Hello to all readers of the ShkolaLa blog! Already half behind. Everyone is stuck in their studies and zealously gnaws at the granite of science. The end of the first quarter is coming soon, which means that intermediate grades will be posted. And so every year, until graduation.
If the child reaches the finish line with honors, then the state promises to give a medal along with a red certificate. By the way, do you know how to get a gold medal at school and is it really given only to straight A students? And in general, does it contain at least a little precious "aurum"?
Lesson plan:
From the history of school medals
I decided to plunge into distant times and trace the history of the formation of the school award as such. I would never have thought that the school medal originates from the time of the Russian Empire, namely from 1828, when there were still gymnasiums and parish and district schools.
The gold award was given to those gymnasium students who received excellent marks in all subjects. From 1835 to 1917, Nicholas I approved a single pattern for successful graduate boys "For Success in the Sciences", which was minted in a larger size in silver and a smaller size in gold.
The then awards for excellent studies were the most real - from pure silver and pure gold. Girls received the right to be awarded medals only in 1870.
It is interesting! Imperial men's medals on the obverse were decorated with a double-headed eagle, and on the reverse - the image of Minerva, the patroness of science. Imperial women's awards were distinguished by the front side, on which the image of the empress was embossed, and the inscription "The most worthy of those who completed the course in women's gymnasiums" was engraved on the back.
Imperial medals existed until the revolution, and from 1917 to 1945 no one awarded diligent students. The tradition of celebrating the best with a state award was restored after the war.
Gold and silver "For excellent success and exemplary behavior" in the Soviet Union became noticeably lighter in price, as they began to be minted not from pure metals, but from alloys, but also with the presence of silver and gold. Those marked with school medals had an advantage when entering the country's universities, passing without entrance exams.
It is interesting! Gold and silver school medals of the times of the USSR were stamped in each of the 16 union republics in its own version with an inscription in the national language and the coat of arms of the republic on the reverse, and their basis on the obverse was an open book bordered by a laurel branch.
Year after year, in terms of the composition of precious metals, the medals “lost weight”, their appearance changed, since 1960, gold was replaced by brass (tompac), silver - cupronickel (copper with nickel), only sputtering remained of the former gold and silver.
Until 2014, Russia had both medals "For special achievements in teaching" - gold and silver. Those who received round fives in two senior classes for six months, a year and as a result in all subjects without exception could count on gold. Silver was awarded to students who had no more than two fours in their diary for the same six months, a year, and in the end.
What and how are they rewarded today?
Modern school medals came after the adoption of the law on education in 2012 and since 2014 have taken the only form. No gold or silver rewards for you. There are none today, there is only one 40 millimeters in diameter "For special achievements in teaching."
In the legislative framework, in a letter from the Ministry of Education in 2014, I found what the highest school awards are stamped with today, issued along with a certificate upon graduation. It turns out that this is a copper-zinc composition with brass. The decorative ribbon under the coat of arms of our country is drawn in white, blue and red enamel.
The color of the medal is golden, but its jewelry value ends with the color. I did not find even a hint of precious plating in the official description of the award. Probably not. It is only mentioned that it is varnished and packed in a case - velvet or plastic.
However, such an encouragement from the state still needs to be earned through hard study. For those who want to receive the coveted prom, even if it’s plastic, even if it’s a velvet case with a golden disc, you’ll have to puff a little and fulfill a number of conditions listed in Article 10 of the Law “On Education”:
- you need to get the final marks "excellent" in all disciplines,
- must successfully pass the state certification.
Everything, there are no other conditions. Thus, at the end of school, the child must pass the exam at least “satisfactorily”, since the law today allows you to pass the GIA successfully, and does not at all require you to do it “excellently”. But as for the "fives", you need to try to study well already in the 10th grade, since according to the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia adopted in 2014, the final grades for the 11th grade are now calculated mathematically.
The final mark is calculated as the arithmetic average of six semi-annual and annual marks for each year of study, that is, for grades 10 and 11, rounded to the nearest integer according to the laws of mathematics.
In practice, it looks like this: we add up two six months in the 10th grade, as a result we get the annual for the 10th. Similarly, we add two six months for the 11th grade, we get an annual for 11. You get a total of 6 grades. We also add them and derive the arithmetic mean. This will be the final mark, which will go to the certificate at the end of the school. What pleases: the grade is always rounded in favor of the student.
Earned a medal. What's next?
The child worked, diligently going to the finish line, received the coveted red certificate and a box with a medal, what's next? Nothing, alas. Today, at the legislative level, the school medal, unfortunately, does not have any magical effect, therefore it does not automatically open the doors of all higher educational institutions in the country.
There are, of course, those universities that give a certain number of passing points upon admission to their state-marked applicants, but this is only at their own request.
Crawling through the expanses of the Internet, I came across that a few years ago Aeroflot made a beautiful gesture for medalists - they held a campaign to sell them air tickets with super discounts. Some regions thank their graduates, who in what much, but also exclusively on their own initiative, as far as their regional wallets allow.
Today, the State Duma is receiving proposals to make changes and return to the good old days, when a school medal gave privileges to children upon admission, they say, this way there will be more really smart students in the ranks of students. Whether such an initiative will be supported in the light of events taking place with subjective assessments in some regions and the predilections of teachers choosing favorites is a big question.
And yet, you see, it is always a pleasure to be the first, because a medal, even if today it is not gold, but only golden, is still a reward, recognition from the state of your work. And it's worth it.
Well, are you ready to become medalists? Until elementary school ends, maybe the quality of the highest school award will change. You should always hope for the best.
The attitude to the silver medal at school in our time is very ambiguous.
What does a silver medal give?
Previously, Russian schoolchildren who received a silver medal at the end of school had the right to enter a university, including by passing a profiling exam for an excellent mark.
With the introduction of the USE, this privilege ceased to exist. Currently, the admission of Russian schoolchildren to universities is associated only with the number of points obtained in the unified state exam. The real help from a silver medal upon admission is only in the advantage of a student over another student without a medal with the same number of USE scores.
With the current state of affairs in Russian schools, receiving a medal does not give a student anything, except for the status of a medalist. But for the prestige of the school, teachers, the number of medalists released is still important. The school administration is always striving to increase the number of silver and gold medalists.
In connection with this situation, it was even supposed to cancel the presentation of gold and silver medals to schoolchildren, but after discussion it was decided that there should still be medalists in schools.
Things are a little different in Ukrainian schools. The silver medalist is awarded 200 additional points, which are so necessary for admission, which helped to increase the prestige of excellent studies, on the one hand, and the appearance of “fake” medalists, on the other.
The silver school graduate medal, like the gold medal, has been awarded for more than 50 years. Initially, the medals really consisted of real silver and real gold, but since 1954 alloys began to be used in the manufacture of medals, and after 1960 the name of the medals became purely symbolic. They are made mainly from an alloy of copper and nickel, and coated with a colorless varnish that prevents the metal from darkening. The medal is awarded for "Special Achievement in Teaching".
If you have set yourself the goal of getting a silver medal at school, then it would be nice to know under what conditions it is issued.
Conditions for obtaining a silver medal
How should schoolchildren applying for a silver medal study, how many fours can they have in their certificate?
Under the new rules, a silver medal can be received by any student of a Russian school who:
- in grades 10 and 11 will have no more than two fours in each semester and at the end of each year;
- and pass the exam not below the minimum threshold.
The conditions for obtaining a silver medal and the status of a medalist for Ukrainian schoolchildren are somewhat different.
To receive a silver medal, the school requirements are:
- a student for the period of study in grades 10, 11 can have 8 points in no more than two subjects according to the results for the semester, for the year and according to the results of the state final certification;
- all other marks should be 10-12 points.
The decision on whether a particular graduate will receive a medal or not is made at a joint meeting of the school council and the teachers' council. After approval by the local education authority, the decision is approved by the principal of the school.
Getting a silver medal at school, what needs to be done for this?
If you decide to seek a silver or gold medal, then:
Even if getting a silver medal at school does not give the student any advantage in admission, it will give him the status of a student with extraordinary abilities (which can come in handy when). The name of the student will always adorn the list of medalists in the school annals.
He suggested that the department take into account the results of the Unified State Examination when issuing gold medals to school graduates.
Gold medal at school- this is probably the first cherished trophy that students dream of.
School gold or silver medal(officially - medal " For outstanding academic achievement”) is a distinction issued upon completion of secondary general education in schools in Russia and the countries of the former USSR. The medal is one of the main types of encouragement for high school graduates for academic excellence.
Medal " For outstanding academic achievement", also, is an honorary distinction for graduates of 11 classes, who received the final "5" in all subjects of the school curriculum for the last two years of study.
Most recently, the gold medal For outstanding academic achievement”opened the doors of all universities, but in recent years its prestige has significantly lost its position.
Numerous cases when a medal was received by schoolchildren who passed the USE rather mediocrely attracted public attention.
According to one of the initiators of the project, the rector of the Moscow Pedagogical University, today the USE is the most effective way to assess the knowledge of a student. Moreover, this method is already proven, transparent, and the objectivity of the assessment is quite high.
The head of Rosobrnadzor, Sergei Kravtsov, believes that the conditions for awarding medals should be transparent and understandable to both children and parents.
“It is important that they are not used for selfish purposes. An honest USE has led to the fact that students immediately notice and themselves react to any form of incorrect assessment according to additional criteria. Especially in the situation with medals that are entered in the portfolio and taken into account when entering a university.", - said Sergey Kravtsov.
As the press service of Rosobrnadzor noted, the members of the Public Council, for their part, declared their readiness to analyze the existing practice and submit well-reasoned proposals for including the results of the Unified State Examination in the number of criteria for issuing medals.
The capital already has such experience.
In order to receive a medal for a Moscow student, in addition to all the requirements, you must score at least 220 points in three subjects of the exam.
Sergey Kravtsov assured that Rosobrnadzor is open to dialogue and is ready to accumulate expert proposals. Already from the 2018-2019 academic year, gold medals " For outstanding academic achievement” will be issued only taking into account the results of the exam.
Accounting for USE scores when issuing school gold medals will be from the 2018/2019 academic year.
School graduates will receive gold medals not only for “excellent” marks in all subjects of the curriculum, but also for passing the mandatory USE with at least 70 points. This was confirmed on Thursday, April 5, 2018, in the press service of the Ministry of Education and Science.
Formerly Head of the General Education Quality Assessment Department of Rosobrnadzor Igor Kruglinsky said that from the next academic year (2018-2019), school medals are planned to be issued only taking into account the points scored in the unified state exam.
"According to the changes, in order to obtain a certificate of secondary general education with honors, graduates must, having completed their studies in educational programs of secondary general education, receive final grades "excellent" in all subjects of the curriculum studied at the level of secondary general education, and also successfully pass the state final certification and score at least 70 points based on the results of passing the USE in compulsory academic subjects," the press service noted.
◑ Who can receive a school medal? Let's summarize.
What medal can a graduate receive?
Now schoolchildren can be nominated for a medal "For Outstanding Academic Achievement". This is an analogue of the gold and silver medals for schoolchildren, which replaced them in 2014.
How to get a medal?
A graduate of the 11th grade can receive a medal "For Special Achievement in Education" if he has one of the following achievements:
- he will become the winner or prize-winner of the All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren;
- he will score the maximum number of points in the Unified State Examination (USE) in one academic subject (Russian language or mathematics);
- excellent ”and when passing the exam, he will score a total of at least 220 points in three academic subjects.
Disabled child, graduating from the 11th grade, can receive a medal not only for the above achievements, but also in the following cases:
- in all academic subjects he will have final grades " Great"and when passing the exam, he will score a total of at least 146 points in two compulsory subjects - the Russian language and mathematics (profile level);
- in all academic subjects he will have final grades " Great”and when passing the exam, he will score at least 73 points in the Russian language and at least 5 points in mathematics (basic level).
* Important condition: students who have violations during the exam are not presented for the award.
A school medal is a worthy reward for a student's efforts. And how could it be otherwise, because a gold medal is given not only for successful studies, but also for active participation in sports competitions and in creative activities. Choir, running, cross-stitching - everything was taken into account.
This was the case until 2018. The procedure for obtaining a gold medal at school in 2018 has been changed. This is quite important information for both the student and his parents.
Even last year, the presence or absence of a gold medal was determined solely by the student's grades. He graduated from the 11th grade with fives - a medalist. After the recent events that took place at the graduation party of one of the Russian schools, the government decided to adjust the conditions for obtaining a gold medal. The reason for this was a quarrel between two eleventh-graders. One girl accused the other of dishonestly receiving a gold medal, allegedly her mother asked for the medal. The girl's mother occupied a high official position, so this case gained serious momentum.
The Ministry of Education has already adopted a resolution in which it determined the procedure for obtaining a gold medal. In 2018, conditions will become much tougher than in the past. If until 2018 the main condition was the absence of grade 4 for the eleventh grade, then new rules will come into play with the new academic year. The lack of 4 marks is only a small part of the reward.
Now students need to have good grades for the tenth and eleventh grades. Good ones are exclusively 5; 4, and even more so 3 - are not quoted. Even if a student has only one 4 in the last two years, he will not be given the coveted medal. In addition, the student's activity will not be taken into account in the new school year. Only dry scores will be considered. The fact that someone is involved somewhere has been put in a dark box.
And the main surprise that awaits graduates: you can get a medal only according to the results of the Unified State Examination. If the student passes the exams and gains the required number of points, he gets the opportunity to become the owner of the medal. Of course, in addition to sufficient scores in the exam, you must have excellent marks.
The reforms were carried out with the aim of a more objective attitude towards students. Previously, the possibility that teachers would try to push for grades or somehow contribute to obtaining a diploma was higher. Now it is necessary to pass not only school certification, but also show their knowledge in accordance with national standards. Moscow schoolchildren must score 200 points in the USE, which will be transferred to a 5-point system. Accordingly, if all grades are 5 and the exam is passed to 5, the student cannot be denied an award.
The publicity about the dishonestly received medal in the Takhtamukaysky district of the Republic of Adygea forced the officials to slightly improve the assessment system, now the students themselves will be able to monitor the progress of the exam. The ministry hopes that if the rules for passing the exam are not followed (indulgences, compromises, bribes from the examiner), then the students themselves will not remain silent about the violations.
What are the benefits of a gold medal for academic excellence?
Fives are needed, of course, for everyone. Or rather, not the fives themselves, but what they testify to is an excellent knowledge of the school curriculum, which, in turn, is a guarantee of a successful unborn child.
If a child had all “excellent” grades in quarters and half years, he deserves gold. If there are up to two fours - silver. Exemplary behavior is a prerequisite for receiving any medal.
The gold medal has always been the dream of many schoolchildren, because it provided huge advantages for its holders when entering a university. In 2009, the medals (gold and silver) were canceled, as the quality of knowledge began to be checked (confirmed) by passing the Unified State Exam. And the high scores received upon passing have already guaranteed admission to the university.
The medals have now been returned to the school. They have not lost their charm. First of all, it is pleasant for the most diligent student to receive a medal. This is a confirmation of his deep knowledge. Real fives, reflecting the actual availability of knowledge, give the child confidence in his abilities, capabilities, and in a successful future. This is also a high reward for selfless work during the long eleven years of schooling.
In addition to honor, respect, self-confidence, the gold medal again gives advantages when entering educational institutions. In universities, up to ten points are added to the gold medalist's available to the applicant as a result of passing the exam. Each institution sets its own number of additional points for gold - for "individual achievements". For example, at the Moscow Automobile and Road Institute (MADI), Moscow State Engineering University (MAMI) - 10 points, at Moscow State University - 6 points, at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University - 10 points, at St. Petersburg State University - 3 points .
When choosing a university or technical school, you must carefully read the "Rules for Admission" of applicants in each of them. It is in this document that in the paragraph “Accounting for individual achievements of applicants for admission to study” or “Peculiarities of organizing admission to study in the main educational programs of the bachelor's degree and specialist's programs”, a specific number of added points for a gold medal is prescribed. Terms may change every year.
However, is it justified to add additional points in universities for receiving a gold medal “For Special Achievement in Teaching” at school? Doesn't it work, as in the saying "buttered butter"?
Of course, a gold medal for excellent studies speaks of the student's determination, responsibility, perseverance, his curiosity and desire to be successful. He is smart, the joy of parents and relatives. And also teachers. The gold medal is a special praise for success at school, for efforts.
But university is a completely different life stage. It's a completely different story. And here you need to start all over again. The gold medal confirms that the applicant has the amount of knowledge necessary for admission, as well as the ability to use them freely. And he had to confirm this with high scores when passing compulsory and selected subjects at the Unified State Examination.
After all, if an applicant has a gold medal, it means that he will pass the exams better than other graduates, therefore, he will score more points and will certainly enter the chosen educational institution.
Why give extra points to medalists? Do athletes who have received gold medals at the last Olympics add a certain number of points for “that” gold to the points received this time? Can anyone even just imagine such a situation? Of course not. Just absurd. Why is it necessary to do this when entering a university? Is it fair in relation to other applicants for the educational place so desired by many? Admission is the same competition as the Olympics. And everything has to be honest.
And if, all the more so, the fives of the child are not all real? All the teaching staff dragged him to the gold medal. Why would he have extra points for supposedly "individual achievements"?
Still, in fairness, points for a gold medal cannot be added. For individual efforts and achievements reflected in the portfolio documents - fair, but for medals - no.
