Gilda

I was reading a thread in parenting regarding grades, in which a parent was concerned about a child who had gotten a "C" in a class and was considering making the child retake the class. I didn't want to hijack that thread, as it was relating to a very specific problem with a specific person, but I am interested in discussing the general issue of what makes for a good and bad grade.

I teach middle school. I also teach a summer course at the local branch of the state university system and an evening course during the school year.

In my classes, a "C" is not a bad grade. Neither is it a good grade. It is average, the baseline grade that indicates adequate but not outstanding performance. The average student, and the majority of my students in any class at any level get C's. B's are unusual, and indicate that a student has performed at a high level. A's are very rare, earned only by the top students. This grading system is perfectly in line with the district grading policy handbook. A student earning a C has certainly mastered the material well enough to move on to the next level and does not need to retake the class.

I've crunched the grade distribution numbers for the past two years, and this is what I get on average for a class of 25 for a typical grading period in my middle school classes:

A: 2 (about 8%)
B: 5 (about 20%)
C: 12 (about half)
D: 2 (8%)
F: 4 (16%)

My college classes tend to skew a bit higher, with fewer D's and F's and more C's and B's, but with A's still about 8-10%.

Average isn't bad, it's just normal, ordinary, just like everyone else. Most people are average in most things they do.

I have parents and students who obsess over getting all A's and B's, and students who celebrate a C.

That's my view as a teacher.

Now, I can understand it a little bit of it from the other side. The nearly three years that I had Sissy while she was in high school, I would have been disappointed at seeing a C on her report card, while a B would have been acceptable to me. She on the other hand would have considered a C a disaster and a B a disappointment, so there was never any need for me to put any pressure on her. I can remember when she was a junior taking calculus, desperately wanting to get into AP Calc 2 her senior year, and coming home with a B- on one of her tests upset that she was going to spoil her nearly perfect gpa, and spending hours each night studying with Grace to make sure she didn't slip again, or occasionally studying with me if Grace wasn't available.

But Sissy is extraordinarily smart, much more so than I am, on about the same level as Grace, and very hard working. She spent an average of three to four hours a night studying and doing homework, so given her extraordinary intelligence and work ethic, extraordiary results are what should be expected.

Do you consider a "C" a bad grade? Why or why not?

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