Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for June 04, 2011

Poor kid…

I feel like this every day at school.

Bob, please, Free Willy! (You know Stephan was waiting for one of us to say it.)

And the poor kid knows, he’s gonna lose his hair. And end up looking like his father.And he only needs a perfect 4.0 G.P.A. to make dad happy.

And once you get that first job, no one in the real world cares what your GPA was.

I miss the old rating system.

Or any of the other Ivy League schools for that matter.

ratings are over-rated, fuzzpunch.

must be a northeast thing – out here in the midwest the only thing that matters is the athletic program

While I encourage my kids to get good grades, I’m thrilled with a 90% average. And they have plenty of time to do chores, hang with friends and even go the church…. : )

I think he’ll end up just fine

This is a cartoon> Did you all forget that?

He’ll get into Yale all right … He’ll probably turn into a yuvenile delinquent from all that pressure.

Yeah, ProudA and someone has to ask “Willy Makeitt?” You know the old “20 yd line….” followed by the illistrator; Bettie Donte…☻

The worst part is that this is accurate

Point them in a good direction; supply the materials, encourage. But don’t push – too often you get rebellion or a poor result.

At my daughters end-of-year awards ceremony most of the kids who had the high grade point averages and won the academic awards were kids who recently came from other countries – Indians, Koreans, Chinese, etc. I think that says a great deal about American priorities. We want the kid on the football team, but heaven forbid he should study and learn something.

Isn’t the “prototype” for this strip on the back cover of “Pearls Blows Up?” I think so because it has the Neighbor Bob word bubbles, but nothing else. I’ll have to check to see if I’m right.

The key RCMinor (pun intended) is Balance. We need to help our kids find that middle ground between this cartoon and NASCAR.

I wish a 4.0 was good enough for yale… now you need like a 4.5

4 is perfect?? Must be the New Math — used to be, 100% was perfect. I guess American schools really do set the bar extremely low!

Pig! Don’t distract him! He’s got to be perfect!I feel sorry for the kid.

HAH! THIS IS A PARTIALLY DRAWN STRIP ON THE BACK OF THE “Pearls Blow Up” COLLECTION!! I WIN A COOKIE!

Destiny 23, not sure if your comment was serious or not, but in most American schools, grade point averages are calculated on a basis of 4.0, with A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, and F=0. There’s nothing new about this, it’s been done for decades.

Sing along with Sherlock:

“Little Willy, Willy won’t go home,

But you can’t push Willy ‘round, Willy won’t go;

Try telling everybody but, oh no,

Little Willy, Willy won’t… go home!”

makin comitues about Comic strips.

Just like today’s parents…

Sadly, it’s more fun to be average.

Feh. A 4.0 is easy enough – I managed a 4.1 until I encountered calculus. Six semesters to get two credits. [I’d like to thank my high school for their exclusive focus on rote recitation of geometric hypotheses rather than teaching us trigonometry and its uses.]

Everyone’s ignoring a few things1. GPA’s are not even calculated in most middle schools (6-8th grades)2. If they are for some reason, they do not transfer to high school. Colleges do not see your grades from 7th grade3. It is June, and Willy is “starting” seventh grade.As a current student, this strip just made me roll my eyes

@Jacob Frank I don’t know where you live, but even when I was in junior high (as it was called then) the grade point average was calculated. Yes, it does matter as the classes taken then (and the grades) determine the track for high school. My daughter, who just completed 8th grade, has already taken two high school math classes and one language class all of which will appear on her transcript for college. In the better school systems those kids who have the ability are encouraged to take high school classes starting in the middle school grades. This enables them to take more AP or IB classes in high school or to take electives that help them pursue their college goals. There is nothing wrong with a kid who excels in academics, but there is something very wrong with accepting mediocrity as a national way of life. We seem to venerate stupidity in this country.

willy looks like he accidentally glued his book to his hands, had as heart attack, and stepped on a fallen power line. :3

this is on the back cover of pearls blows up

im able to do a 4.0 perfect gpa

as an eighth-grader, i really hate how relatable this is