<p>I think that your class would have been better off sending a couple of well respected students to talk to him privately with concerns about the test. They could have said they represented the whole class.</p>
<p>I think what ticked off your teacher was the anonymous letter. No one likes getting anonymous criticism. All that does is makes the receiver feel paranoid. Anonymous letters also make the concerns seem less credible because the teacher had no idea how many students felt that way. Even if the letter claimed that everyone in the class felt that way, the lack of signatures meant there was no evidence that the whole class supported the letter.</p>
<p>If your class had problems with the test, they could have all signed their name to the letter or they could have handled the problem in the way that I described. Many teachers will be reasonable if things truly are handled thoughtfully. How your class chose to handle things, however, would have seemed sneaky to many teachers, and would have ticked them off, not made the teacher thoughtfully consider the concerns.</p>
<p>Instead of going over the teacher's head, I suggest either dropping the matter (think about it -- is one test really worth this much anger and concern?) or asking the teacher to talk with the class about the concern. Again, it would help if a couple (not a large group!) of well respected students talked first in private with the teacher about the matter.</p>
<p>One teacher having to face a large, angry class is not a great situation for the teacher. While the class may be sure that they are in the right, think about it, too, from the teacher's position. How would you yourself feel about having to face a large group of angry, possibly very disrespectful students? That's a hard position to be in. If the teacher also is someone who has been helping out students by, for instance, writing college recommendation letters for them, having to face a class that is ganging up against the teacher also would feel very hurtful. If a person's back is put against the wall, they are unlikely to look for a compromise. </p>
<p>That's why I suggest having only a couple of students politely talk to the teacher to see if they can work things out. By "well respected," I mean students who are respected by faculty for their hard work and courtesy, not loud mouths who'd tell the teacher to stick it where the sun don't shine.</p>
<p>I do not suggest going over the teacher's head to talk to the principal. One test is very trivial in the scheme of things. How you as a class handled things also was IMO inappropriate. I think that going over the teacher's head would simply make the teacher very mad and is unlikely to get you the results that your class wants. If the problem were a major issue: sexual harassment; a teacher not preparing the class for AP, a teacher not having any grading criteria -- then going to the principal would be appropriate, but I don't think it's worth it for this situation.</p>