Minority thinking

I found myself in the minority today.

One of the moms I know was complaining about her son's teacher. Her son who is 11 and in the 6th grade failed a spelling test. It wasn't because of his spelling. He failed because of capitalization (putting it when it didn't belong) and sloppy or unreadable answers (letters written on top of other letters). She raised hell with the Principal. She did not go to the teacher and ask her for her explanation. The principal sided with the parent and made the teacher change the grade.

I felt that this was wrong of the parent and the principal. I feel that they are undermining the teacher's authority. She is trying to establish a precedent and make the students concentrate on their penmenship as well as spelling. If she can't read it, how does she know it is right?

Now, this child has the opinion that the teacher is wrong. And if he disagrees with her rules all he has to do is cry to momma and she will fix it. This child has already had two rounds of in-school suspension due to behavior problems. I see a correlation here.

But, I was the only one out of five people in on this discussion that saw that point of view. Everyone else sided with the Mom. Is my thinking off base? Am I missing something? Or was I just raised differently?

I can remember words being marked wrong or at least points taken off if it was unreadable. Maybe my opinion just comes from my own personal experience. I know that there are some inept teachers but I truly believe they are far and few between. If you have a problem with the teacher or don't understand why she did something, I think she should be confronted first. Don't go over her head without giving her the benefit of discussion.

What is your opinion?