Re: [Phys-l] failure is always an option

["Wes Davis" <wlrdavis@earthlink.net>]

Ken Fox has certainly expressed my feelings eloquently.  It is absolutely 
heart-breaking to hear letters of recommendation dismissed in such a 
cavalier way.

In my 20 years' HS teaching (as a second career), I have spent hundreds of 
hours of my own time laboring over letters of recommendation for deserving 
students.  Each year I write over 40 letters of recommendations:  first for 
college admissions, then for scholarships.  I spend 2 to 3 hours on each 
letter because I want that letter to describe that particular student's 
skills, growth and effort.  I am not paid for this work, in the sense that 
it is all done on weekends, and is not expressly part of my job description. 
To hear a respected member of this community dismiss all that work so 
blithely is, to put it mildly, discouraging.

Further, to think that class rank is meaningful is to show a lack of 
understanding of the games played by students in high school.  Every year 
students tell me "I'm not taking your classes" (Physics and Calculus) 
because "it would hurt my GPA" or, as often "because I want to be 
Valedictorian".  Each year we have multiple valedictorians.  Some of them 
have paid the price by taking AP Physics, AP Calculus, and all the other AP 
classes.  Others have taken NO AP or, even, honors classes.  In terms of 
class rank. they all look the same, because we do not count AP classes 
differently toward GPA than we do career math.

The University of California, at least, weights classes differently for 
computing GPA.  It's too bad that all colleges don't make that effort.

Respectfully,
Wes Davis






----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ken Fox" <physicsfox23@gmail.com>
To: "Forum for Physics Educators" <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 10:19 AM
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] failure is always an option


> I am a retired high school teacher (all levels of Physics from poetic to AP
> or IB for 40 years). I have been reading with interest and smiling with
> recognition about the data from many of you.
>
> This item from Bluffton caught my attention:
> "When we evaluate applicants for admission and scholarships we look at 
> four
> things... [1] ACT/SAT score, [2] HS GPA, [3] HS class rank, [4] letters of
> recommendation.  Which of these is the best predictor of success in 
> college?
> Think about that for a second or two before reading the next paragraph."