inspired by ckay87's teacher displaying paper thread

[luvflorida]

ckay87's thread reminded me of something that happened TWICE this year to DD15. I thought it was funny, but she said it was annoying.

DD15 is our youngest. She has a brother, 24, and a sister, 21. Both graduated from the high school she is now attending. The first week of school her computer teacher was talking to the class about an upcoming computer animation type project that they'd be working on. The teacher started rummaging around in a closet and pulled out what she said was "an excellent example" of what she was expecting from the class. She went on to gush that she had never seen such a fine project. She loaded it onto the computer and, lo and behold, up comes DD's brother's name. The teacher didn't realize it was her brother's project until all the kids remarked on it.

Then the very next week, DD was in English class and the teacher started talking to the class about the infamous Sophomore English paper that would be due next semester. It is the fear of every Sophomore. Anyway, the teacher said she kept a paper from a few years back that she had given an A++, 100% on, and she NEVER sees papers worthy of an A++ grade. And, gee, she just happened to have it in her desk. She pulls out the paper, puts it on the overhead projector, and YES, it was her older sister's paper! The teacher realized it when the other kids started laughing.

DD came home from school just incredulous that it happened twice and remarking that she'll never be able to live up to her older brother and sister's teachers expectations and she said she just knows that some day she's going to go through the school lobby and see poster-size portraits of her siblings in gold frames with spotlights shining down on them.

 

[Buckalew11]

Was her older sister's name "Karen"?

This happened to me many times in schhol because Karen was so smart, so outstanding. good thing I was crazy about my sister Karen!!!

I saw her Senior English teacher(& mine too) about 2 years ago in the ER. Do you know what she said to me?! She said, "No one could write a paper like your sister Karen."

*thud*

 

[disykat]

Oh man! As a youngest child, boy do I sympathize with your dd! My oldest is "mr. perfect student" and my youngest is not. I always worry that my youngest will have that experience.

 

[luvflorida]

Was her older sister's name "Karen"?

This happened to me many times in schhol because Karen was so smart, so outstanding. good thing I was crazy about my sister Karen!!!

I saw her Senior English teacher(& mine too) about 2 years ago in the ER. Do you know what she said to me?! She said, "No one could write a paper like your sister Karen."

*thud*

haha! I'm glad that both my daughters really do love each other! Youngest daughter's French teacher remarked to her last year, when daughter was being "chatty", "Oh, I know your sister would never chatter with her seat mates like that!"

 

[Sandy V.]

We've dealt with this a lot at our house. My DD is the most academically driven person that I have ever known. She's ranked #1 in a class of 450.

My DS, two years younger, is very bright and gets great grades, but just doesn't push himself like his sister does.

The comparison stuff went on a lot more in elementary school, but thankfully not so much in high school. We try very hard to stress each one's unique strengths while not making comparisons.

I empathize with your daughter, though. It would be irritating, especially if it happened often.

 

[ElizK]

I was sort of lucky in that dept.... Several of my teachers had my older brother, but, though he was extremely bright, he was something of a goof, so I always looked good compared to him. Luckily i didn't have to live up to my younger brother's grades... he's a psychiatrist now. I looked pretty darn smart until my younger brother went thru there. Couldn't last forever, I suppose.

 

[powellrj]

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.....

My DS has the opposite problem. His DB was such a bad student, his teachers can't believe they have the same parents. He tries to take classes his DB never took and do things his DB never did, just so people don't compare them.

 

[ckay87]

I just don't see myself ever being able to relate to this one.

 

[barkley]

i absolutly despise it when teachers do this! there is a little girl who has been going to school with my dd for 4 years (always in the same class). i have overheard the teacher using this "technique" with this girl's work every year. my daughter has never complained about it-she's happy her friend does good work. i have had to pull work away from her though when she (dd) started obsessing "but it won't be as good as "x's"-i tell you do your best, don't worry about how it compares to someone elses (dd get's most a's anyway).

what concerns me is the effect on the named child-i know her mom, and her mom has confided in me that the child is "type a personality" and obsesses to the point of shredding up perfectly fine papers and redoing them. many times she is reduced to tears in class when there is an in class assignment or project that does not provide her the opportunity to re-do until it meets her standard of perfection. i know the teacher is aware of this child's personality but she continues to use her as an example. i just feel that these situations often cause tremendous problems for everyone involved.

i had friends in high school-they were identical twins. throughout k-6 their parents made sure they were always in separate classrooms. in junior and senior high they were enrolled in separate schools. their parent's attitude was that because they had similar interests (same sports, music, theatre) it would be a healthier atmosphere if they were not always competing against each other. these 2 maintained the closest relationship-they were always at one another's events cheering their sibling on. there were times when they would compete in school vs. school events but they were always genuinly happy for each others achievements. i would much rather see schools/teachers/parents foster this type of attitude.