Hypothetical

Apr 9, 2008 at 3:31 PM
8 comments

Here is a hypothetical (that came up at lunch today in discussion of this question) based on a real experience (and I think the incoming first-years would do well to reflect on these kinds of questions):

You are an 11th grade English teacher with one section of Drama, classified by the school as an art elective (required for graduation) because there is no art teacher or art class at the school. You have a senior who is well-behaved, nice, and illiterate. He cannot complete even the most basic of assignments. All the other teachers have decided to pass him so that he can receive his diploma. If he fails your class he will not graduate. Does he pass your class?

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It would depend on how close his grade was to passing and how hard he had been working in order to pass.

If it was merely a matter of a few points and he had been seriously working in my class, I would bump him up and pass him. But if he was less than 5 points below passing and/or had not been working hard, I wouldn't pass him.

That's just my own inexperienced viewpoint, and I'm sure that once I get out in the actual schools I'll change my tune.

Yes, I would pass him.
His story reminds me of many of my "exceptional ed" seniors who just can't do the work, but are in my class anyway because the school system can't effectively deal with them.

Yes. If you didn't, you would just be making a pointless statement and forcing him to sit or sleep his way through another year of classes, until the next set of teachers DID choose to pass him on.

she adds cynically, Also, you must stay on the good side of your colleagues. No need to be fingered as "the one" who "did that" to that "poor child".