Some schools would really make Ralph Wiggum failing English unpossible.

Minimum-50 grading scheme reported at USA Today

Any grade below 50 is recorded as a 50. And this idea is not brand spankin’ new.

Their argument: Other letter grades — A, B, C and D — are broken down in increments of 10 from 60 to 100, but there is a 59-point spread between D and F, a gap that can often make it mathematically impossible for some failing students to ever catch up.

And so moving the finish line is the answer? Are these people daft? In a course with four exams counting equally toward the final grade, an unmotivated but smart student could ace one exam and then just not show up and still pass the course. This is symptomatic of never wanting to fail anyone for any reason, because it looks bad. Similar to my recent rant, here is another example of redefining “success.” Here, success is now having all the students pass, or minimizing the number of failing students, instead of maximizing the number of students learning material, and how much they learn. The administration is successful, and the students uneducated.

Why don’t we just hand them diplomas on the first day of school, and let the rest be optional?