: many students
don't try their best in school. Then the schools get blamed if they give
too many low grades, so sometimes the students are given passing grades
in spite of poor performance.
In this sense, I see exit exams for high school diplomas as a good
thing. I know people have a lot of mixed feelings about them, but if the
kid had to pass an exam before receiving his diploma on which he was
required to demonstrate competence in fraction and decimal operations
(an elementary school topic, really), then there would be more assurance
that the diploma actually signified something and perhaps checking
transcripts wouldn't be as necessary to certify that a student had
_basic_ skills.
-> If you select someone who you know is deficient in a particular area,
-> do not turn around and make an issue of it as you had a choice to
-> hire/not hire.
Exactly. However, I think that there may be the possibility that the
employer would think that the high school diploma would  certify certain
minimal skills. In theory, I agree that it should. But from what I read,
I'm not so certain this is reliable, and perhaps checking the
transcripts should be done.
-> I just received (yesterday) the study "A Business Leader's Guide to
-> Setting Academic Standards" by The Business Roundtable. (you had
-> posted a message talking about it earlier) It's a short, slick
-> presentation and after I go over it I'll present my comments to
-> bounce around with others who may have requested a copy of the same
-> report.
Short and slick, eh? I guess that is what one might expect from a
business leaders group. :-{
I will be interested to hear if there is anything substantial, including
some sort of bibliography or references. (I must say I'm impressed that
someone actually went out and ordered one of those reports as a result
of my cross-posting from the DRC. It's the first time anyone has
publicly so stated, anyway. I've thought about it a number of times,
but...)
Sheila
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