<p>I definitely think the student should FIRST approach the teacher and mention that he is required to have a rec from this subject area from junior year and also say he is prepared to give the teacher a lot of information to help him write the rec. Then, see what the teacher says. If the teacher refuses, then the student needs to go to the department head or guidance counselor and ask how to proceed.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree that the student should first respectfully ask the teacher, and only if the teacher refuses should additional steps be taken.</p>
<p>It may also be that what the teacher said was misinterpreted by the students. For instance, the teacher may have been trying to let the students know that the teacher wouldn't be able to write recommendations for students who did poor work or didn't participate in classroom discussions.</p>
<p>My sister taught AP Lit for more than 10 years. Two parents went on a witch hunt (and unfortunately won!) to get rid of my sis because they thought her recommendations prevented their kids (forget if it was boy or girl) from getting into their dream schools.</p>
<p>I know if she were still teaching she'd agree that the teacher in question here isn't necessarily incompetent or lazy and shouldn't be expected to do something he/she is uncomfortable doing. She'd probably say she wished she had done something similar.</p>
<p>A secretary supposedly slipped the confidential rec to one of the mothers and she thought it wasn't glowing enough for her kid and they made my sisters life miserable. In the end, she didn't really feel support from her administration, who had no back bone to stand up to these parents, and decided life was too short, so she quit. She landed on her feet and is doing quite well in the business world. Had she not been such a kind teacher with the kids' best interest at heart, none of this would have happened. </p>
<p>Just a thought before we hang this teacher out to dry.</p>
<p>I agree that the first step is to privately approach the teacher - I would have the student bring the application with him so that he can show the teacher that only his current subject x teacher can write the recommendation. If the teacher refuses, politely ask why and then say thank you for clarifying and then leave. I'd not force the teacher to write one by going to administration - I would let them know about the problem (assuming it is a blanket policy) - but I'd ask the 10th grade subject x teacher to write it - and explain in the recommendation why the 10th grade teacher was writing rather than the 11th grade teacher.</p>
<p>I do agree that it is a part of an 11th grade teacher's responsibility to write a reasonable number of recommendations for students that they can recommend. Obviously, if they cannot write a good one, then they should decline - but that should be on a case by case basis rather than a blanket policy.</p>
<p>D2's choir teacher told his classes that he was not going to write recommendations. However, several of the students (like mine) who were going to continue in music as their major in college were required to get music teacher recommendations for their applications. There was no way around it. As I found out later, he did bend a bit and write them for a handful of students who planned to study music in college, and he wrote a wonderful one for my D.</p>
<p>I think what had happened was that he had some students who were asking for recommendations that he could not write favorably, but this guy avoids confict like the plague, so he decided to make his policy one of not writing any. I remember hearing through a friend of his that a recent student had asked for a recommendation as she decided she wanted to be a music teacher. He would only confirm that he had known her, and the classes and dates she'd had him for. He's actually a very immature guy (like I said, avoids conflict like the plague), and I thought it was very rude to make a blanket statement that he would not write any recs, then do it behind kids' backs, just so he could avoid conflict. Frankly, I've seen his writing samples, and I would have preferred that my D not have to get a rec from him, but it was specifically asked for.</p>
<p>Had he refused, based on a blanket statement of not writing any for anyone, I would have been in our principal's office.</p>
<p>D also needed a rec from her drama teacher, and he was thrilled to provide it.</p>
<p>My kids' AP teachers EXPECT & end up writing recs for nearly all the students in their classes. The physics teacher is there all fall every evening and weekend working on the letters. Yes, it is a private school and it is a lot of work for the teacher, but the kids really appreciate it & the teacher knows it & is proud of how well his kids do in their chosen colleges.</p>
<p>It seems quite unreasonable for a teacher to make a blanket announcement like that and I can't imagine the private HS would find that at all acceptable. My friends' kids who attended public HS also didn't mention having teachers who made such blanket announcements.</p>
<p>Certainly, it's understandable that getting a recommendation would be on a case by case basis, with the instructor free to refuse to write if s/he felt it was not something s/he could write. Wow, it must be very stressful for kids to have teachers who make these blanket refusals!</p>
<p>Arizona</a> Local News - Phoenix Arizona News - Breaking News - azcentral.com</p>
<p>"Some of the teachers at my school who do need to spend the equivalent of two work weeks have started charging students a nominal fee. [for recommendation letters!]The first two letters per student are usually free, and the ones after that are five to ten dollars per letterdepending on the teacher. "</p>
<p>Given the fact that teachers' jobs are being cut, too, because of the economy, I doubt that teachers who want to get paid for writing reccs or who don't to write them at all will be able to continue to follow their preferences when it comes to recommendations.</p>
<p>Just weighing in as a high school teacher: Agree w/ jym, NSM and anyone else who said that teachers are obligated, if not contractually at least in their role as mentor and teacher to write letters. I find the OP's experience offensive and feel strongly that the teacher is out of line.</p>
<p>We are all sometimes asked to write letters by kids with whom our connection is less deep and who may not have been a shining star in our classroom and we work with what we have. I always write a positive letter but, depending on the resume' I am given sometimes it is more fleshed out than others. I have a colleague who has been asked by students with whom she has had a less than ideal relationship and she says point blank "I will be happy to but are you sure I am your best choice?" Any teacher who doesn't feel he/she knows the kids well enough to write a letter by mid-year is not trying hard enough. Most of us could write a respectable letter after knowing the student a week or two if we had a decent resume to work with.</p>
<p>I've got to wonder if this brainiac of a teacher got into college and/or grad school without recommendation letters. </p>
<p>He's either lazy, or one of the union tools who wants a professional level of pay without any accountability.</p>
<p>Glad to see the teachers chime in (historymom and Garland). Over the course of my childrens education I have found that almost all of their teachers were dedicated, hard working, compassionate professionals who really cared about the students.</p>
<p>As far as the teacher in question goes... For Pete's sake, do your job! In any other business this shoddy level of service would get you canned (and deservedly so).</p>
<p>
[quote]
I am a college counselor. I currently have a client at a public school where the student's teacher(s) announced that they would not be writing ANY recs during the month of November....something to do with a contract they were embroiled in about "work to rule."
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Amazing. And 180 degrees away from my old English teacher who dictated rec letters into a microphone while on strike and manning a picket line as head of the local teacher's union.</p>
<p>I'll chime in, too. First, I don't think it is right to make a blanket refusal policy about recommendations before even being asked, and I think there is good advice in this thread already about how to proceed. </p>
<p>Although you might not be able to tell from my CC posts, I'm actually a good writer, and I get many recommendation requests from students. I teach juniors in AP and regular classes, and I tell my students near the end of the year that I would be better able to write a good recommendation when their performance is fresh in my mind than if they wait till sometime the following year to ask for it. The end of the year really is a good time for me, because the pressure is off after the AP exam, and I don't have to work quite so hard on preparing lessons and assessment then. Usually I have quite a few requests at that time but this year most of the students chose to wait until the deadline was looming. Now I have a stack of letters to write, and I've been working on them in the order the requests came in. I did recently have a complaint from a parent via email because I hadn't delivered a letter within a week of the request, but I did not move the student from her number 19 spot on my list of letter writing priorities. I felt like replying with assurance that my letter would surely be finished in a shorter period of time than the six months that had passed between my initial offer and the student's request, but I managed to restrain myself.</p>
<p>I do decline to write letters if I cannot be enthusiastic and specific in my recommendation. I simply tell some students that I think it would be better for them to ask a teacher who has seen their best work.</p>
<p>Rennee...the parent was out of line. I would not promise to have a rec for the family within a week. I tell all of my advisees to request the rec at least one month ahead of the deadline they give the rec writer. If someone doesn't allow you enough lead time, make that clear and that you can't push the student ahead of the others who have been waiting and submitted their requests earlier. Some are very unreasonable.</p>
<p>Renee,
You were right, the parent was wrong, and I don't think that kid deserved to be moved ahead of those who had followed your deadline request.</p>
<p>Worst example of such obnoxious parent behavior was told to me by S's former GC. She said a parent came in the day an app needed to be postmarked, gave the GC the recc, and demanded that the GC write the recc right then or else the parent threatened to have the GC fired.</p>
<p>Yes, the GC immediately did the recc, but it was the bland type that one would expect to be done with a threatening parent breathing down the GC's back.</p>
<p>Of course parents and students who are so demanding are the last ones to say "thank-you" or to even let the GC or teachers know what college the student will be attending. Sheesh!</p>
<p>Hi all-
Thanks so much for the invaluable info you've all provided!. As some of you have mentioned, I will encourage son to respectfully approach teacher alongside the verbiage suggested. If teacher declines, then we will reach out to Administration for assistance with next steps. As one or a couple of you mentioned, I can also check with the program what alternate teacher they would accept.</p>
<p>Also, this is a public school on a block program 4x4 where teacher teaches only 1 block of AP, therefore not inundated with lots of AP Kids, but maybe inundated with other classes where some of those students may also be requiring recs…. Just dunno.</p>
<p>I will update once son speaks with teacher! Have yourselves a fabulous weekend!</p>
<p>Thanks again CC Fam!</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>The first two letters per student are usually free, and the ones after that are five to ten dollars per letterdepending on the teacher. "<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Why should additional letters cost money? All a teacher has to do is make a copy of the letter and fill in some simple info (how long have you known student? Check box re if you would recommend student for admission.). With any other questions, a teacher could just refer the admissions staff to the letter.</p>
<p>It would be nice if all teachers and GCs had the time to craft answers to each short answer question. The GC at our school years ago (who used to handle all of the honors kids) had lots of letters to write. She would spend all of her time on the letter itself and would indicate her thoughts of the rigor of the curriculum taken. She had a volunteer (me) fill in all information that could be gleaned from the transcript and was otherwise busywork (name, address, etc.) and she attached the transcript and the school profile. Of course, she would answer the school discipline questions herself.</p>
<p>This helped her get through the large numbers of students she had to help--the letter is what the school are most interested to read.</p>
<p>learningprog-
Why don't you just offer to help the teacher out by ghostwriting the recommendation letter and then all he/she has to do is sign it? :D</p>
<p>For the teachers, I wanted to add a strategy used by one of our HS's most popular instructors. Toward the end of the school year, he announces to his juniors that he will be writing "X" number of college recommendations and no more. That certainly gets the stragglers in gear, gives him the summer to write many of the recs, and provides a reason to say no in the fall, when he is much busier.</p>
<p>I wouldn't bother with asking the teacher since he already clearly stated that he wasn't going to write any letters because he didn't know the students well enough. I'm not sure if he would even write a good recommendation anyway. I would just contact the program to which your child is applying, explain the circumstances, and see if they would allow the submission of a letter from other teacher.</p>