<p>The teacher doesn’t have to write “ZOMG, best paper ever! You are a special snowflake!”, but instead of writing “loser” (and underlining it twice to make sure the kid gets the message–nice job) he could offer CONSTRUCTIVE criticism like “Keep in the same tense” or “Needs more active verbs”–you know, feedback that will actually help the child do better.</p>
<p>I’m sure this teacher is indeed popular. Children can be very cruel at that age and I’m sure many of them delight and revel in an authority figure picking on people. No doubt it makes him very “cool” . . . in the eyes of those who aren’t bullied by him.</p>
<p>There is certain language that should not be tolerated from a teacher, flat out. I have never been one to encourage false praise, as in everybody gets a reward, etc. But an authority figure calling a child a looser in totally inexcusable, I don’t care how popular they are. A teacher has a duty to be respectful and decent to her/his students. I know teachers are people, and I am sure there are many times that they have students they don’t care for, but writing “looser” on a students paper is immature and uncalled for. And if he/she has a need to seem “cool” to the other students he/she are in the wrong business, open a record store or a t-shirt shop.</p>
<p>This reminds me of a teacher I knew of at a school for gifted students who used to look his 5th graders in the eye and tell a room full of 30 kids that only three or four of them were going to succeed in life. Ridiculous.</p>
<p>OT, what a poorly written piece. The word “loser” came to mind when reading it, but with regard to the author. What is it with writing these days? Shouldn’t you be smarter than a 5th grader to get published, even in the Examiner?</p>
<p>I think Jahaba’s response sums it up nicely. To take it one step further, why are we so evaluation-crazy in our educational system? I have always loved this thought from C.S. Lewis, addressed to an imaginary colleague:</p>
<p>“You and I wouldn’t, at all stages, think it wise to tell a pupil exactly what we thought of his quality. It is much more important that he should know what to do next.”</p>