Scantlings

the other night I came up from my office to go to bed around 1:30. I noticed my 10th grader sitting at the computer working on her history project. She looked like she was run over by a truck. After school she went to X-Country ski practice. That ended around 6:00. From there she came home and hit the books for homework nonstop until I came upstairs. The next day, she got up at 5:30 to put the finishing touches on her history homework. She ran a little late. Mom faked a doctor's note so she would have an excuse. This fake note was very important. The tyrannical history teacher has a zero tolerance for late work. If it's late, it's an automatic F.

WTF?

I can see docking points, but F? What the hell does that teach anyone? Ironically, because she had an excuse she was fine. Her and her team were the only ones to complete the assignment. So guess what all the other teams got? F

there will be speaks...

From my vantage point ... there are two separate things being lumped together here. One is demonstrating mastery of the material to be learned. The other is time management and the ability to get things done according to a schedule. I don't think that missing the latter should eliminate the former.

Check your state curricula to see about guidelines re what can/can't be included in a mark. Minnesota right? I'll see what I can find for ya.

BTW, given the work effort you describe, sounds like your daughter is going to be a smashing success at whatever she puts her hand to!

Tigger wrote:From my vantage point ... there are two separate things being lumped together here. One is demonstrating mastery of the material to be learned. The other is time management and the ability to get things done according to a schedule. I don't think that missing the latter should eliminate the former.

Check your state curricula to see about guidelines re what can/can't be included in a mark. Minnesota right? I'll see what I can find for ya.

BTW, given the work effort you describe, sounds like your daughter is going to be a smashing success at whatever she puts her hand to!

Thanks Tigger

She's a very conscientous student. Last night she had to decide between a ski tournament and wrapping up other homework. She missed the tournament and was a little bummed, but she was at least able to get to bed before midnight.

I used to give her a hard time about her time management. Not any more.

She doesn't see a problem with being docked for being late, but the 'F' is just too extreme. This 'F' also applies to other areas. My daughter learned quickly how serious the teacher was when she got an F on one assignment because she forgot to put her name at the top of the page. This 'assignment' was a check of the notes the students were taking. The whole notebook was handed in, so it wasn't a case of the teacher not knowing whose notbook it was. The F was for not having their name at the top of the page for that particular section. My daughter takes meticulous notes so she was flabbergasted by this. Add that it was the last grade of the quarter, so no chance for any kind of make up. Because of that, she got a B in the class. She was so bummed about the policy that she told me she wants out of that class. She has petitioned on behalf of her classmates, discussed with the teacher (who consistently deflects her and her classmates remarks) and is planning on remediation steps next, but if those don't work she wants to switch. Not sure if she can. She is empathetic towards the other kids, most of whom she has known since she was 3 or 4 years old.

Generally, over the years I have been very supportive of educators. But every once in a while we encounter a dud. This is one of those times.

Giving an F on a history notebook because her name was not on one section is totally chickensh!t on the part of the teacher. It only teaches the kids to toe the line in the face of unreasonable superiors in my opinion. Taking off a few points would have been reasonable.

During their education my kids have had great teachers and really bad ones. The bad ones seemed to be in junior high school. Some of the teachers were just burnt out and waiting for retirement and some were just plain stupid. I don't know how some teachers even got through their own education. I guess someone had to get the Cs and Ds. The good thing is the bad ones were a small minority.

That has been our experience too. With 3 kids in school ranging from Elementary through High School, I feel the percentage of bad ones has been extremely low. 2 or 3 teachers overall. And of the rest, I would say they are better than I expected. To the point where I'm honored to have had them teach my kids. This latest one borders on total bizarro-world. And while I'm pretty worked up about it, there's one other dad who's about 10 times more worked up and is known for getting results. It will be interesting to see the outcome...

Homework? I don't remember any homework. How could I have done schoolwork at night when I had boats to design. Ridiculous.

bob perry wrote:Homework? I don't remember any homework. How could I have done schoolwork at night when I had boats to design. Ridiculous.

Apparently, the world has enough yacht designers now. I guess what we really have a shortage of is people to tow the line!

sheesh

Believe me, I have considered home schooling, but the hot teacher I hired got creeped out by me showing up to class in my speedo.

Rick in a speedo, I shudder at the thought......

Soñadora wrote:

bob perry wrote:Homework? I don't remember any homework. How could I have done schoolwork at night when I had boats to design. Ridiculous.

Apparently, the world has enough yacht designers now. I guess what we really have a shortage of is people to tow the line!

sheesh

Believe me, I have considered home schooling, but the hot teacher I hired got creeped out by me showing up to class in my speedo.

Damn it! Just spit wine out my nose!!! Damn you Sons!