Today's Letters to the Editor included one from a gentleman who found, when going through some (very) old files, his first grade report card from the fall of 1930.   It showed his grades for "the three R's" and penmanship, and, in a section at the bottom of the card, he had been graded for care of school property, industry, dependability, and politesse.  I started public school just three years later than he did, and the report cards used in Kansas City, Missouri,  were two-page affairs:  the left hand page showed how well or poorly the pupil did in Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, etc.  The grading scale was E for excellent, S for superior, M for mediocre, I for inferior, and F for failing.   But that right hand page  (which Grandma always used to scrutinize!) was the teacher's assessment of the pupil as to social skills, manners, and punctuality.   I still believe Grandma would have settled for a card of  all M's just as long as the second page indicated a cooperative, diligent little pupil.  Anyhow, aren't you glad that teachers no longer have to evaluate the little br........er, uh........darlings on these traits? 

You know, I'd love to be able to grade on those things.  Seems like we have to teach our students social skills, manners, punctuality, etc. anyway, so why not allow us to grade them?  Oh wait, those things aren't on "the test", so they don't count,.  I remember getting graded on Citizenship, which included all of the aforementioned, and it was taken as seriously as an academic grade; wonder when that disappeared. I know my sons never had that section on their report cards.  Maybe if we were allowed to address those items as a grade, parents would attempt to teach them at home.

Because you might hurt their "self-esteem". BTW that statement needs the sarcasm font. Oh and mommy would come in and rip you because her little darling is never wrong, dishonest, etc.

LOL, Ruth.  Sad, but true.

At my school, we do grade on those!  Each quarter I get to put a grade  (4, 3, 2, 1 Always, frequently, sometimes, never) for each of my students in the following categories:  respect for others, respect for property, respect for self, and work ethic.  These 4 little boxes still have parents more concerned than the rest of the report card.  :-)