<p>What do you do when your kid gets one? When you have to hire a tutor because the teacher doesn’t teach, doesn’t care and doesn’t relate? I am speaking in total frustration. It seems everytime I’ve had to deal with this it always is a math teacher, a robot who can provide all the statistics in the world but just can’t teach.
I’ve thought about using the financial argument with the higher ups such as “I can’t believe I’m paying X dollars a year to get this kind of poor teaching” but don’t think that is effective even though true.
What does your kid say if he/she happens to be in an interview and the interviewer sees this grade which is so out of line it almost is a joke?</p>
<p>The financial argument has no traction. What are you going to do, refuse to pay your property taxes?</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you mean by “in an interview.” Who is interviewing the child and how is it obvious to them that the child’s grade is out of line?</p>
<p>Depending on your child, there are a couple of ways to approach this. If your child is special services eligible, your child study team is probably the best place to start. Talk to them about the problem and see what they recommend.</p>
<p>If not special services eligible, start asking around among other parents. If you are the only one who seems to have a problem with this particular teacher, then perhaps you need to reconsider whether the problem is with the teacher. If others are having similar problems, you may get some ideas on what they did.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I would start documenting exactly what I believe to be wrong. Once you have something concrete down on paper, start by speaking with the teacher. Keep careful notes at each meeting and remain assiduously courteous. If that doesn’t help, escalate to that teacher’s department head, then the principal, then the district supervisor, then the school board. Usually, the lower the level at which the problem can be solved, the better.</p>
<p>S has had two particularly poor math teachers during his HS years. He’s normally a B+,A- math student in advanced level Honors Math classes (but not AP).One was brand new and heavily accented,one was in his final year of teaching and most likely just didnt care anymore. What we did to supplement the class instruction was hire a neighborhood fellow HS student (1 year older ) as a tutor, who is literally a Math prodigy,whose mother is a math professor.This was enough to keep him on track.Changing his schedule to find another teacher wasnt an option.
This year,senior,he’s taking AP Statisitics as it possibly give him credit in college (he’s a likely business oriented major) and is doing just fine (A- level) w/o additional help.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Grades probably shouldn’t come up at interviews. The purpose of the interview is to get a sense for personality, so usually only alumni who don’t quite understand the purpose of the interview ask for transcripts. But conceivably it could come up, and certainly, in a broader context, this grade which seems completely at odds with everything else would be an issue when an application is being evaluated.</p></li>
<li><p>Does your child attend a private school? If so, then you’ll almost certainly have success getting him or her transferred to another class if you complain loudly enough. Even if it’s a decent public school, being a sufficiently persistent nuissance will make it easier for the administration to switch the kid rather than endure more pain. It’s unfortunate when one has to resort to this kind of thing, but it’s sometimes the only option that works. If this is the only section of a certain class that it’s possible to take, that creates complications… in particular, the teacher probably can’t change his or her ways, so complaining would be a little pointless.</p></li>
<li><p>Assuming that other grades in a given subject really are good, a short note to the effect that you really had serious trouble dealing with one particular teacher will often get a sympathetic hearing from admissions offices. It is important to do this without sounding like a complainer, but it can be done. If the transcript looks like all A’s in a given subject except for one C in a particular class, the theory that this teacher sucked (said tactfully) will have some weight. Admissions people realize that some teachers are really terrible, and it is not fair to blame the student.</p></li>
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<p>On the other hand, sometimes it is the unfortunate truth that one has to suck it up and learn from a terrible teacher. Certainly a student who can get an A despite bad teaching is to be commended; so coping tools (including tutors) can be the realistic alternative, if finding another teacher fails. This is probably worth pursuing, because while a C in a single semester can be explained as I discussed, several grades of that nature create a more serious stain that is harder to wash away.</p>
<p>My parents did nothing when I had one. Keep in mind, this teacher had no certificate and had never taught in his life. He also didn’t bother to read the books we were assigned, so his lectures (and one of his tests) came directly from sparknotes.com. He missed EVERY Monday, presumably hungover. The last sememster he was just plain bitter. Essay and test scores were completely fabricated based on how “cool” he thought you were. If he liked you, there was no reason to make up missed tests or turn in essays. I am not exaggerating. I would have gladly had your kid’s math teacher teaching me ENGLISH instead of him. Just remember, it could always be worse. MUCH WORSE. </p>
<p>I think it would sound like whining to blame a grade on a teacher during an interview, though I would have liked to explain the grade also, but I have never been asked about my transcript.</p>
<p>My kid goes to a small private school of about 50 in a class. It’s an AP course so there isn’t any choice about changing the teacher. almost 90% of the students taking the course say it’s bad–so too the parents. Out of all As and B++s this is the only C that my kid has.</p>
<p>OK, it is pretty obvious I was assuming a public school and I now realize you were talking about college interviews rather than interviews with the teachers.</p>
<p>The financial argument still has little traction for obvious reasons, but at least they won’t laugh at you if you bring it up. In this case, what Ben Golub said.</p>
<p>musictoad – Getting off of the topic a bit re the interview and going to your point about what to do about this teacher in general. It’s been my experience that most school administrators sincerely want to keep bad teachers out of their schools. Sometimes their hands are tied via contracts, labor agreements, etc. – but they want to hear well-reasoned, calm, rational complaints (not ranting and raving or whining). So I wouldn’t think twice about taking your complaints to the principal/headmaster/trustees, particularly if it’s a group of parents and students who have had similar experiences.</p>
<p>Waaaaay back in the day my HS physics teacher was a joke. It took awhile, but eventually he was relieved of his position based on the numerous complaints we students made. I’ll never forget the look on the face of the interim instructor. She was actually the District science curriculum head. She wanted to get a feel for where we were in the subject so started asking some general questions. This is six months into the school year, mind you. After about a minute her face went ashen and she said “You haven’t event discussed vectors???” She was truly furious.</p>
<p>The teacher may be as lousy as you say. However in an interview what people are looking for is someone who accepts responsibility for themselves, not blames others. Maybe its unfair at times, but thats the way it is. The interviewer has no way of knowing if the teacher really is as bad as one says. </p>
<p>And I’m not disputing that a good teacher can help a student master a difficult subject. But to play the devil’s advocate, MATH of all things is something where the teacher is perhaps less important than in a social science. You get homework and it had demonstrably right/wrong answers so you always know how you’re doing. It isn’t like a history class where you don’t know if you’re focusing on the right thing, where so much of the grading is subjective. If you are missing problems on homework or exams, you can get help. There are dozens of books that have solved problems with explanations. There are other texts available at the library. There are other kids in the class, some of whom are doing ok. Their are tutors. There is the web. And lets not forget that there are plenty of people who have self-taught themselves calculus, algebra, trig, and the like. I understand your frustration and anger because you’re paying good money to the school and expect them to teach your kid, but when faced with roadblocks it is incumbent on us to do something constructive rather than surrender.</p>
<p>In interviews it really comes down to the attitude thats conveyed. On the one hand the underlying message when you blame someone else is along the lines of “I’m powerless and at the mercy of what life throws me.” On the other hand when someone steps up and takes ownership of a problem, can explain what went wrong and how they’re going to avoid it happening again in the future, that makes a strong and positive impression.</p>
<p>mikemac – certainly, you explain the potential pitfalls of whining about a teacher. On the other hand (in my experience on the admissions committee of a top school) I really wish people would say at least something about what went wrong more often. I know Caltech is an extreme example in terms of the math/science demands, but if I see a C in math with no further explanation, I worry and fret and write it down, and it becomes a big issue for the application. But if, in a similar situation, I read a short matter-of-fact note, e.g. “The teacher showed the Simpsons in class every day,” “The biology teacher complained constantly about failing her college biology class three times,” “The French teacher could barely be understood by a Frenchman,” etc. (all true stories) then ignoring that grade becomes a serious option.</p>
<p>Two reasons. One: it’s very, very dumb to lie or exaggerate. It takes three minutes to place a call to a high school, and if we hear “this teacher has a 30 year record of excellence and 95% of her students get 5’s on the AP exam”, the applicant has just mutilated his integrity and chances with a hacksaw. Two: bad grades can be the result of either teacher or student incompetence; since, by the first reason, rarely will a student whose fault it is find it profitable to lie, a student making a reasoned suggestion that the teaching was attrocious gives us some information on how to resolve this dilemma.</p>
<p>This advice comes with many caveats: I don’t recommend complaining in your application in most circumstances – you can’t do this when the teacher (no matter how terrible) is well-regarded; you can’t do this for more than one grade; you can’t usually do this unless you do quite well at the topic in question. But in certain cases it does harm a student to take a stoic I-never-complain attitude; so, if the situation is really egregious, say so. Sometimes, taking too much responsibility for what is someone else’s fault is a liability.</p>
<p>I don’t know if the teacher is bad or not. I do know it doesn’t matter. Your child’s C does not provide evidence that the teacher is bad. </p>
<p>Your kid is facing an AP exam in May and will need to do well on it. if other parents are also unhappy you have a chance when complaining to the administration of the private school. Ask around to find out what other parents think. In the meantime, make it clear to your kid that s/he needs to learn the material somehow. Perhaps that means a tutor, perhaps a peer tutor, perhaps extra sessions with the teacher. (Both of my children’s private schools required the teachers to stay late to provide extra help when needed.)</p>
<p>Whatever you do, don’t use the “I’m paying X dollars…” argument. I know, every private school parent who encounters a bad teacher is liable to have this thought–it’s completely understandable–but in my experience as an educator, only the truly crude and classless would actually bring up this idea. There are ways to get what you want that are more effective and less embarrassing.</p>