Somebody peaked into my classroom! Was told recently by the disgruntled parent of a student who received a C- that a C is no longer an average grade. Apparently no one is allowed to be average anymore?
Don’t condemn Calvin on his request; yes he should strive for excellence, but society teaches that mediocrity is good. Baseball players are considered great with a batting average of .300. Unions demand we keep employees that suck. We vote for politicians over and over, while they enrich themselves, and restrict our freedoms
Please dispense with the politicking here. Calvin is 5 and you are pain. You are in need of anti-political pills, you are seeing it in everything.
I’ve given up begging them to dispense with all the political crap talk. I simply play “Flag the Troll” instead. Now if only Go Comics would pay attention and kick him off the site! Until then, I’m just forced to grit my teeth and bear it.
Whom are you addressing? Hold the cursor on the right lower side and click on “reply.”
I had absolutely no trouble at all figuring out who J M was talking to . . . the jerk spouting all their usual stupid, ridiculous political crap talk. No matter what the comic’s topic, there’s always some way for the troll to inject ugly political talk into it. There’s just no end to it!!!!!
Seems to have a point there, 75% is 3/4 of the answers right, that’s better than average, now if he got 50%, that would be average, anything between 25% & 50% is D range & below that is F. The way schools grade getting 1/2 the questions right if failing. Doesn’t really seem fair in the larger scheme of things.
the sad truth is that Calvin has a point, our society seems to be way to eager to embrace a grade curve because it means they don’t have to do as well to get positive feedback.
If I could go into any casino in the country and hit the mark 75% of the time I would have more money than I knew what to do with – the casino would ban me, of course, but why would I want to back in there anyway if the odds were normal.?
As an educator who spent 28 years in public schools I know the feeling but loved the bright kids who challenged me. As an example of the Calvin type of kid I include the following excerpt from one chapter of my book, TWENTY EIGHT YEARS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
While sitting at my desk one lunch hour I heard the outer office door open and Walt’s voice ask Syl, my secretary, “Is Mr. McCarty in?”
Syl gave me a questioning look and I waved my hand to her to send him in so she told him, “Go in, he’ll see you now.” Walt entered my office with a look of smug satisfaction on his face. I knew he was up to something. He was obviously prepared to do battle with me, his old nemesis, the authority figure in his life, and was very confident of his position.
Walt stepped to the front of my desk and dropped a stack of about 10papers on it, neatly stapled together, “Read this.” I took the package and began to read. The first page started, “We the following demand a longer lunch period. It has been proven that insufficient time allowed for the digestion of food . . .” After twenty-some years this was, as I recall, the beginning of one and one half pages of neatly typed, double spaced copy, quoting national leaders in the field of gastroenterology from medical journals, and citing studies which showed the harmful effects of stress when eating with insufficient time to digest food. It then went on to say how the students of Smallville High School had suffered from the archaic rules of the present administration. It ended with the statement, “Therefore, we the students of Smallville High School demand a longer lunch period.”
As I read Walt was fairly beaming with joy. He had finally bested me. Iam sure he could just imagine old man McCarty sputtering, red in the face, caught off guard, totally unprepared for this intellectual onslaught and speechless. You recall the title of this chapter? It was moments like this that led me to the conclusion that this was one bright kid. I have seen papers from college English majors that lacked the punctuation, cites, quotes, and bibliography of his papers. I would have needed much time and research to match it. I wish I had kept that stack of papers.
The first page and one half was followed by about eight pages of notebook paper with roughly twenty-five signatures of high school students per page, equaling about one half of the student body. I carefully read the stack, looked at Walt, picked up my pen, signed the last page and handed the stack of papers back to him.
He looked at me incredulously and said, “What am I supposed to dowith these?”
I looked at him just as incredulously and asked, “Well, what was I supposed to do with them?”
He looked at me rather irritated and said, “Well, we want a longer lunch period!”
To which I replied, “Well, so do I!”
“Yes, but you’re the principal.”
“I know, but we have a contract with the teacher’s union. If you can get them to agree to a longer lunch period, I’ll certainly go along with it. Of course if they agree that will mean we will have to start the school day sooner or end it later as the state requires students to be in school a specified number of hours each day. Oh yes, and lunch time doesn’t count. I’ll tell you what though, you keep working on it and if you can get those teachers to agree I certainly will not stand in your way. I could definitely use more time for lunch. Besides I arrive early and leave late so it will not affect the length of my day very much anyway.”
Walt took his stack of papers and stormed from the office. I’ve never seen those papers since. I spent the remainder of the day thinking, “Sometimes it is great to be alive,” especially when you know you have handled a potentially difficult situation about as well as it could be handled.
legaleagle48 over 11 years ago
Actually, Calvin, that’s being generous.
margueritem over 11 years ago
It only looks like Maalox…
Kali39 over 11 years ago
But do we blame her?
ratlum over 11 years ago
Better for her to drink some thing,than to commit a terrible crime against a 5 yr old.
rentier over 11 years ago
Yes, yes, you deserve an “A” for have it done at all!
in.amongst over 11 years ago
Calvin – How about grading he teacher?
orinoco womble over 11 years ago
Staffroom jokes: Old teachers never die, they just grade away…
Old teachers never die, they just lose their class…
tripwire45 over 11 years ago
He’s got a point. In today’s world, that high a performance would be amazing, especially from Government.
g.iangoodson over 11 years ago
If 75% was the average, the test was too easy.
pipesadsit Premium Member over 11 years ago
Somebody peaked into my classroom! Was told recently by the disgruntled parent of a student who received a C- that a C is no longer an average grade. Apparently no one is allowed to be average anymore?
jack fairbanks over 11 years ago
now we’re calling it maalox, eh?
Maryfink over 11 years ago
Just Maalox…. with Calvin… LOL
pathfinder over 11 years ago
Old teachers never die, they just degrade.
Cyberpaw over 11 years ago
Don’t condemn Calvin on his request; yes he should strive for excellence, but society teaches that mediocrity is good. Baseball players are considered great with a batting average of .300. Unions demand we keep employees that suck. We vote for politicians over and over, while they enrich themselves, and restrict our freedoms
GROG Premium Member over 11 years ago
I wonder how many cases she goes through in a week. Calvin would bring me to go for something stronger.
Arbiter117 over 11 years ago
What is maalox?
Thomas Linquist over 11 years ago
Says the kid who won’t eat supper unless his mother tells him it’s something really gross.
wbtthefrog over 11 years ago
And this is an old strip from when government worked better – it’s even more relevant now!
risingangel over 11 years ago
To paraphrase my Statistics teacher, C is average, and average isn’t that bad. (I have a B-, btw).
Karaboo2 over 11 years ago
Calvin is outstanding on his desk.
possiblekim over 11 years ago
For a kid with this ingenuity, vocabulary skills and reasoning. The standard must be really high or the teacher is out to get him
brcarthey over 11 years ago
When they stuck the needle in Ms. Wormwood’s arm, she was heard muttering, “It was a just and noble cause, it was a just and noble cause…”
sundogusa over 11 years ago
Maalox? More like white russian!
EricPost over 11 years ago
And an airline pilot or surgeon with that average would be out of work.
Karaboo2 over 11 years ago
99% of us agree with you. They should shove the politics along with the flagpole.
jppjr over 11 years ago
I was going to say that “Maalox” might be 110% proof.
Five boys over 11 years ago
First smile of the day
Gretchen's Mom over 11 years ago
Please dispense with the politicking here. Calvin is 5 and you are pain. You are in need of anti-political pills, you are seeing it in everything.
I’ve given up begging them to dispense with all the political crap talk. I simply play “Flag the Troll” instead. Now if only Go Comics would pay attention and kick him off the site! Until then, I’m just forced to grit my teeth and bear it.
Gretchen's Mom over 11 years ago
Whom are you addressing? Hold the cursor on the right lower side and click on “reply.”
I had absolutely no trouble at all figuring out who J M was talking to . . . the jerk spouting all their usual stupid, ridiculous political crap talk. No matter what the comic’s topic, there’s always some way for the troll to inject ugly political talk into it. There’s just no end to it!!!!!
fuzzeebc over 11 years ago
When I was in the Army, if you could accomplish a task at 70% correct, you were considered competent. At 80 you were damn near an expert.
ChappellGirl5 over 11 years ago
Seems to have a point there, 75% is 3/4 of the answers right, that’s better than average, now if he got 50%, that would be average, anything between 25% & 50% is D range & below that is F. The way schools grade getting 1/2 the questions right if failing. Doesn’t really seem fair in the larger scheme of things.
Phapada over 11 years ago
a kids can protest..?
yangeldf over 11 years ago
the sad truth is that Calvin has a point, our society seems to be way to eager to embrace a grade curve because it means they don’t have to do as well to get positive feedback.
marshalljpeters Premium Member over 11 years ago
When I was in school, a C was considered poor, and 75% was a D-. Anything below that was an F.
Number Three over 11 years ago
It sounds like you done very well, Calvin. I’m proud of you anyway.
I love his face in the final panel.
xxx
khpage over 11 years ago
If I could go into any casino in the country and hit the mark 75% of the time I would have more money than I knew what to do with – the casino would ban me, of course, but why would I want to back in there anyway if the odds were normal.?
Saucy1121 Premium Member over 11 years ago
Consider yourself lucky, Calvin. When I was in school (back in the 60s and 70s) a 75 was a D.
GROG Premium Member over 11 years ago
It is when you can only average a maximum of one, assuming you never make an out.
StkFigs over 11 years ago
Its so true, if the government took a test on running the country they wouldn’t get 100%. I’m with Calvin.
Dale Franklin over 11 years ago
As an educator who spent 28 years in public schools I know the feeling but loved the bright kids who challenged me. As an example of the Calvin type of kid I include the following excerpt from one chapter of my book, TWENTY EIGHT YEARS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
While sitting at my desk one lunch hour I heard the outer office door open and Walt’s voice ask Syl, my secretary, “Is Mr. McCarty in?”
Syl gave me a questioning look and I waved my hand to her to send him in so she told him, “Go in, he’ll see you now.” Walt entered my office with a look of smug satisfaction on his face. I knew he was up to something. He was obviously prepared to do battle with me, his old nemesis, the authority figure in his life, and was very confident of his position.
Walt stepped to the front of my desk and dropped a stack of about 10papers on it, neatly stapled together, “Read this.” I took the package and began to read. The first page started, “We the following demand a longer lunch period. It has been proven that insufficient time allowed for the digestion of food . . .” After twenty-some years this was, as I recall, the beginning of one and one half pages of neatly typed, double spaced copy, quoting national leaders in the field of gastroenterology from medical journals, and citing studies which showed the harmful effects of stress when eating with insufficient time to digest food. It then went on to say how the students of Smallville High School had suffered from the archaic rules of the present administration. It ended with the statement, “Therefore, we the students of Smallville High School demand a longer lunch period.”
As I read Walt was fairly beaming with joy. He had finally bested me. Iam sure he could just imagine old man McCarty sputtering, red in the face, caught off guard, totally unprepared for this intellectual onslaught and speechless. You recall the title of this chapter? It was moments like this that led me to the conclusion that this was one bright kid. I have seen papers from college English majors that lacked the punctuation, cites, quotes, and bibliography of his papers. I would have needed much time and research to match it. I wish I had kept that stack of papers.
The first page and one half was followed by about eight pages of notebook paper with roughly twenty-five signatures of high school students per page, equaling about one half of the student body. I carefully read the stack, looked at Walt, picked up my pen, signed the last page and handed the stack of papers back to him.
He looked at me incredulously and said, “What am I supposed to dowith these?”
I looked at him just as incredulously and asked, “Well, what was I supposed to do with them?”
He looked at me rather irritated and said, “Well, we want a longer lunch period!”
To which I replied, “Well, so do I!”
“Yes, but you’re the principal.”
“I know, but we have a contract with the teacher’s union. If you can get them to agree to a longer lunch period, I’ll certainly go along with it. Of course if they agree that will mean we will have to start the school day sooner or end it later as the state requires students to be in school a specified number of hours each day. Oh yes, and lunch time doesn’t count. I’ll tell you what though, you keep working on it and if you can get those teachers to agree I certainly will not stand in your way. I could definitely use more time for lunch. Besides I arrive early and leave late so it will not affect the length of my day very much anyway.”
Walt took his stack of papers and stormed from the office. I’ve never seen those papers since. I spent the remainder of the day thinking, “Sometimes it is great to be alive,” especially when you know you have handled a potentially difficult situation about as well as it could be handled.
westny77 over 11 years ago
PoPooor little teacher
westny77 over 11 years ago
Poor little teacher i don’t think it will be 5 yr with his economy to retire
tpmcciii over 11 years ago
Calvin is brilliant——a psychopath but brilliant…
catprog. almost 6 years ago
I think when I was at school 85% was an A , 70% was a B. 50% was a C