Grade level my foot

There is no such definitive formula which determines “grade level.”

Who set it up and how accurate is it?

It is supposed to be a guideline which one could use to get a general idea of a kid’s development. It is not a concrete indicator of the future.

I was sickly, shy, skinny, and reclusive as a kid which dictated a non- desire for competitive sports.

I was not on grade level in catching, batting or anything else.

At age 21 in the U.S. Army I was a roommate with a basketball coach from Indiana.

While stationed in Germany, we would go over to the gym (a converted Nazi airplane hanger) and Dallas would show me how to work with the round ball and the basket. I got to be a decent player and enjoyed playing in an old man’s group at school 35 years later.

Never would I think of “working out” as a kid. Lift weights? Huh?
In the army another guy in our platoon was a bodybuilder. Wow. He got my attention and I kept that in the back of my mind thinking one day I will do something with my puny torso.

Fast forward 40 years. While working as a “gofer” for the varsity football team (clock operator, statistician) became good friends with the coach. He asked me to monitor the weight room after school a few days a week.

Not knowing anything about it I said, “No.”

He subsequently showed me all I had to know and I took the volunteer assignment just to help him out.

He encouraged me to use the facilities while there instead of sitting at the desk and reading a book as I signed kids in and out of this strange environment I found myself in.

Soon I was enjoying it and instructing the younger kids. Eventually I got to be a weight-lifter. No, really. Don’t laugh.

With the coach’s encouragement, I became the “Senior Citizen” Bench Champ of New Hartford as I approached 200 pounds bench.

Alas, when I stopped at age 66, I was putting up 185 pounds bench and 400 pounds leg push; etc. etc. I am a small frame 170 at 5’9″.
Oh yeah? You try it when you get to be a senior citizen.

At age 41, having never even dreamed about doing so I learned to downhill ski, with my new girlfriend (now my wife) as my instructor. She was 28 and athletic. I was, well you know; old and SCARRED!

I began to write and learn the rudiments of English grammar when in my 60s. Published a first book at age 73. My second one is coming along slowly at age 75.

When in elementary school they insisted I skip a grade because I “was smart,” whatever that means.

At the end of my senior year I was short of credits for graduation and could not graduate. Went back the next year and just made it.

What happened to that above “grade level” kid they wanted to skip a grade. It would have been stupid because I already was younger than most kids because I started school at age four.

Need I go on?

Nothing is set in stone except the Biblical accounting of man’s opportunity for salvation in Jesus Christ. I can help you with understanding this. AND, I did not read the Bible until I was in my 50s.

Do I believe in grade level. Read the above again and answer this for yourself.

Merrit Pay is an abomination, at best.

Should a dentist get paid according to the number of patients who have no cavities?

Of course not, because the dentist has little control over the time his/her patients spend in dental care.

A dentist in a “rich” community would be paid more because the kids of a higher socioeconomic sub-culture pay more attention to their dental responsibilities; thus fewer cavities.

When an identifiable product is not the outcome of a source of labor, it is difficult to assess the quality of one’s work/effort.

One can measure the result of a laborer’s effort by testing the quality and measuring the quantity of the product; widgets or sweaters.

But, one can not measure the quality of a teacher with his/her students; not even with a test.

One test cannot measure the worth of a child.

There are systems in place that do an adequate job in most districts.

Good administrators using the system judiciously produces good data on teacher quality.