Matt, Mary and Mike are the new sheriffs in town in Cave Creek, Arizona. So you've been warned. (Photo by Calamity Jane Studios - used with permission)

STARTING THE 2010-11 SCHOOL YEAR AT AIS-RIYADH

AFTER A SUMMER of visiting Matt in Hollywood, my folks in the Phoenix area and returning to the home base with Mary's mom in Iowa, the school bells are ringing again in Riyadh. Teacher work days are ending and, on Aug. 15, students are arriving. The campus has undergone another summer metamorphosis featuring gallons and gallons of yellow and blue paint and a few relocations.

Meanwhile, Riyadh is its usual simmering and suffocating self. Temps are around 115 with plenty of sand and dust to breathe anytime you're foolish enough to wander outdoors. And drivers remain dangerously creative. So hang on for the ride and we'll see how it all turns out.

In the meantime, you may amuse yourself with this article I posted to Examiner.com last fall:

WHY DO SCHOOLS GIVE GRADES?

by Mike Kielkopf

Des Moines High School Examiner - October 2009

BLAME YALE. It all started there in the late 1700s, not long after American independence. Yale is where we first see mention of a grading system in American education. It’s been pretty much downhill since.

Many educators in Des Moines, around Iowa and the country are beginning to realize that grades do far more harm than good when it comes to learning. A good teacher will have written a variety of informative comments and suggestions on a student’s work, but for most students – and parents – the grade overshadows it all.

In an anonymous response to an online discussion of grading last year, this teacher unwittingly explains one big reason why grades are counterproductive to learning: “Oh, this may not be the most politic thing to admit, but I do punish with grades. I see it all as one narrative… Student makes class a chore for everyone, dock it. I don't care what it sounds like. Dock it. Play the game as it's designed, precious beauties, and you'll succeed. Disrespect me, the process, and the class, dock it.” Sister Mary Benedict would be proud.

Let’s go back to the not too distant past, 1945, the glory days of Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman, stars of the well-known film, The Bells of St. Mary’s. Crosby plays Father O’Malley, the head of an inner-city parochial school, while Bergman is the by-the-rules nun, Sister Mary Benedict.

As the script writer would have it, Sister Mary Benedict and Father O'Malley look at a struggling student named Patsy and advocate diametrically opposed strategies. The sister wonders, "Do you believe in just passing everybody, Father?"

"Maybe I do," Father O'Malley answers and then poses his own question: "Are we here to give children a helping hand -- or are we here to measure their brains with a yardstick?"
When the priest inquires why 75 is the passing score at St. Mary's, Sister Mary Benedict responds, "You would put the standard at 65, Father?"

"Why not?"

"Then why not at 55? Why any grades at all, Father? Why don't we close the school and let them run wild?"

Father O'Malley reflects and then replies, "Maybe. Be better than breaking their hearts."

Sister Mary Benedict believes in grades: play the game or be docked for it. Father O’Malley believes in people. Incredibly, all these years later, the debate continues. So when the schools in Des Moines, in Iowa and around the country send those grades home, think about what they really mean. Are schools here to give children a helping hand – or to measure their brains with a yardstick? Too many people are still trying to figure that out. But don’t blame Father O’Malley. Blame Yale.