Teacher's Punishment Devastates Grade

Pre-College Topics High School Life
21

I appreciate your courteous tone. And I want to reply in the same way. I disagree, strongly, with your post, but hope that the tone will read as polite disagreement.

There is NO legal requirement that two classes of the same subject be taught the same way. None. It’s close to impossible to teach them the same way. No two classes are going to have the same level of understanding. No two classes will have the same questions, or the same behavior. Very frequently, particularly in a winter like the one we’re just finishing, two classes will have different assignments because of different amounts of class time. (So, for example, if the OP’s school is on block scheduling, the MWF classes could have had significantly more/less class time this winter than the TTH classes, because of snow days and/or delayed openings. They could have had different numbers of tests/ quizzes for the same reason.)

In fact, the kind of scripted teaching you’re suggesting, where every single class receives the exact same lesson, is something that good teachers across the country are fighting tooth and nail. Because if every class must be the same, than that “same” is the least common denominator. It’s “teaching” at its worst.

As far as having an assignment when a kid is out of the room for “school purposes”-- that’s close to impossible as well. I’m sure you have no idea how often some kid in one of my classes is out for a school related activity, but it’s FREQUENT. And I teach 5 classes. So by that reasoning, I would have far, far, far fewer grades at report card time. We would spend a lot of time hanging around, waiting for the kids to return to school from the million different things that pull them from class.

Could someone cite me some of those educational laws I keep reading about? Because, honestly, this is the first I’ve heard of any of them.

“Hate crime”?? Really? What crime? No laws were broken. And “Hate”??? On whose part???

“Discrimination”??? Reacting is not the same thing as discriminating. Reacting is when someone’s actions-- in this case, the OP’s-- bring consequences. Discrimination means “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex…” No one was discriminated against. You seem to be implying that any sort of consequence at all is a violation of Federal Civil Rights laws. The OP is not a “category” of people. The teacher reacted to the OP’s behavior. I’m sorry the reaction was unpleasant for the OP. But I’m guessing that the teacher went home, and told her husband all about he way some — I’ll skip the adjectives-- kid spoke to her. I’m guessing this was a day she’ll remember for some time to come, and not fondly.

“Rubber room”??? Do you know what that means?? You’re willing to risk the teacher’s career (and spend mega tax money, while you’re at it) because the OP was unhappy with the grade he/she received on an assignment that was carelessly done in a college level course.

You know, it’s funny. No where in the first post do I see any reference to learning, only to grades.

22

There’s always 3 sides to every story–his, hers, and the truth. In my opinion the level of disrespect displayed by the student was extremely uncalled for. Are we raising kids to have an “entitlement” complex? So sad…

23

We have a saying in our household . . . “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.”

Your teacher planned these assignments very poorly. That does not mean you get to verbally abuse her in front of an audience. As a college-bound adult, we expect that you know how to maturely/calmly address conflict with adults. Tip: Do it PRIVATELY.

College Instructors can impose almost ANYTHING on the students. Anything that does not directly violate the terms of the syllabus or campus policy. Disrupt the class because you don’t like it and find yourself removed from the roster. Consider this a wonderful learning experience so you do not repeat the mistake in college.

24

@onlyrodeo‌ Not all kids act like him.

25

Absolutely not, which is why so many of us love teaching.

And I hazard to guess that the OP doesn’t always “act like this”, or at least that’s what I’ll choose to believe.

Most of us in education love kids. We love dealing with them and interacting with them and watching them grow into the adults they’ll be very soon. And we, as a group, tend to defend teens when others are quick to put them down. We know all the good that’s done by so many teens. We know that the vast majority of the kids we teach are kind, caring, well mannered kids, generous with their time and talents.

And we realize that sometimes, some of those steps toward maturity are offset by a step or two back. It’s not always pleasant, but it’s expected… it’s part of dealing with kids.

26

The heat of the moment might of gotten to the OP. I agree with the message the OP gave, but not in the way he gave it. As many posters have said already, are you aiming for a proper grade or just winning an argument? If it’s the grade than apologize in the best way possible and go from there. Btw not to go to far, but I feel like although the OP was pretty rude to the teacher, his few rude statemenst doesn’t give us the right to label him as entitled or such.

27

Perhaps t-roll alert. First 2 posts with some of the most ridiculous stuff ever.

Lets just say, if the kid’s parent’s had money this could escalate. Some parents with cash to burn, would simple sue the teacher, regardless of merit. Does it matter who is right? Nope. What matters to the parents is that during the litigation over the 2 year period, the teacher suffers.

28

It was probably a bad idea to openly disrespect your teacher like that. If you have an issue with how she graded the notes, you could have politely asked her after class, in private. Unfortunately, you let the heat of the moment get to you. In the grand scheme of things, this doesn’t really matter, and your grade will be fine. However, you escalated the conflict and made it much worse.

And remember, she is right. She can grade what she wants, how she wants. You did insult her in front of the class, which is incredibly rude. I would apologize.

Give it a few days. Chances are, you’ve already burned this bridge. Keep your head down for the rest of the year and just deal with it.

29

Stand up for what you believe in. Im not saying call out the teacher but i understand where you are comming from friend. I hope you get your grade back

30

You are lucky you didn’t get suspended. At my kid’s school, disrespectful behavior is an honor code violation which would have resulted in a one day suspension for the first offense, expulsion for the second. You should apologize and be grateful you are still considered the valedictorian.

31

These statements about the law by one of the commenters are just plain silly. If a teacher sends a student to the principal’s office for poor behavior, the student doesn’t have the right to make up all the missed work. Denied opportunities, hate crimes, violation of educational laws? State and local statutes often can be found online – they don’t say what you think they say. Please look up “hate crimes.”

32

@IAmTheGOAT‌

I agree with @CheddarcheeseMN‌. You are just making stuff up, or you have been watching too much TV and think that it is all factual. What you said either doesn’t exist or doesn’t remotely apply to this situation.

33

@fallenchemist maybe. I have a bias. Sounds like one of my teachers. I personally never spoke out against her, but I could relate to OP.

Maybe I feel that this is how it should be. Yeah, in college professors can do stuff like that, but since there are minors in school, I feel that there should be a mutual respect between students and teachers; no need for teachers to impose on front of a bunch of teenagers imo.

34

OP, I agree that this teacher was unreasonable, but you handled the situation all wrong. For next time: talk to her in private and be respectful; get together with other students and go to her en masse and respectfully ask for a change. If you are turned down, then go to an academic dean. You go, you, the student, not a parent. If you are still upset, take it on up the ladder. But at each stage of complaint, be calm and respectful.

FWIW my son had a situation very similar to yours, a teacher arbitrarily making assignments and giving out grades, not consistent from day to day or between classes. As an adult observer, I thought she was cracking up. The kids in his case banded together and respectfully (there is that word again) approached her before class. She saw their point of view and changed her policies.

35

@IAmTheGOAT‌

Oh, I am not saying that the teacher was in the right in her behavior either, at least based on the one-sided account provided by the OP. And we do have to remember that we do only have her perspective. But if we take it at face value, a second semester senior is old enough and experienced enough to know that the better route would be to try and talk to the teacher respectfully, first, and if that failed to appeal to the vice-principal or other designated authority for these matters. She did bring a lot of it on herself.

36

IAmtheGoat (sorry, I haven’t figured out how to quote here) posted:
“Maybe I feel that this is how it should be. Yeah, in college professors can do stuff like that, but since there are minors in school, I feel that there should be a mutual respect between students and teachers; no need for teachers to impose on front of a bunch of teenagers imo.”

Yes, mutual respect would absolutely be a good thing. But even considering that we’ve only seen one side of this story, I don’t see a whole lot of it given the teacher. (“Joke of a class” is one quote I remember vividly from the OP.)

But I’m not sure what you’re driving at when you mention minors being in a class. This is AP. It’s not “almost AP” or “AP for kids who are too young for college.” The whole point behind AP classes is that they should only be open to kids with the academic, emotional and social maturity to cover college level material in high school. So, sorry, I have to disagree with you once again. If the kids are getting college credit for the material, then it should be run as a college course, not as a warm fuzzy, “they’re only minors” semi-course.

37

It turns out the story is a fable and the OP (along with a second ID s/he created) has been banned. Such a shame some people have nothing better to do.