Credit for a 2 word exam using the F Word

Story Here.

"It would be wicked to give it zero because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for, like conveying some meaning and some spelling," Buckroyd was quoted as saying.

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Oh I really think this student is bright. Glad this teacher is doing a great job of teaching.

"It's better than someone that doesn't write anything at all."

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No, I think in this case it would have been better to write nothing at all.

when I was in high school that would have been grounds for suspension.
when I taught high school that would have been grounds for detention.

at any point in my life that would have been grounds for a "0" on the test and likely no chance for a "redo". (some of my college classes let you toss out your low test score)

sad thing is, I can see something similar being done here in the states.

Erik said:

sad thing is, I can see something similar being done here in the states.

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I believe that.

Erik said:

when I taught high school that would have been grounds for detention.


sad thing is, I can see something similar being done here in the states.

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Eric I know you are or were a teacher and I also know that Bob S. wife is also a teacher .

Ok , my feeling is the so called student is wrong , I honestly believe he should have been given 0 credit and expelled.

I have afew questions :If this happened in the U.S. , Should the teacher also be written up for his action in making this decision ? How do you feel about tenor (SP) ? where after a certain amount of time its damn near impossible to fire a bad teacher ?

show some very basic skills we are looking for, like conveying some meaning and some spelling," Buckroyd was quoted as saying.

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According to the skills the teacher was asking for the student did that. the meaning was anger and he spelled it right. he should have elaborated a whole lot more. But sometimes a student is angry and just tries to tick off the system or get a reaction for attention. I think it was funny and shows the teacher to think out of the box, have a sense of humor and the ability to ignore an obvious ploy to gain attention for the wrong reason. Instead...the negative attention the student was expecting the system to give him was given 2 points and a pat on the back following directions. Sometimes it's better to ignore the negative behavior.

When my son was in the second grade, I would drive him to school in Anchorage.

As we went past signs along the road, he would say a letter... "M" then a pause.. is for "McDonald's", "S"... is for "Sears" and so forth for about six blocks...

When I got to the school, I got out of the truck and walked around to the Passenger side to get him out and when I opened the door, he was smiling and said "Dad, I know what the letter F is for".

I was a bit taken aback and asked with a great deal of dread... "What?"

He had the "Impish" look on his face and with a big smile said... "FFFrrrooooggg"!

I laughed all the way back to the house to almost tears....

BigAl said:

Eric I know you are or were a teacher and I also know that Bob S. wife is also a teacher .

Ok , my feeling is the so called student is wrong , I honestly believe he should have been given 0 credit and expelled.

I have afew questions :If this happened in the U.S. , Should the teacher also be written up for his action in making this decision ? How do you feel about tenor (SP) ? where after a certain amount of time its damn near impossible to fire a bad teacher ?

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my personal belief is that the use or wearing of profanity in school is wrong - and when I was a teacher, it was grounds for disciplinary action, very clearly spelled out in the school handbook issued at the beginning of each school year.
As to giving points on the test for an incomplete sentence that did not answer the question asked, I disagree with that action as well, since by that logic any 27 word answer would have been worth the full 27 points. If the teacher's actions were in line with school policy regarding foul language, then it was not an incorrect action. (however, I still think it was "wrong")
to answer your last question, tenure is not in itself a bad thing, but the way it is used with no checks and balances in a lot of districts causes a political nightmare and can be detrimental to the quality of instruction in those districts.


Cory, I have to disagree with you on this one. That level of disrespect is not funny, and allowing the student to "get away" with it teaches a lack of consequences for their actions, as well as degrading what little level of authority teachers are still allowed to have in the classroom. I remember a lecture by a senior chief petty officer once where he told all of us in the room that everything has consequences and you have to choose if an action is worth paying them, reqardless of the action. The kid who wrote that test answer did not expect any - and didn't have to pay them. With that lesson in mind, what's going to happen when he pulls the same stunt on a cop or judge? I have an idea, and the person who ends up paying those consequences will be clueless as to why they're being "picked on unfairly" at that point.

BigAl said:

How do you feel about tenor (SP) ? where after a certain amount of time its damn near impossible to fire a bad teacher ?

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Erik said:

to answer your last question, tenure is not in itself a bad thing, but the way it is used with no checks and balances in a lot of districts causes a political nightmare and can be detrimental to the quality of instruction in those districts.

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I never like tenure. Erik you are probably right in the fact that it was not set up right or monitored.

I think cases can be made wear both Erik and Cory could be right here. I know of one case that involved my MIL. There was a little Hispanic boy named Francis in her class. My MIL ALWAYS got the problem children, mostly because she was excellent and could handle them. Well one particular day there was a Nun there to observe something for one reason or another. As my MIL handed out the work to be completed Francis says rather loudly. "I am NOT going to do this SHIT." My MIL never flinched and the Nun did not say a word. So Francis repeated it louder, "I am NOT going to do this SHIT!" The students who were used to Francis did not say a word either. One more time he says, " I am NOT going to do this SHIT!" Still nothing. Finally Francis hangs his head and says, "I guess I am gonna do this shit." The Nun smiled and on they went. The tactic does not work in all cases, but here is one where it did.

thcri said:

I never like tenure. Erik you are probably right in the fact that it was not set up right or monitored.

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The school we have here is a small one, and I was on the school board for a few years.

Tenure is the worst thing that ever happened to the teaching system, for both the good teachers, the children and the community as a whole.

Our school only has about 15 teachers or so and we are on our own. When we have a "Bad" teacher, you can't "release" them if they are tenured, you are pretty much stuck with them, and it only takes one or two to really be a drag on the rest.

The School has a budget of a couple of million dollars, and it cost almost $300,000.00 (may be more now) in legal fees and appeals by the NEA before you can get rid of them. The school can't afford that cost, so the only thing you can do is put them in a place that they can do the least amount of harm until they either quit or retire and few quit that type of job that pays $50,000.00 a year +. The good ones that get fed up with the bad teachers, on the other hand do quit and move to a different school.

In larger school districts that have hundreds of teachers and such, have the money to fight such cases, or can make life so miserable for them they do quit.

No other job that can affect our kids has tenure that I am aware of. Our kids are the most important thing in our lives and to be subjected to a bad teacher that you can't get rid of is just plain stupid policy.

There are on the other hand, a lot of really good teachers that do try to balance the load out.

rback33 said:

I think cases can be made wear both Erik and Cory could be right here. I know of one case that involved my MIL. There was a little Hispanic boy named Francis in her class. My MIL ALWAYS got the problem children, mostly because she was excellent and could handle them. Well one particular day there was a Nun there to observe something for one reason or another. As my MIL handed out the work to be completed Francis says rather loudly. "I am NOT going to do this SHIT." My MIL never flinched and the Nun did not say a word. So Francis repeated it louder, "I am NOT going to do this SHIT!" The students who were used to Francis did not say a word either. One more time he says, " I am NOT going to do this SHIT!" Still nothing. Finally Francis hangs his head and says, "I guess I am gonna do this shit." The Nun smiled and on they went. The tactic does not work in all cases, but here is one where it did.

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This is the the type of kid I worked with for a couple of years. Kid's that I had to follow behavior specialists protocol. It is very hard to ignore bad behavior, but with these kids it worked.

Erik said:

Cory, I have to disagree with you on this one. That level of disrespect is not funny, and allowing the student to "get away" with it teaches a lack of consequences for their actions, as well as degrading what little level of authority teachers are still allowed to have in the classroom. I remember a lecture by a senior chief petty officer once where he told all of us in the room that everything has consequences and you have to choose if an action is worth paying them, regardless of the action. The kid who wrote that test answer did not expect any - and didn't have to pay them. With that lesson in mind, what's going to happen when he pulls the same stunt on a cop or judge? I have an idea, and the person who ends up paying those consequences will be clueless as to why they're being "picked on unfairly" at that point.

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You are right too. This is another reason I homeschool because of Kids like this and the ones like in Rback's story. The other kids in the class are silent because they are used to it....well, I don't want my young sons to be used to that kind of stuff. I always feel pride when they see a kid misbehaving in public, and they are as suprised the kid is behaving as they are noticing the parents do nothing.