I remember how it was -- JR
Sunday, August 28, 2022
UK: 'Snowflake' secondary school refuses to publish GCSE results because 'ALL pupils should be celebrated'
Parents have blasted a 'snowflake' secondary school after its 'woke' headteacher decided not to publish GCSE results this year because 'all pupils should be celebrated'.
It comes after schools up and down the country publicly revealed the exam results of their pupils, as has always traditionally been the case.
But Uppingham Community College, in Rutland, say they are celebrating an 'exceptional' set of GCSE results despite two years of disruption due to the Covid pandemic.
The college has refused to release headline figures of what pupils have achieved due to the 'unlevel playing field' in education during this period.
The mixed secondary, which caters for 900 pupils between 11-16, has also decided not to promote pupils who have achieved the highest grades.
Headteacher Ben Solly defended the decision saying 'all pupils should be celebrated for their achievements' and comparing results with previous years would be 'irrelevant'.
He added: 'During the past two to three years there has not been a level playing field in education.
'Young people, their families and school communities have faced unique situations which make any comparisons between schools, or results from previous years, invalid and irrelevant.
'We have chosen not to make such publications today because we strongly believe that all pupils should be celebrated for their individual achievements.
'Each and every pupils will have faced their own challenges, barriers and set-backs, and we are immensely proud of all of them for persevering and doing their very best regardless of the obstacles they faced.
'It is easy to forget that the last 'normal' school year this cohort received was when they were in Year 8 in 2018 to 19.
'Thankfully we pulled together and ensured our pupils received an excellent education throughout this period, this is reflected in the very high standards pupils have achieved in their GCSE exams.'
However the decision not to publicise the GCSE results drew a mixed response from parents on social media who accused the school of 'pandering to the woke brigade'.
One mum said: 'Here we go again, yet another example of an institution pandering to the woke brigade.
How GCSEs were graded across the UK?
Students received their GCSE results on Thursday, having sat exams for the first time in two years due to the pandemic.
Grading is different in England, compared with Northern Ireland and Wales.
In England, traditional A* to G grades were replaced in recent years with a 9 to 1 system, with 9 being the highest mark.
In general, a grade 7-9 is roughly equivalent to A-A*, while a grade 4 and above is roughly equivalent to a C and above.
Traditional A*-G grades are still used in Northern Ireland and Wales.
Similar to the pattern with A-level results, published last week, results dropped below last year's levels, but remain above those from 2019.
This year, exams were graded more generously in a bid to provide a safety net for students in the move back towards pre-pandemic arrangements.
'Wrapping everyone up in cotton wool and telling them they are all equally brilliant. What a joke.'
Another added: 'I feel for those who have worked hard to get the best grades and won't get public recognition now due to some PC nonsense.'
A third wrote: 'Just heard Uppingham School are not publicizing (sic) their GCSE results - welcome to snowflake Britain 2022.'
Another put: 'Why doesn't this surprise me anymore. Probably trying not to offend the low-achievers to avoid any upset. Stop this pampering, they are nearly adults now.'
However one person added: 'He has a point, these last two years have been like no other so to compare them to previous years is unfair. Well done everyone.'
And another said: 'There has been a lot of disruption during this period so I can see why. Each pupil knows how they have done and that's all that really matters.'
GCSE results were released at 8am on Thursday morning and as expected, this year's pass rate had fallen since 2021, but remain higher than pre-pandemic levels.
Results this year were expected to be significantly lower as grade inflation due to the pandemic comes to an end.
Exams this year were graded more generously following on from two years of teacher-based marks in a bid to provide a safety net for students in the move back towards pre-pandemic arrangements.
Overall GCSE results are higher than in 2019, with outcomes at grade 7 and above at 26.0% compared with 20.6% in 2019, and outcomes at grade 4 and above at 73.0% compared with 67.0% in 2019.
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Missouri school district reinstates corporal punishment after parents called for their kids to be spanked with a wooden paddle
A Missouri school district has reinstated corporal punishment after parents reportedly called for their kids to be spanked with a wooden paddle, the superintendent claimed.
Cassville R-IV School District, located near the Arkansas border, has implemented corporal punishment as a 'last resort' going into the 2022-23 school year.
'It shall be used only when all other alternative means of discipline have failed,' the policy reads. 'It should never be inflicted in the presence of other students.'
The punishment technique - which is legal in 19 states - will only be administered in front of a witness and will not cause 'bodily injury or harm.'
Superintendent Merlyn Johnson, 47, claimed parents were asking the school district 'why can't you paddle my student?' and they had received several requests to reinstate the decades-old policy.
'There had been a conversation with parents and there had been requests from parents for us to look into it,' he told the Springfield News-Leader. 'We've had people actually thank us for it.
Older students whose parents opt-in could receive up to three spanks per punishment, while younger scholars will receive one to two spanks. Staff members will be able to employ 'reasonable physical force,' but it does not explicitly explain how it will be measured and whether or not all staff members will be allowed to hit students.
'Surprisingly, those on social media would probably be appalled to hear us say these things, but the majority of people that I've run into have been supportive,' he claimed.
In an August 2022 letter to parents, Johnson explained that the policy change was simply to give 'principals one more disciplinary option before students receive more serious punishment. such as suspensions.'
Parents must review and sign an opt-in form if they 'wish to authorize corporal punishment' for their child.
DailyMail.com has reached out to board members, the superintendent, and other staff members for comment.
Some parents are unhappy with the decision, stating they would prefer in-school or out-of-school suspension rather than physical punishment.
'We live in a really small community where people were raised a certain way and they’re kind of blanketed in that fact that they grew up having discipline and swats,' parent Miranda Waltrip told Ozarks First.
'And so, for them, it’s like going back to the good old days but it’s not because it’s going to do more harm than good at the end of the day.'
Kimberly Richardson agreed, stating: 'In-school suspension that would be fine with me, or even out of school suspensions. Those are just way better than corporal punishment.'
However, Dylan Burns said he doesn't see a problem with the new policy, saying: 'No matter what you choose, I think you need to sit down with your kids and choose what’s best for you and your family.'
Washington County Public Schools, in Alabama, also implemented corporal punishment and the former superintendent John Dickey told NBC 15 in 2020: '[For] most kids, it's effective.
'It’s a last resort before expulsion. So, it is serious by the time we use corporal punishment.'
It was used 90 times in the 2018-19 school year, according to the school district, and most of the incident occurred at the high school level.
Students were spanked 32 times at Fruitdale High School and 30 times at the Millry High School, according to NBC 15.
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After Being Targeted by NBC News, Christian School Refuses to Back Down on Traditional Morality
Grace Christian School “fielded hundreds, probably thousands, of phone calls Thursday, Friday, over the weekend, with just some of the most outrageous things: People threatening to burn my house down, threatening to kill my family,” said Barry McKeen, school administrator and pastor of Grace Community Church of Valrico, Florida, which runs the school.
The threats came in reaction to an article by NBC News, which published several paragraphs of a June 6 email in which McKeen reiterated to school parents the school’s commitment to biblical sexuality.
“We believe that God created mankind in His image: male (man) and female (woman), sexually different but with equal dignity,” read the email, and continued:
Therefore, one’s biological sex must be affirmed, and no attempts should be made to physically change, alter, or disagree with one’s biological gender—including, but not limited to, elective sex reassignment, transvestite, transgender, or non-binary gender fluid acts of conduct (Genesis 1:26-28). Students in school will be referred to by the gender on their birth certificate and be referenced in name in the same fashion.
“We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgender identity/lifestyle, self-identification, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful in the sight of God and the church (Genesis 2:24; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; I Corinthians 5:1; I Corinthians 6:9; I Thessalonians 4:2-7),” the email added. “Students who are found participating in these lifestyles will be asked to leave the school immediately.”
It’s a bit surprising that NBC News would choose to cite a robust defense of biblical sexuality so extensively. It must believe that every word is damning.
Indeed, to this apologetic, NBC felt it needed to only add quotes from three anonymous former students who essentially confirmed the email accurately reflected the school’s policies. One left the school for another which allowed her to “just be myself.” Another, who graduated, said her identity as transgender “was not something I could be open about.” A third, who also graduated, objected to chapel messages preaching against homosexuality.
In response, McKeen published a video address on Thursday night insisting that the school would not back away from its commitment to follow the Bible. “Why we were chosen for this experience, I do not know,” he said. “Almost every Christian school has such a policy.”
But McKeen did know one thing. “I don’t answer to NBC,” he explained. “I answer to God. And so, if a lot of people are mad at me, I’m sorry. I don’t like that they’re mad at me. But at the end of the day, I answer to God.”
McKeen said “many things in the article” were true. Grace Christian School does have “a policy that does not allow students to [identify as] homosexuals or transgender.” But that’s because “they’re students. They’re young people. They shouldn’t be sexual at all. God condemns any sexual activity outside of marriage, and that’s also in the policy.” The policy didn’t single out LGBT identities; it also applied to heterosexual immorality.
“We have had these policies in our school since day No. 1, in the early 1970s,” said McKeen, who “has served in the church for 21 years.” He clearly explained that “God has spoken on those issues explicitly, aggressively.” There is no wiggle room. Therefore, “it is our policy now. It will be our policy going forward because … God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change.”
But “some things” were “blatantly untrue” in the article, insisted McKeen—particularly an anonymous assertion in the NBC article that, during chapel hour, he “started yelling about how if you’re gay you’re going to hell.” McKeen responded, “I did not utter those words. The reason I know that is because that’s not my doctrinal position … nor the position of our church.”
“Any sin will condemn you to hell. And that’s why we need a savior,” McKeen explained. “One must come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. One must be born again. So, we teach our students, ‘We have to acknowledge our sin. We have to admit that sin to God. Then we have to understand and accept the free gift of salvation: that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again.’ … To be saved, the sinner must call upon God and admit that sin.”
On the other hand, McKeen warned, “If you’re an unrepentant sinner … you’ll be separated from God for all time and eternity.”
McKeen also responded to NBC’s emphasizing in the headline that Grace Christian School “asks gay and transgender students to leave,” noting that “we had one student, on one occasion, whose parents and us came to an agreement for them to be withdrawn. And that’s about it. … Did the school and the atmosphere make them uncomfortable? I would think that a school that’s standing for biblical values is going to be discomforting to somebody who is not.”
The students mentioned in the article “were loved by this school,” he added. “We’re not hateful people.”
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you,” said Jesus (Mat. 5:10-12).
Even if NBC and others call them hateful, McKeen promised the school would not abandon its biblical convictions.
“If anybody ever came to me—any entity with the power to do so—and said, ‘Do this, change this policy, or your doors can’t open,’ then our doors would remain closed,” he said. “We believe the Bible from cover to cover. We’re not going to change.”
“This is a private, Christian school,” McKeen explained. That means they don’t have to conform to the values of public education or the secular, religious indoctrination infused in public schools. “Parents choose to send their kids to the school,” he said, because that’s the type of education they want for their children.
McKeen admitted “it’s not for everybody,” but if someone doesn’t agree with their values, they have plenty of other schools to choose from, and there are plenty of other families waiting to take their place. But “in Christian schools, you would find almost the exact same policy”; in many, it’s “the exact same wording.”
After the barrage of threats, parents with children enrolled in the school showed up to the church on Sunday morning, even if that wasn’t the church they regularly attended. Well-wishers from around the county donated to the school, including one who attached a note to his $5,000 check, reading, “Stay strong, keep the faith.”
As millions of students have abandoned public schools since the pandemic began, leftist elites are desperate to disparage Christian schools and other alternative forms of education beyond their control. Yet private Christian schools still offer a positive alternative to a public education system drowning in its own wokeness.
Grace Christian School currently has a waitlist of more than 100 students. Lengthy waitlists indicate that the demand for a Christian education far outstrips the supply. That’s why Family Research Council’s senior fellow for biblical worldview and strategic engagement, Joseph Backholm, argues that “every church should start a Christian school.”
Public schools used to teach shared values and basic education skills, and that was acceptable for many parents. But now that public schools are abandoning the fundamentals and increasingly embracing woke indoctrination, many Christian parents are rediscovering there is no such thing as value-neutral education. Instead, they are increasingly embracing education based on explicitly biblical values.
“These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children,” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).
Christian schools that stand firm on biblical values are an increasingly attractive option for doing so.
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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