Frazz by Jef Mallett for April 11, 2013

Yes, for the lack of. No effort no decent grade.

Parts of Michigan use “E” after “D”. It’s also a standard part of the European grading system.

In Texas, E is for “incomplete,” like her ambition.

I C how it is…..

isn’t that the new normal? kids still living with their parents. because, the economy is struggling. student loan debt up to the eyeballs. and, there are some places that are too costly to live.

What happened to F for failure? Must be politically incorrect.

No one fails anymore. Too hard on the poor kid’s feelings. And we’ve extended that hogwash to Corporate America. Too big to fail indeed.

We used to get "E"s when I was in grade school. Well, I mean they gave them out. If I had ever actually gotten one I would have been in big trouble at home! In junior high they swapped the "E"s for "F"s.

In my grade school, it was E = outstanding, H = above average, G = average, L = below average, and U = unsatisfactory.

I think there’s a paradox here, since she is smart enough to realize the future, she will be able to avoid it.

Our kindergarten kids get descriptive grades. Upper grades get 1, 2, 3, or 4’s.

My son graduated from UNC in 2010 and is still living at home working at a grocery store part time. His best friend graduated UNC in Communications 2010 and worked part time at a gas station and then a grocery store. Also worked PT for a doctor editing surgical videos but only $10/Hr 12hr a week. Student debt t forced him to do more so he joined the Navy but they would take him as an officer so he went in as an E-1. Another friend was a 2010 UNC Teaching Fellow (free four years of college if they teach four years in the next seven). Seems even Teaching fellows are having a hard time. He is not teaching yet. County govt. not hiring many. Wife just graduated with a PhD and has few opportunities open currently. Time magazine had an article that said 54% of recent graduates do not have a job so am proud my son is working.

My school in Canada used “E” in lieu of “F”. Anyways, my best friend is 30 and still lives with his parents. It’s not due to laziness: he has a bachelor’s degree, and has been looking for a job for 6 years. He can never find anything permanent. He does substitute teach and edits books freelance, but it’s an intermittent income, not enough to live on his own. There are many other people out there with similar stories.

In what decade did it stop being E for Excellence?

Some places have been using ‘E’ for a failing grade for at least 30 years. It’s not a politically correct change, it’s a logical change. The passing grades are A through D, and the next letter in the alphabet is not ‘F’, it’s ‘E’.

The high school my daughter graduated from used neither E nor F. D was failing. If a student earned a C, he or she passed the course. A D meant summer school, and two or more Ds resulted in mandatory repeat of that grade.