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Comment by lbotos | Hacker News Reader

What if the lesson was "sometimes things in life are really hard, and no matter how much you prepare, things may still challenge you beyond your current capability?"

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How does one get an A on that test, since grades are important as people move to jobs and graduate degrees? How can I compare an A from the University of Everything is Reasonable versus one that includes the grade every student gets on the Kobayashi Maru?

If that isn't something taken into consideration by grad programs and top hiring firms, then the system is broken.

How do you compare two "A"s, one from a mediocre place and one from a well established institution? By knowing the difference, of course.

When I was an undergrad looking for internships, many of the most desriable had hard GPA cutoffs. I'm pretty sure these were not flexibly adjusted for every single applicant depending on their university and specific course load.

Isn't the point of all this "standardization" crap that has been forced over universities and even basic education that all children and students should have equal opportunities in life, no matter if they went through public or private schools or ivy league universities vs "normal people" institutions?

> How can I compare an A from the University of Everything is Reasonable versus one that includes the grade every student gets on the Kobayashi Maru?

Where I grew up, and A was a 93. Where my partner grew up an A was a 90. We already have this problem. For better or worse your GPA + your universities prestige/perception/etc are a factor in hiring/grad school anyway.

Is a 4.0 from University of Phoenix (Online School) the same as a 4.0 from an Ivy?

Yes. You get a few Kobayashi Maru profs and your GPA makes you look like a moron.

In an academic context, where the institution is supposedly setting admission requirements, prerequisites for courses, etc. - and final grades are effectively published, as the institution's professional opinion on the student's qualifications - no, sorry. There are plenty of better ways to teach that lesson, which do not screw up the public grading metrics.

That's fine, but that lesson shouldn't also impact your finances (having to maybe retake the class), your future career, and your life in general... that's pretty extreme. And yeah, depending on the class, failing one test can really have consequences like that. I had a few classes where I only had 2 tests and 2 finals. The tests were like 40% of your grade. And it didn't seem like it was an isolated incident, from the tone of the post.

If the outcome was the teacher talked about that lesson, then said "we'll adjust the grade so you don't all have negative consequences b/c you did nothing wrong: this is a school, after all!" yeah I'd agree with you...

Well, you see, that's kinda the thing about "education". Every step should be beyond your current capability, but not so far beyond it that you cannot expand your capability to take the step. With the assistance of an educator and the assorted educational materials, of course.

In fact, that is the difference between a good educator and a bad one: a bad one will just say, "it is what it is", and describe their failure to teach as laziness or stupidity on the part of the student.

If that is a part of the syllabus than okay. But if that isn't clearly stated as a goal of the class at any point than it doesn't make sense.

If the knowledge is necessary, it sounds like there should be an additional class before said class to give knowledge that can be built on in the more difficult advanced class.

This is not the lesson that students are paying a lot of money in tuition/fees to learn.

I doubt that's what people actually learned

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