In my opinion, there is a real problem when the need for teachers to feel like they are the master of their domain is more important than the mission of preparing students for academic and real life. Here is a perfect example.
Mr. Lampros’s introduction to the high school’s academic standards proved a fitting preamble to a disastrous year. It reached its low point in late June, when Arts and Technology’s principal, Anne Geiger, overruled Mr. Lampros and passed a senior whom he had failed in a required math course.
That student, Indira Fernandez, had missed dozens of class sessions and failed to turn in numerous homework assignments, according to Mr. Lampros’s meticulous records, which he provided to The New York Times. She had not even shown up to take the final exam. She did, however, attend the senior prom.
Through the intercession of Ms. Geiger, Miss Fernandez was permitted to retake the final after receiving two days of personal tutoring from another math teacher. Even though her score of 66 still left her with a failing grade for the course as a whole by Mr. Lampros’s calculations, Ms. Geiger gave the student a passing mark, which allowed her to graduate.
So here we have a student who missed many classes, didn’t do (hardly) any homework, and of course the teacher gave the student a failing grade. The teacher quit because the principal changed the grade to a passing grade, following all the correct procedures, allowing the student to graduate.
There are three things that stand out to me as a problem:
First, the student passed the final exam with a 66. Not an academic whiz-kid, certainly, but she demonstrated that she had mastered the material. Or was the final exam a poor measure of mastery? Or are grades less about mastering the material and more about following the rules: completing classwork and homework, obeying school and disciplinary rules? In my view, the grades should reflect the students’ mastery of the material.
Second, I think the administrator’s priorities were spot-on correct. Protecting the teacher’s ego is nowhere near as important as seeing that the student is graded appropriately. It is a math class. Who cares if homework was completed or that her attendance record was swiss cheese? She demonstrated mastery of the skills required to pass. Failing her in spite of that mastery is unfair and probably reflects a disparity in the backgrounds of teacher (white) and student (latino). In this case, the student would not have graduated without this passing grade. So what is more important: making sure nobody hurts the teacher’s feelings or refusing to graduate a student despite her mastery of the material?
Third, the attitude of entitlement (“I set the grading policy for this class”) that teachers have is, according to my anecdotal experience, pandemic. Many teachers, probably because of the bureaucratic nature of public schools, have become bureaucrats themselves, more concerned with protecting their work conditions, benefits, power over their classrooms than they are with helping students. I don’t think it is a matter of character: anyone under rotten circumstances will lose their sense of mission, eventually. The sad part is that the teacher in this case is so young (judging by his photo) that it wasn’t a slow ride down.
I was horrified to hear the story of a student who earned college credit for a high school class that he failed.
It is easy to forget that the decisions a teacher makes can easily throw a student’s life off course. I am reminded of a recent conversation with a talented, hard-working, intelligent and experienced teacher who happens to be a friend I respect. I was horrified to hear her story of a student in her Advanced Placement (AP) science class who earned an F every quarter because he would not study or complete homework but then scored a 4 on the AP exam. That is sufficient to earn him college credit, but not high school! Do you hear the flushing sound? That’s his scholarship opportunities going down the toilet due to an F on his record and the hit to his GPA. That is so wrong.
The point here is that parents cannot simply trust teachers and administrators to do the right thing by your child. You have to be involved. You have to watch. You have to look for signs of trouble. And you have to speak loudly, so that you’ll be heard over the whining.
Good luck!
Allen Dobkin
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:37 pm
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