"Bad Teacher" barks up the wrong tree!!!

[Lorelei Lee]

No and I have no idea where this line of thinking come from. I had teachers post everyone's test scores and quarter grades up on a bulletin board, had teachers who read everyone their grades, had teachers who just put the graded tests and papers in a stack for everyone to find their own, and most of the rest were just handed to the first person in the row and handed back so anyone sitting in front of me could see my grade.

I see no reason at all for grades to be kept confidential. Full stop.

I can name one.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

 

[smitch425]

Thank you, finally someone understands. The nay sayers must be teachers.

Just saw this comment and wanted to say that I am not a teacher. I am, however, a level headed parent that requires my children to be held accountable for their work both good and bad. If they do a poor job at something, it is on them, and if whatever they do causes them embarrassment, again, they have to deal with the fallout. I can assure you that if I ever ran to the principal, it would mortify my child 1000 times more than one bad grade on a desk. I hope he enjoys his new teacher and improves his grades. Best of luck!

 

[skatalite]

I betcha the OP's reaction would've been completely different had her child not failed the assignment.

Considering this was the "straw that broke the camel's back," and all.

But had it happened to another child? OP likely wouldn't have noticed, or cared.

Is that bad? I don't know. A part of me thinks it is. The whole notion of "we eat our own" and all that.

I understand wanting to look out for your child and his well-being, but sometimes kids have to sink or swim on their own. Next year, he'll be in junior high. In four years, high school. Nip his issues in the bud now, or it'll just get worse and your helicopter parenting, OP, will reach super saiyan proportions.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Maybe I should explain the circumstances a little clearer. My son is the type of kid who is motivated by positive reinforcement in school. Also someone who has zero confidence in himself. This was not the only incident where she has rubbed me the wrong way. Just the straw that broke the camels back.

That's my son, too. Find something in his work that is good and praise him about it and he'll work harder than anyone to bring the rest up to par. Humiliate him or try and make him feel bad about it and he'll shut down.

My son's teachers always (except this year, but that's another story!) encouraged kids not to tell other kids their grades. I know when I was in college, grades were posted by social security number for anonymity. It's no one's business what your grade is.

Glad you're able to change teachers.

 

[lukenick1]

If you all knew what he went through with his kindergarten teacher and the bar she set for him for the rest of his elementary career you would all understand why I did what I did. I in no way, coddle him. As a matter of fact, he has lost privileges for having a less than stellar report card this term even with the new teacher. With that said, he in no way deserves to be mistreated by a teacher because she didn't care for him. He asked her to go to the nurse one day because he wasn't feeling good. She refused him. He came home that day with a fever of 102.5 and was diagnosed with strep throat. There were more incidents that led up to me acting the way I did. This Open House incident was the last straw for me. Here it was only October and there was already a negative relationship going on. It is going to be his last year in the school and I would hate for it to be miserable for him. I have never ever taken my kids out of a class, this was the first.

 

[cari12]

My son wasn't the only one with a bad grade....50% of the class had a failing grade. Need I say more........

As a parent of a fifth grader, I don't see what the outrage is about. If all the kids displayed that one project, then your son should too regardless of the grade. He shouldn't be exempt because he did poorly. I agree with the PP, I would be more concerned about the 44 and how he can do better on the next project.
Also, do you feel the rest of the "50% of the class" that had a failing grade should go to the principal and remove their children from the class over this?

 

[mamacatnv]

You may be on to something here. Call it guilt for not removing my son from his Kindergarten teachers room who did projects with peanut butter knowing my son was deathly allergic. Should have pounced then too.......

It's tough to go through life thinking someone is always out to get you and its really sad to pass that attitude onto your children, it perpetuates the whole "I'm a victim" mentality.

Sure, the argument could be made that the teachers actions, if in fact they were exactly as portrayed, were not the best actions but sheesh, overreact much?

 

[Southernmiss]

If you all knew what he went through with his kindergarten teacher and the bar she set for him for the rest of his elementary career you would all understand why I did what I did. I in no way, coddle him. As a matter of fact, he has lost privileges for having a less than stellar report card this term even with the new teacher. With that said, he in no way deserves to be mistreated by a teacher because she didn't care for him. He asked her to go to the nurse one day because he wasn't feeling good. She refused him. He came home that day with a fever of 102.5 and was diagnosed with strep throat. There were more incidents that led up to me acting the way I did. This Open House incident was the last straw for me. Here it was only October and there was already a negative relationship going on. It is going to be his last year in the school and I would hate for it to be miserable for him. I have never ever taken my kids out of a class, this was the first.

And none of us had the back story with the original post and title of the thread. Those 2 things set the tone of the responses you first received. Now you get defensive after a few replied negatively to your OP. And this was October. But you bring it up now in November?? Sounds like you are still bitter...

Glad you are doing what is best for you and your son.

 

[barkley]

That is exactly what she displayed. The paper mache project with the sheet of paper with grade on it next to it. Why?

who knows why some teachers do this why others don't. I will tell you you're not the only parent to have issues with this-and sometimes their kids are on the opposite end of the grading spectrum.

dd had a classmate in 4th grade who was straight a's. their teacher that year was BIG on putting exemplary work (graded) on display. little girl's work was always on the bulletin board. mom of girl vented to me that she had repeatedly asked the teacher not to do it, and finally turned to administration to stop it. reason being was her child was the kind of kid who worked herself physically ill because she had such high personal standards. parents and therapist were constantly working with her to relax. seeing those assignments with her name and grade on public display just reinforced to the kid that 'yes, everyone IS watching you and judging you based on your grades'.

poor kid was throwing up most nights stressing over stupid 4th grade art projects and the like

 

[phorsenuf]

My 10 yr old 5th grader was publicly humiliated by his teacher. While preparing the classroom for Open House, the teacher was putting the class projects with the grade on their desks to display. My son saw her putting his out on his desk and he said to her "Please don't put that on my desk because I got a bad grade". He got a 44. Her response was "Nope its going right on your desk for your parents to see". What she should have said was, "It's going on your desk for your parents and anyone else who feels inclined to look at it to see how horrible you did"! My son was so upset and ashamed of his grade but yet she completely disregarded his feelings and put it there anyway. When he told me he didn't want to go to Open House I couldn't understand why, and that is when he told me. Believe me, I was on a mission when I got to the school because I couldn't imagine a teacher doing that to him or anyone. Boy was I shocked when I got to the room and saw for myself what she had done. I marched straight to the Principle and demanded my son be removed from her classroom the next morning. What a nasty person........
Thanks for listening!

While I was reading this I kept expecting you to say it's a joke or something. I honestly thought you were making a tongue in cheek thread about over the top parents and their teachers. Guess not. This wouldn't even have been a blip on my radar, except for the fact that I would be asking my child why he got a 44%!

 

[Lorelei Lee]

As a parent of a fifth grader, I don't see what the outrage is about. If all the kids displayed that one project, then your son should too regardless of the grade. He shouldn't be exempt because he did poorly. I agree with the PP, I would be more concerned about the 44 and how he can do better on the next project.
Also, do you feel the rest of the "50% of the class" that had a failing grade should go to the principal and remove their children from the class over this?

It wasn't the failing grade that motivated her to speak with the principal, it was the teacher's disregard of the student's privacy and her delight in humiliating him that caused the OP to react.

 

[luvmy3]

I don't htink this was snowflake behavior at all.

I don't either. Just want to clear that up since that pp quoted me and I didn't want to be guilty by association

If you all knew what he went through with his kindergarten teacher and the bar she set for him for the rest of his elementary career you would all understand why I did what I did. I in no way, coddle him. As a matter of fact, he has lost privileges for having a less than stellar report card this term even with the new teacher. With that said, he in no way deserves to be mistreated by a teacher because she didn't care for him. He asked her to go to the nurse one day because he wasn't feeling good. She refused him. He came home that day with a fever of 102.5 and was diagnosed with strep throat. There were more incidents that led up to me acting the way I did. This Open House incident was the last straw for me. Here it was only October and there was already a negative relationship going on. It is going to be his last year in the school and I would hate for it to be miserable for him. I have never ever taken my kids out of a class, this was the first.

OP, you need to do what you feel is right for your child. At the same time though you have to expect that there are others who would just do things differently. You don't need to justify anything you did, but when you post about your issue publicly you are going to get different opinions.

 

[Ginger Renae]

It wasn't the failing grade that motivated her to speak with the principal, it was the teacher's disregard of the student's privacy and her delight in humiliating him that caused the OP to react.

Yes, I am sure every teacher is "delighted" to humiliate their students and to show off that half of his/her students received failing grades!

 

[katelynnsmama]

My son wasn't the only one with a bad grade....50% of the class had a failing grade. Need I say more........

As a former teacher myself, this is outrageous. If over half of the class failed, I would've graded on a curve. I'd be more concerned about the grade than the test going on the desk, to be honest. I'm echoing PPs when I say the teacher must've been doing something wrong.

 

[smitch425]

It wasn't the failing grade that motivated her to speak with the principal, it was the teacher's disregard of the student's privacy and her delight in humiliating him that caused the OP to react.

Delight in humiliating him??? It was a piece of paper sitting on a desk. It's not like she held it up and said "Hey everyone look at this! There is the kid this belongs to. His name is _____"

How many other kids were transferred out of the class that night over this class-wide humiliating act? I'm guessing zero.

 

[wvjules]

So he has a deadly reaction to peanut butter but his K teacher made him do projects with peanut butter? How does that work?

I'm also not a teacher and think you overreacted. Teachers must cringe when they see that they have your son in class.

 

[lukenick1]

I betcha the OP's reaction would've been completely different had her child not failed the assignment.

Considering this was the "straw that broke the camel's back," and all.

But had it happened to another child? OP likely wouldn't have noticed, or cared.

Is that bad? I don't know. A part of me thinks it is. The whole notion of "we eat our own" and all that.

I understand wanting to look out for your child and his well-being, but sometimes kids have to sink or swim on their own. Next year, he'll be in junior high. In four years, high school. Nip his issues in the bud now, or it'll just get worse and your helicopter parenting, OP, will reach super saiyan proportions.

How's this......had my child not told me about it, I would have walked in, saw the grade and have been angry with him for getting a bad grade. The fact that he was ashamed of the grade, asked the teacher not to display it is what upset me. Her disregarding his feelings and mistreating him on several occassions is the problem here. Besides, since when do grades get displayed at an open house? Out of the 8 years that my kids have been in school, I have NEVER seen a grade at Open House. Those are left for parent teacher conferences. Just sayin.......

 

[Minniesgal]

No and I have no idea where this line of thinking come from. I had teachers post everyone's test scores and quarter grades up on a bulletin board, had teachers who read everyone their grades, had teachers who just put the graded tests and papers in a stack for everyone to find their own, and most of the rest were just handed to the first person in the row and handed back so anyone sitting in front of me could see my grade. I see no reason at all for grades to be kept confidential. Full stop.

Well I'm a uK qualified teacher and for us grades are absolutely confidential. We are not allowed to call out grades or show other pupils and it is also not allowed to rank pupils one against the other.

Teachers should know it is downright wrong to display children's grades publically

 

[Metsfan520]

I am so glad I'm not a teacher.

 

[arminnie]

; Call it guilt for not removing my son from his Kindergarten teachers room who did projects with peanut butter knowing my son was deathly allergic. Should have pounced then too.......

Darn you should feel guilty about leaving your son in a very dangerous position. That was way worse than displaying a grade.