The Times They Are A+ Changin

I was really surprised to read the New York Times article about dining in New York City. This reallllly takes the Zagat books to a whole new level. Living an hour away from the NYC and going there frequently with my family and friends (I was there back and forth two times this past weekend!), this is a huge shock to see that they will be doing a rating system for the restaurants. I can't really see this benefiting anyone, while everyone has their preference already, tourists will surely stay away from any place below a B and all the higher graded places are now going to be packed. Restaurants WILL go out of business as some of the comments say. An inspection should just be an inspection, you either pass or fail. I laughed reading how the LA rating system is pretty much a joke and the snide comment made about "we are not schoolchildren who must be graded". I wonder if Vincent J. Mazzone even WENT to school or understands the grading process of school systems.

The Tribune article also brought up great points as each year of my grade school career, I feel the report cards gave different letters and numbers for the criteria. Sometimes it was Exceeding Standards or Meeting Standards while other times it was 2s, 3s and 4s. In high school we had number grades, an 88 was an 88 and a 95 was a 95. That seems pretty simple to me. To be getting crazed over elementary school grades is silly though. Teachers should be telling parents what their children do well in, what they are average at, and what, if anything they need to work more on. Giving grades for the little details like understanding the U.S government as a 4th grader is absurd and not necessary. Meanwhile, feedback IS important and it is nice to know what the student is able or unable to do.

I looked at Sullo's chapter that "Competition Is as Important as Cooperation". I found it interesting and a lot of parts true. Misbehaving IS all about the needs for freedom, it even inspires creativity. Pam finds a great way to have children learn to be "respectfully competitive" which is a very good thing to learn at a young age. Question the child about what their expectations were when breaking a rule instead of redirecting them immediately. Questioning the child so that they give a reason of their thought-process will show them the error of their ways and the student can find a better way to "get what they want". Being competitive in a respectful, reasonable way can work even at a young age.