<p>My C++ teacher is a *****. Read the letter than I'm planning on sending to my principal to sort things out and tell me if it is a bunch of bs, or if I could actually do some damage with this. :)</p>
<p>Dear Principal,
Hello, this is XXXXXXXXXXXX, a senior in Ms. Kelli Becks sixth period C++ Programming class. I feel that I have been wronged academically on several occasions, and wish to express my concerns. I do not want to argue with Ms. Beck because she will not change her mind about these issues, and I feel it is futile to argue with her. Knowing how unfair she is to me, I fear that she will charge me with insubordination if I argue. I ask that you please dont charge me with this because this is a serious issue. I joined C++ because I was interested in programming, and there was not a prerequisite for a previous programming class. A friend of mine whose name I will not mention told me it was a good class, and that the teacher, Mr. Krane, would help me out since I was new to programming. I soon discovered that Mr. Krane was gone, and that Ms. Beck was my new teacher, to which I was completely o.k. with for the time being. I want to mention that I currently have several classes that one would normally think are extremely hard compared to C++. I, however, believe C++ to be much harder than those classes because of the minimal help I receive, and the harsh policies that further hinder my performance. I do not however say that it is entirely not my fault, because I have been somewhat neglectful of this class due to the grades I have been getting. Nevertheless, when I keep in lots of effort, I feel it goes to waste. I used to ask Ms. Beck a few easy (beginner) questions which she helped me answer, but when I asked for help on certain programs I didnt understand, she was unable to help me, because my problems were either dumb or abstract (I do not know for sure). I completely stopped asking questions because I believe I will not get a helpful response, and it seems as if she ignores me, or doesnt hear me, or doesnt care about my question(s). The way she handles my assignments is what I believe greatly hinders my performance in the class. It makes me feel hated, because I have never had a teacher that is so unbelievably unfair and absolute, especially towards a student that is nearly failing, and has had no prior experience in the field of study. (One might say this is similar to a teacher being harsh on a student who never took regular Biology, but went straight to AP Biology) I have never failed a class. However, I am mainly writing this letter for one specific occurrence. We recently started Chapter 9 in late November/ early December. I had great difficulty understanding anything out of the chapter, even after I had read it. She assigned five programs due at the first week of December, if I remember correctly. I had not finished those problems when they were due, but completed them on a half day, working on them for around six or seven hours. I knew that the work would be counted late, and that one of the extra problems (the sixth problem) was due for full credit the next day. I finished all five of the half credit programs, including the one for full credit. The day before, she had also assigned a set of questions and answers due Electronically at the beginning of the hour. Due to the disconnection of the computers in the C++ room to the school shared drive, I saved everything I had on a disk, hoping to open them up during class and turn them in for the agreed amount of credit. I was uninformed by the teacher throughout the whole semester that disks would not work. When I arrived at class, we were to start taking notes, and the rule is that our monitors are to be shut off. I took the notes and turned them in as expected, and then asked if I may resolve my disk issue. Ms. Beck said I would receive no credit for the questions, because they were due Electronically at the beginning of the hour. I complained that I had them finished by the beginning of the hour, and did not attempt to work on them in any way past the deadline, and that I was unaware disks would not work on these computers. She still said I would not get any credit. I was told at the same time, however, that I would be allowed to turn in the five half credit programs, along with the one full credit program (which she said was now half credit) the next day after I had resolved my issue. I wrote this letter the day this happened, and therefore I cant explain what happened the next day. She knows that I am nearly failing her class, yet she continues to treat me harshly. Normally, I would think that a student who is failing a class would not get treated so coldly. She argued once that this is a weighted grade class, and there are higher expectations. I agree to this completely. However, I disagree with the way she is treating me as a student. When higher expectations are mentioned, I think of having work done on time, being respectful, and not cheating. I have most certainly been respectful (there were times were I felt I would be unable to control my voice, but I kept my mouth shut), I have not cheated, and I try to get my work done on time. However, because I am horrible at this programming language, I am not able to get the programs done. I try to get what I can with half credit, which upholds the weighted grade policy. I am not writing this letter to in any way insult or disrespect my teacher; I am not writing it to cause any major disturbance within the school; I am most certainly not writing this letter out of spite. I am writing it because I feel I am being treated unfairly, and because I am nearly failing the class. Ms. Beck may say that I sit chatting to my friend next to me, and sometimes that is true. I have no idea how to do the program during that time; she hardly ever makes us read and hardly ever tells us that the things we read will be applicable the next day on the programs we will attempt to complete. I have little time to sort out her expectations and policies, because I have had SAT IIs, SAT Is, College Applications, and four other time consuming weighted grade / AP classes to attend to. Please consider this letter not as a complaint about the teacher, but more of a complaint of how I am being treated. I really enjoy working with this programming field, but I feel that I want to drop the class because Ms. Beck will continually be unfair (she even said that she was going easy on me the same day, which I found extremely hard to believe, and she said she will be harder on me next semester). I have talked to friends and parents over this issue, and they agree that I am indeed being treated unfairly. If nothing can be done about this, then I will without hesitation drop the class, and go to one where I will not have to worry about dreading sixth hour the whole day. If you feel that this letter is trash and deserves to be unread because it is a dumb issue that I am over exemplifying, please feel free to throw it away and ignore me. </p>
<pre><code> Thank you, XXXXXXXXXX
</code></pre>