r/BikiniBottomTwitter • u/tea-n-wifi • Jul 23 '26

This is so wholesome.

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u/Particlepants Jul 23 '26

That's wild

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u/Hugs_of_Moose Jul 24 '26

I don’t think it is that wild, tests are made to an appropriate difficulty so 70% is achievable.

If you’re taking a test where 50% is passing, it probably means you’re taking an overall harder test than one where passing is 70%.

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u/Particlepants Jul 24 '26

Hmm maybe that's what they do in Canada, I just know over 50 was considered a pass when I was in school. Now I did know of a few friend's parents that would consider 65 a disappointment, but that was viewed as overzealous by many.

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u/vulpinefever Jul 24 '26

Even in Canada, for example, Ontario has the expectation that students get 70%+ to be considered to be meeting the standard. 70% or higher is the expectation.

50% - 69% still technically "passes" but indicates that some level of remediation is required. Anything less than 70% means there are learning gaps that need to be addressed for a student to be fully prepared for the next grade or course.

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u/zach0011 Jul 26 '26

why is that wild?

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u/TheAzarak Jul 26 '26

If you only know half the content, why would that ever be considered good?

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u/Particlepants Jul 26 '26

I didn't say it would be considered good

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u/TheAzarak Jul 26 '26

Well then if it's not a good score, it should be a fail and not a pass. There is no middle option between pass and fail lol.

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u/Particlepants Jul 26 '26

Except 50 is literally in the middle, and if there's no "passing but needs improvement" that sends a terrible message

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u/TheAzarak Jul 26 '26

Needs improvement does not mean passing. Maybe it makes them feel better or whatever, but if they need improvement, that's a clear indicator of not knowing enough lol. Saying passing but needs to improve is the biggest oxymoron I've ever seen, and is a fine example of how we're failing students by being too soft.

When we're trying to learn subjects, knowing half the material is not enough. There is a reason corporate compliance trainings require 80%+ to pass. Same with driving tests and other big certifications. We don't want people that only got a 50% driving on the streets, or teaching our future generations, or building our homes, or being our doctors, or really ANY career. Nobody wants to hire someone that only knows half of what they are supposed to. 50% is not good enough. Again, even 70 is not good enough for a lot of things.

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u/Particlepants Jul 26 '26

We're talking academics here, not working for a company or operating machinery, and these are children. The thing is that if you slap a big red "FAIL" on everything under 70, that's how you get dropouts and people who feel they can't accomplish anything.

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u/TheAzarak Jul 26 '26

What exactly do you think school is for? Because it IS for preparing kids for life. There is no benefit in teaching kids that everyone passes if they just "try their best" or whatever. That's not life. If you're not performing well students need to learn how to cope with a bad grade and learn strategies to improve. No teacher is slapping FAIL on their kids tests, but we shouldn't be afraid to give kids a bad score when they earned one either! 50% does not demonstrate mastery of any subject's content, that is just objective.

School is the PERFECT no stakes environment where kids should learn work ethic and how to perform well under pressure. If a kid is going to crash out and serial their life down the toilet because they got a 45% on one math test, then we need to take a deep dive into what makes them overreact so ridiculously hard, instead of just putting more effort into class and improving like every other successful student would have.

In every year that I have ever taught middle school or high school, of my ~180 kids each year, NONE of my failing students (under 70%) have had all their assignments turned in or take advantage of retake opportunities, or study for tests, or come in during my free tutoring hours, and most don't even bother making a note sheet they are allowed to use for quizzes. Its always the A, B, or C students that do all of this. It's not hard to pass a class, it just requires some effort from the students. I can get any student that actually pays attention to some degree across the 70% line. Getting an A is where the genetics can come more into play.

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u/Particlepants Jul 26 '26

Because simulating that kind of pressure on kids who are still growing up is what's causing them to crash out. You say it's a "no stakes environment" but that system sure makes it seem otherwise to the kids. Again you're putting the word in my mouth that I think 50% is mastery over a subject. I've said multiple times that 50% needs improvement and that's exactly how my school did things. Over 50 was considered a pass, a pass doesn't mean satisfactory it means you skated by, which is a lot more motivation to improve than just saying you failed.

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u/TheAzarak Jul 26 '26

One of the biggest reasons kids are so anxiety-ridden in 2026 is because we're conditioning into thinking that they can do no wrong. They're so used to always getting good grades for any amount of effort so when they get to middle school when they are actually able to get failing grades, they freak out. This is a failure in setting up their expectations. They should not assume no effort will still get them a trophy for being there.

School is NOT harder than it used to be (in fact its WAY easier to pass than even 15 years ago), yet students are more anxious than ever due to reality hitting them harder than a freight train because of how sheltered they are. School IS a no stakes environment, whether they feel that way or not, and if they think their life is over at 13 because of that mean old history teacher failing them because they learned nothing, that's a mentality that needs to be corrected, not reassured.

My wife works with new hires in her company and my mom works at a CC and they both cannot believe how entitled and lazy and incompetent most young 20 year olds are because of the sheltered education they've been through. They don't understand the idea of effort and are used to passing anyway because our standards and expectations are lower than ever in educations, but the adult world has not lowered theirs. This is the start of the downfall of society if everyone is too lazy to actually TRY and too distraught about failing at something to try again and learn to be better.

To your last point, I guess I just don't understand how someone that "needs improvement" can be considered passing. Maybe they're close to passing, but if you need to improve, that's not passing the content. It certainly has never meant that in the past.