The even worse part about this situation. Is the the zero was not given till the end of the Semester! The had weeks and months in which to get assignments done. The teacher was willing to extend and even gave up his lunch time to be available to students to help.

Also the teacher was not suspended for giving zeros. He was suspended for insubordination for not following school policy.

This is embarrassing!

Ha! Wait until these little darlings decide they don't need to show up for work. Of course that assumes they will ever get off the couch to find work.

...once again treating today's teens as if they are less competent and more fragile than any of the generations preceding them.

I am keeping this quote. I wish I could spam it all over the internet.

Can't help but notice, especially in light of the post after this one, that the teacher in question is male.

Maybe you are onto something Cousin Dave, plus he is white. Can not forget Old. Plus he teaches the hardest of the sciences, physics.

So why was he fired?
A) Male
B) Old
C) White
D) Science/ physics teacher
E) Not an unethical push-over lackey/yesman

I vote E)

Sometimes there are no bogey men or conspiracies.

Really I am amazed at this. Just imagine how my life would have turned out if the Edmonton Public School board had done this for me when I was in high school.

This is beyond stupid. With this policy alone the schools have made a high school degree worth even less. Want to go for broke. Already some colleges and universities are becoming this.

A quote from the article, "It’s part of a national trend proponents say helps ensure more students make it through the school system,..."

So the goal is to have the "students make it through the school system" so the school appears to be graduating a higher percentage of students.

I read an article in another Edmonton paper this morning that said that the school trustees are getting a lot of calls in support of the teacher.

Re the link to the Enid Blyton controversy and changing "Dick and Fannie" to "Rick and Frannie," one commentator said,

"I’m sympathetic to this but I’m also sensitive to the idea of these names becoming a distraction. Try reading the Swallows and Amazons series aloud with one of the main characters named Titty… As a shortened variant of Elizabeth, it could be changed to Betty or Lizzie or Liza or Beth or anything. I don’t know that I would equate changing Dick and Fanny to Rick and Frannie as taking the N word out of Huckleberry Finn: one is just ornament while the other other is integral to the story.

"So, mark me down as OK with changing names if it doesn’t tamper with the story. Sorry if it doesn’t jibe with your memory but think of it as an updated translation or something."

(end)

I agree, somewhat. That is, while we can argue forever about a PUBLISHER's right to change what's in a book, parents and teachers certainly need to be constantly on the lookout for things that will only make them look dense and foolish to kids if they DON'T change them. (Example: If you're reading/lecturing on the subject of pirates, don't say "booty"!)

And when I was reading aloud Walter Brooks' minor 1950 classic "Jimmy Takes Vanishing Lessons" to my nieces recently, I was compelled to change the ghost's line "you seem pretty stupid, even for a boy" to "you seem pretty stupid, even for a KID." After all, it's clear enough to an adult that Brooks wasn't male-bashing, but it would be far too easy for young contemporary listeners to assume otherwise, unfortunately.

OooO. I think Steamer nailed it. This isn't about the teens' egos. It isn't about encouraging student achievement. It's about pushing them through. He even says it in the article: "This is just a way of inflating marks and it's not benefiting the students ... It's a way of pushing kids through and making the stats look good, but at what cost?"

As usual. If a lot of students don't complete work, they fail. If a lot of students fail, then the school looks bad. If the school looks bad, then they get penalized (usually via funding). So this is a way to protect it.

As Steamer said, it's about pushing students through the system. Notice the word that the word teaching is absent from that sentence. It's about getting them out the doors to improve those statistics! Who the hell cares what happens after that? Someone else's problem now.

Don't worry. When they are older, bosses and customers will chase after them in order to get the work done, and no paycheck will ever be in jeopardy for tardiness or failure to complete a task.

And the IRS will patiently wait too for any filings. Take as long as you need, kids!

So will all creditors hoping for payment.

And any children these people have themselves will likely patiently wait for food, warmth, attention and diaper changes.

Yup, those students can expect a whole life of other people making sure important things in the students' lives get done eventually, long after the due date.

There's another factor at play: money.

Schools are following the examples of colleges and inflating grades as a way to let politicians brag. In exchange they get more money.

This is also cover-your-ass for those teachers who don't do shit. They don't grade papers, they don't correct assignments; they're lazy asses who are floating by. (In my own experience, which may not be reflective, a high percentage of these teachers are heavily involved in sports or music programs--they weren't hired to teach, but to give the principal bragging rights for having the best X.)

My husband taught a summer university math course when he was a grad student. He was the only instructor, but he took over after the original instructor fell ill.

As I recall, there was a student who had some medical issue and asked for a postponed final exam, but didn't show up to take it and didn't respond to emails. I believe the student also had not turned in most of the assignments and/or failed the previous exam. My husband tried very hard to get in touch with this student, but was left with no valid option but to fail the "kid" (this was college). The only problem was that there was no F possible on the grading system. This was early 2000's at a private university.

I believe he managed to get them to put an F on the record, as none of the other options actually applied (the student hadn't even tried to withdraw), but it was a major hassle. Of course, they may have changed it to No-Credit or something.

"I can't give him a 0? OK, how about I give him a 01."