DD narrowly missed an A in an FL AP class in Jr year. (straight A student so far in a rigorous curriculum)
She is a strong student, also got placed for a medal in the National FL exam.
The issue is that, this particular teacher’s grading is quite arbitrary and she got a lot of complaints (and was evaluated in class, presumably for parent complaints). Teacher openly favors certain students and is quite vocal about it (which itself seems odd to me !)
DD has worked quite hard in this class, taken every opportunity to do extra credit, and did all the things the teacher suggested. When she met the teacher to discuss her final exam (did not specifically ask about grade), the teacher showed her work in comparison with another student’s exam, and DD was confused because, the same criticisms that she had for DD’s exam, were repeated in the other boy’s exam but yet, did not remove any points.
Usually I don’t get involved with teachers in HS, but am wondering if I should now (DD is upset that her straight As record will have this single B grade). I tried to assure her that one B is not going to have much effect on her college apps.
What would you do ?
Life lesson- life isn’t fair. Do nothing because it will only make your and her life miserable while trying to change a grade. So far your D has dealt with being perfect, she needs to learn that life has ups and downs despite her actions. Learning to deal with things not always going to plan is a skill she is still learning. Thank goodness it happened now when she can learn coping skills before college.
Do remind her this will not affect her future. Students with perfect HS grades get passed over by colleges for those with more than just one B on the record. HS will become ancient history once she goes to college. Do emphasize that she is still the same great person regardless of a B on her report card. Remind her that just because she works very hard the desired results do not always happen.
Now is a good time for her to read about perfectionism. She needs to figure out coping skills for the next time she doesn’t get the grade she deserves or feels she deserves. It will happen again. Even at the elite colleges things like this surely happen. Success (and happiness) in life includes working with an imperfect world.
So- make this experience a learning about life thing and put it out of her and your mind. Do not let it ruin her summer. Yes, you/she can pursue it but it isn’t worth obsessing over.
Finally- discuss how much she benefited by doing the extra work. It is all about her learning, not some mark on a report card. Despite the grade I’m sure she learned more material than if she hadn’t done the extra things. She may need to work on her essay skills. Those, not content, may make a difference inn the future.
I would let it go also (but my kids went to schools that had A- and B+ grades.) The daughter’s need to maintain the perfect 4.0 isn’t very persuasive - would the parent step in again next year when another B is assigned?
I think your daughter could meet with the teacher if the grade was truly unfair. I don’t think a B is going to affect her admissions. And I believe in accepting life’s lessons (my kids had them in spades). But if something is truly unfair, I also taught my kids to try to address it, whether for others or themselves. And advocating for oneself is an important skill. The important caveat is that she needs to do it calmly but firmly. If the teacher is not responsive, your daughter can then talk to the principal. IF the grade is truly unfair and that can be demonstrated.
I don’t think she is a perfectionist as much as she thinks the grading is unfair, as the teacher openly favors a select few, and showed her the exam paper of another classmate to compare, and she couldn’t see much difference. This is not the first time, she has complained about this teacher, and we told her to not worry about grades and try to do her best.
I thought if there was a small chance of changing her grade, by emaling the teacher, and also reminding her that DD has worked hard, and also National exam medal should mean something. Otherwise, she could take the SAT Subject test, to prove herself and possibly getting a waiver in college.
Again, I am not worried about her grades or rank, because we have always encouraged her to take whatever she is interested, including a few standard classes (for music), that brought her ranking down a lot. Her school is uber competitive, and the grades until Junior year will determine her rank for EA or ED. Her classmates have piled on as many APs as possible now, and registered for easier classes Senior year, because by then their ranking will be set.
One B shouldn’t crush her. It just shouldn’t. And in foreign lang, to boot. FL is important, but not critical in admissions, even to tippy tops. (Unless her major depends on FL. Some surprising majors do.)
My kid had a teacher like this, unethical on the favoritism. The kids did speak with, I think it was, the GC. Just saying, the year after she graduated, this teacher was gone, not by his choice.
The National Medal is complicated. The metal levels are groups of kids. Not an absolute ranking. Not a good reason to dispute a grade.
And top adcoms will see the easier senior workload and likely be less than impressed. So, moral of the story: work on her resilience. That IS a trait that matters to top colleges, along with mature perspective. That’s what I’d do. Plus, learn enought about her targets to answer the Why Us well. Know what those schools are about, what you can about what they expect, from what they say and show.
The idea of teacher’s having favorites (called "teacher’s pets in my day) has been going on forever. I would take the B and move on. Sometimes life just isn’t 100% fair. If she does well on the AP test she could send that score in. Any college that rejects her with one B would most likely also reject her with all A’s.
Another vote for moving on. This will not affect her colleges chances whatsoever.
If it makes you feel better, lodge a complaint with the principal and guidance counselor. Let them review it if they are so inclined. I would not take it any further than that.
In the grand scheme of things, this won’t matter one bit.
Without mitigating the suck-it-up message to the OP’s daughter, I think the OP ought to make a written complaint to the principal. Life isn’t fair, but that doesn’t mean deliberate, systematic unfairness should be condoned or unchallenged. And as much as we want to teach our kids to resolve their own problems, my experience tells me that in high school parents’ voices often matter, especially if they are not heard too often.
If the OP’s story is right, this teacher has a problem. There should be a written record of complaints; that may produce some change in his behavior over time.
If the teacher showed her the other student’s exam paper, it was with the intent that she see the difference. It is unfortunate that the instructor did not talk your daughter through the important issues item by item. What doesn’t look like much of a difference to a student can look like a big difference to the instructor.
I would separate this into two issues. One issue is what to tell your daughter. The other issue is what to say to the school.
I have a daughter who like yours has only had one B in her life. When she got it I said to her something along the lines of “don’t worry about it, learn from it, you are doing great and you will still do very well in college applications”. Then we went out for ice cream. In practice this did not have any impact on her college applications (which happened a couple of years later).
While I did not admit this to her, I was actually very happy and relieved that she had finally gotten a B. Students need to learn that this is not the end of the world. The next day they will wake up and their friends will still be their friends, and their parents will still love them. Our high school students are under way too much pressure to be perfect. One of the many things that they need to learn is that perfect is not really necessary and being human is okay.
There is one difference here however. In our case the B was appropriate and fair. In your case, I might say something to the school’s administration. However, I would keep it short and polite, and would not make a big deal about it.
I strongly suspect that the teacher did explain why one was stronger than the other and that student heard the words rather than listening to their meaning. If, after the explanation (or in the absence of an explanation), the student still did not understand, the onus is on her to ask the probing questions.
To say what? “My DD says the teacher is openly favoring certain students and is an arbitrary grader.” Then yes, the OP will be discussed in the teachers’ lounge as one of those parents. If DD wants to go up the chain of command and advocate for herself, then that’s a different question.
That said, I thing the OP and DD should let it go. One B is not the end of the world, and once she gets to college, will likely not be the on B she ever receives.
While in theory I agree with skieurope, my life experience tells me the opposite. One of my kids had a situation like this in 10th grade. He was a straight-A student who got a C in an art class. The supposed basis for the C was unfair. I told my kid to deal with it himself with the teacher and the administration. He tried and got rebuffed. I called the principal’s office. I was immediately told that of course they were aware of the situation (which affected any number of students in the class), and they had been changing Cs to Bs for any parents who complained.
Needless to say, that was a messed-up way to deal with things. But that is what they were doing. The C would have stayed on his transcript if I hadn’t called. The conversation in the teachers’ lounge was what a burn-out this teacher was, not how entitled the parents were.
@JHS I think we are in agreement, more or less. Your kid raised the issue first, and only then did you get involved; you were not the one to initiate the conversation. So yes, if the OP’s kid chooses to escalate, and gets rebuffed, then the OP can decide whether to intervene.
My kid had a similar teacher…but it was for chemistry. Let’s just say…she was awful. It’s a lab course and they did one lab at the start of the school year. It was never returned. They then did a second one at the end of the school year…no feedback on what to do or not do. My kid got a well deserved B in the course.
After the school year ended, I made an appointment to talk to the school principal. I brought every assignment and test my kid had returned, and records of the lack of labs, and assignments not returned. My point was not to get my kid’s grade changed. My point was that the administration needed to know that this honors chem class was being taught with only two labs all year long. And yes, the class had lab periods in addition to the class.
Fast forward three years, and my daughter got the same teacher. I don’t know what was said…but they did a lab ea h week. They were well graded and critiqued. There was a lab format given at the start if the term. It was a completely different chemistry course than my first kid had.
My suggestion…if you want to talk to the administration, go ahead. State the facts only. No opinions about playing favorites or the like. Just state the facts. If your kid’s tests show competency, bring those on and ask the admin to please clarify why they were marked down.
Make sure your point is not to get your kid’s grade changed, but rather to find out what the problem was.
Unless there is something specific your dd can point to - something that was correct was marked incorrect - it will be very difficult to get the grade changed. Unless she truly bombed the exam, even if it was graded unfairly in some way, an A would become a B from one test. If the exam involved writing in the language being taught, the teacher will likely say that other students wrote more fluently or with more sophistication which showed a better understanding of the language. It was not appropriate for the teacher to show her another kid’s test, especially if the name of the student was visible.
Saying this teacher favors other kids may or may not be true. It is almost impossible to prove. It is unfortunate that she got a B, as in some HSs kids with all As get special recognition, but it will not impact her college admissions.
I would talk to the head of the Department…but not in an accusatory way…“My daughter reported that she got a B (or whatever) on her final in FL. The teacher showed her a final of anotehr student to show how it was deserving of a better grade in certain areas…but my daughter reports that the same issues she had were found in this other final. Of course I am sure I don’t know the whole story, but it is concerning that grading could be arbitrary/not consistent among students. I was wondering if yuo could look into it to make sure her grading is consistent with department standards?”
So, your daughter did extra credit work and got a B. She DID get a “leg up” from the teacher, just not enough to put her over the edge for an A.
Ever since teachers started teaching, there has been a cry of favorites. I do think teachers have favorites because sometimes teachers just “click” with certain students. I’m of the mindset that things like this tend to even out - I’m sure that at some point your daughter has been the recipient of preferred behavior she didn’t really deserve. We all have.
If your daughter has concrete evidence that her grade was slighted - in other words, her correct responses were incorrectly graded - then I agree that she needs to appeal her grade. But, if it’s a situation where she got the grade she deserved, even if the teacher does like Little Susie more, then she needs to accept the B and move on.