<p>A girl in my daughter's 8th grade class has a 99.9 gpa for this quarter, that means six onehundreds, and one ninety-nine in math, science, etc!!! Does that sound possible..that everything she turned in was perfect....(these teachers take off 5 points for a missing comma)...Has anyone else ever heard of a 99.9 average? It would seem that every thing she did was exact: perfect answers, perfect essays, perfect study guides, perfect homework, perfect presentations..she herself told people about a B on a math test, and she got a 98 on a speech which counted for 1/4 of the semester grade!! So how do you get a 99 or 100 report card grade in every class when they don't drop grades?
Okay I sound a little cranky, but as teachers' pet, this girl has had everything handed to her....it makes it harder for the rest to compete....my daughter has a 97 average, but a 99.9?</p>
<p>Favoritism is usually what people at my school blame it on.</p>
<p>What about extra credit? I've had final grades over 100 plenty of times thanks to extra credit, even with Bs on quizzes and stuff. If those points over 100 could be counted in her average, hey, who knows?</p>
<p>And really, if you're this worked up over your daughter's performance while she is in eighth grade, you've got a long and unpleasant road ahead. 97 vs. 99.9? Who cares? The only reason these kids are "competing" is that overzealous parents--you appear to be among these--push them way too hard, way too early. That you and your daughter are so concious of this other girl's grades shows that your daughter is in a situation that puts a lot of emphasis on high grades, and as she progresses through high school towards graduation, that emphasis is only going to go up. And that's probably not a healthy or enjoyable way to go about things.</p>
<p>Our school doesn't give extra credit....and the reason I am cranky is that there has been a pattern of favoratism at our small catholic school, that the teachers are extremely hard graders, and perfection is NOT attainable with anybody. This girl herself said she got b's on math tests, yet she gets a hundred in the class? How is that mathematically possible, with no etra credit and only one test dropped....if she got 2 b's, then it is statiscally impossible....they only had 5 tests in the class and tests count for 80% of the grade.....you tell me.....and yeah a 97 is great, I am very proud of my daughter, but when perfection is the standard and is somehow attained by someone, how in the world can one compete, as our school ranks?</p>
<p>As well, I am not focused on this girls grades, more the way our school does things....and I want fair....math is not subjective, you get what you get....and do not tell me about competion, the Catholic High School all these kids are applying to takes 25% of its applicants....and as for the emphasis on high grades, it is so obvious that the 100 was not earned, then how does one have a chance?</p>
<p>I would go back to extra-credit. You say your school doesn't give extra credit, but do you mean like projects? Different teachers may give extra credit points for random things like a quiz that no one studied for, so they count it as extra credit. My AP american teacher did that once and I ended up with a 130 average because his weighting system was screwed up. </p>
<p>Also, grade inflation. </p>
<p>And 100 doesn't mean everything's perfect, exactly. I've gotten plenty, especially in English. That doesn't mean that every word was spelled right and I never made a mistake. It basically means that my teacher's expectations were fulfilled by my work.</p>
<p>No, no extra credit, I promise. My concern is that with what we know about the girl's math grades, and with no extra credit as they say, and if she is being given extra credit, then she is the only one. It's just that our school, they pick certain kids and favor them. Sigh. Its almost over. One teacher at our school told my older daughter that the teachers resented her and she would not go anywhere...long story...daughter did nothing wrong...now she is a youth commissioner meeting with our city government weekly....so I guess doing well elsewhere is the sweetest thing</p>
<p>Why do you care about someone else's kid, anyway? This stuff happens, no matter how unjust.</p>
<p>Well I've had teachers up quarter grades by 1-2% if the person was a good student.
And what about curving hard tests? Therefore, making a B an A.</p>
<p>Er, if you don't like the school so much, why not just have her transfer schools?</p>
<p>similar favoritism issues have occurred at my school. We spent most of this semester working on a 10 page paper, creating a triboard, and making an oral presentation for the end of the semester. (this is for english class and was done on our own time). Well, we had a snow day earlier this week, so that threw us back a little bit, and somewhat behind schedule. There is a girl who is really quite the teacher's pet. Everybody loathes/detests/abhors her. She is not actually extremely intelligent, just a complete perfectionest. But I digress, she got up to the front of the class and proceeded to present her topic for over an hour until the bell rang, not having fully completed presenting (minimum time was 7 minutes, however). The next day, she was not allowed to continue (thank god) but nobody was allowed to present any more than 8 minutes either. I understand that in order to complete all the presentations, this was necessary, but she didn't deserve to go for an hour anyway. Also, she was the one keeping track of the time limits, and every time 7 minutes was up, she would disdainfully say "you're done" in a very pompous manner. Had she forgotten that she was given an hour? favoritism plagues everybody, and unfortunately it must be put up with. There is really nothing you can do, albeit unfair.</p>
<p>I can't transfer, because moving around makes it difficult to get into the high school she wants to go to. And you can say nothing because the staff writes secret recommendations and the staff has been known to write bad recs if parents ask the wrong questions...I live in San Francisco, (public schools not so great), you cannot transfer to another Catholic School after 7th grade, and if you do transfer before, it is like a black mark on your record....these teachers can be very vendictive. Until you have attended a small Catholic school (we are Catholic so I can gripe) will you know the true meaning of secrecy, the teachers change the rules all along the way, choose favorites early, and tend to like kids who are docile and conform. My older daughter is shining at a Catholic High School, where she can have opinions, and gosh, disagree with the teacher. Had I known what I was getting into, I would have gone a different path for middle school. My 8th grader is not concerned with the girl or her grades, I just want an even playing field, considering I am paying a lot of money. </p>
<p>Laurek: Why do I care?? Because the staff focuses their energy on a select few, bad mouthes the rest, saying how great it is so and so has a 99.9, whats wrong with the rest of you....the environment is very odd and I am sick of people saying well, that's the way it is....My daughter loses out on having some middle school experiences, and growing and learning because she is not a favorite...we do so much out of school to make up for not getting the same treatment as the pets. </p>
<p>Laurek, do you ever get mad if someone cuts in front of you in line, takes the parking spot you were waiting for...that is what this is like, but on a daily basis.....</p>
<p>have you ever realized that your daughter probably has it better overall than that girl who's every teacher's favorite? that girl is handed her grade, so she won't be as accustomed to working her ass off when favoritism isn't there for her anymore. kids will dislike her for getting her grades through being a teacher's pet. i actually think she's the one who would miss out on middle school experiences. middle school is supposed to prepare you for high school. she won't prepared if she's just handed a perfect grade. plus i'd say that the majority of the experience is social, and teachers don't usually have a huge impact on that. and the whole even playing field thing, such thing does not exist. have you seen the documentary "Born Rich"? this son of a millionaire went to Brown, and he failed his classes and therefore should've been kicked out, but wasn't. It's life. people are biased and political, situations like your daughter's can and will happen throughout her life. There's nothing wrong with her being exposed to it early. It'd be nice for it not to exist, but sheltering her from it won't do her any good because it'll come no matter what. I'd prefer to experience it early so it doesn't come as a shock later in life since life seems to become more complicated the older you get.</p>
<p>don't worry, especially about another student. Your daughter will definitely get into to the Catholic high school, even if it does have a 25% acceptance rate. Catholic students with a B average will be accepted, and your daughter has an A+ average, so once again don't worry. I'm not Catholic, and I had an A- average(probably counted equivalent to a Catholic students B average), and I got into the Jesuit high school that I now attend.</p>
<p>Thank you for your kind words, young one....I know my daughter will do just fine.....this was a great place to vent....My daughter had to work harder...and what we have discovered is that some of the kids that are juniors and sophmores now from our school and in the high school that were pets and favored and given things aren't doing great, not bad, but no where near the glory days of middle school, while those that had to work for everything, did stuff out of school to make up for what was missed, are doing great!!! my oldest is an example of that....my youngest daughter is really popular with lots of friends, while the 99.9 girls is kind of a loner, so life balances out</p>
<p>Yes it is very possible. The valedictorian in my middle school had a 99.8 average and She earned it fair and square. Everytime she participated in class she correctly answered every question with insane precision. I thought I was the smart guy in the class but every question she would pull out an answer that most people missed in the book. Although I had the pleasure of beating her on some tests (ie. I got a 100, she got a 99, everyone else <94)</p>
<p>Oh my God, I was eight years old when this thread was made.</p>