Ross Sheppard High School in Edmonton Canada (famous alma mater includes absolutely nobody) has disciplined a teacher for awarding a grade of zero to a student that did nothing. This teacher, with 35 years under his belt, and is well liked by all - threw in the towel, accepted the suspension and decided to retire rather than suffer the ignominy of dealing with the mental atoms on the school board any longer.
"Students should be accountable. That's against what I've been doing my whole career because I believe the student should be accountable for what they're doing." Dorval said he always gave uncompleted work what is called "reluctant zeros," where his students were given a number of opportunities to make up the assignment and have the zero replaced with a mark. "Most of my students did that," he said. "By the end of the year, I hardly had any zeros at all."Asked why the school board would encourage teachers to make up marks in order to pass students, Dorval stated, "It's what they call social promotion. It's a way of pushing kids through even though they're not actually doing the work. It's a way of getting them through, getting their credits and of course making the staff look very good." Teachers were instructed to use their "informed professional judgement" at the end of the year when handing out marks, he said.
Student reaction to suspension was as predicted:
"He shouldn't even be teaching anymore. If he wants to hand out zeros, he should be doing some other job — not a teacher."
—Ryan Grouette, Grade 10
"If students show up they deserve a minimum mark. A zero seems a bit extreme."
—Cindy Smith, Grade 11
Here's where KC brings it all home for you - my sort of "Jerry Springer" sums it all up in one minute vignette.
Cindy, Ryan - I've got news for you, you precious little snowflakes. Your parents lied to you. The school and all your teachers lied to you - with the exception of Mr. Dorval. The real world will give you a zero every frigging day of your life, and will do so with relish. With glee. There are 500 million kids in third world countries that will paint a giant, flourescent "0" on your ass everyday. With relish. With glee.
In the real world - there are no "participation awards" or "I came to work so I should be paid bonuses". If you just show up to work, you don't get paid. You get fired. If you show up to work and work hard and contribute, and create wealth, you get paid, and eventually bonused. Or you go somewhere else, or you start your own business.
I am an executive in a financial services company. And let me assure you, you precious little snowflakes, all unique and special - I hand out zeros everyday. Because I have to, so that I don't get a zero. And that's how it works. And if you don't understand that, and your parents can't get you to understand that - start barista training immediately. But seriously - even Tim Horton's hands out zeros.
Mr. Dorval has been sacrificed. He can do no more good for you two imbeciles, or for any other kid for that matter. Teachers with the honor, courage, intellect and comportment to teach these days are a rare breed, and there are very few left. In fact, the rolls have shrunk by one.
The teacher unions encourage these low standards in order to get paid for work they haven't done - essentially fleecing the taxpayer by providing shoddy goods and services.
Hard working Canadians that fill up their lunch box and go to work everyday to avoid getting a zero should speak up. Before the world teaches your kids what a zero really is.
Game on.
To read the sad story:
http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120531/edm_zero_120531/20120531/?hub=EdmontonHome#.T8f5ELC97pg.mailto
To malign the school's chief opponent of zeros, write here:
| ron.bradley@epsb.ca |
I too support Mr. Dorval and the general opinion of your blog. But there was at least one famous alumnus from Ross Shep. "The Great One", yes Wayne Gretzky went to Shep.
ReplyDeleteReally? I thought he was 18 when he went to the oilers, so he must have gone for a very short period of time, but if he did, I stand corrected! I thought he was from Ontario...
ReplyDeleteIt was pointed out to me by another reader that the Great One attended, but did not graduate. Still, World 1, RS 0
ReplyDeleteBwahahaha.
DeleteThese individuals sometimes come to my classes. I routinely hear about how unfair it is for a university professor to refuse extensions on 5-page assignments that people had (ONLY?) three, three and a half months to work on.
Amen! I have 4 kids and volunteered in the school system for 15 years and it irked me how the slacker kids did nothing all year, but oh man, when report cards came out and they had those big fat zeros, THEN their parents decided to step in and complain, blaming it all on the teacher and expecting the grade to be changed to at least a "D" for effort. What effort???? Yeah, they expected their kid to get a pat on the back just for showing up to school! From day one, those types of parents are setting their kids up for failure in the REAL world...which might explain why there are so many people on welfare here---they gave up trying a long time ago, and learned that they could just skate by and still make the grade, so why bother working hard for ANYTHING when you can get it for free?? The only other time I saw these types of parents get "involved" in their child's school was the day their fundraiser candies and toys came in---if there was something wrong with their order, they showed up bright and early at the school the next day to bitch about it---never mind that their kid had zeros in all their class work! Geez, this kind of stuff makes me CRAZY! I sincerely hope this school in Canada gets their sh** together before it's too late!
ReplyDeleteTeachers shouldn't have to chase students to get assignments finished or to redo exams. The teacher is there to teach not coddle your children. Of course Ryan and Cindy disagree because then they would actually have to work and accomplish something. What better way to improve your self-esteem than your parents and teachers being proud of you for doing the assignment to the best of your ability? Not wanting to do it is just plain lazy. Where is/are the student(s) that earned this 0% that resulted in Mr. Dorval being suspended? Where is their accountability?
ReplyDeleteI shutter at the thought that this generation will one day run the country.
That is my point exactly my friend. These kids won't be running Canada. Asian kids will. And I'm not entirely sure that is a bad thing at this point....
ReplyDeleteIn my small town the teenagers refuse to work so most of the businesses around here have filipinos working there now because they actually want to earn money for their families back home. Finally my order at the drive through is faster and correct, not like before. I see this happening but the kids are compeletly oblivious to this fact. They get a job and then quit and say they weren't trained, or they were unfair, or they were treated badly. The teenagers for the most part don't seemed to care and while they never got a zero in school,they can't be dumb,can they? This is the effect of coddling and I'm sick of it, myself. Thanks for standing up Mr. Dorval!
DeleteMy own personal viewpoint is that if you don't actually do the work, you don't get the mark! Period. No whining etc. Why are we graduating kids who still can't read, write, spell properly or do math??? Aren't we SUPPOSED to be enlightened and providing a 'good' education for our kids? Is it good too teach someone that you can still get the goodies (graduation) by doing nothing and not contributing a damn thing? I'm interested in people who do their fair share, work hard and don't expect to get something by doing nothing to help themselves. Just to be clear - What we are actually doing here in our education system is teaching that you can be a slacker, a taker who expects others to support them when they do nothing and they will STILL get the rewards (graduation) by doing/contributing zero. Is that fair to the kids who actually do the work to EARN the grades they get - by merit?
ReplyDeleteWe are creating a welfare society, get it? How do you think the welfare system is supported, financially? Don't you understand that it's by YOUR tax dollars?
Do YOU want to be supporting all those kids with YOUR tax dollars and YOUR hard earned money because they don't want to make an effort in school that they should have?
Also, it is DEFINITELY not the school or teachers responsibility to instill these values into the child/student - but the parents!! This is a big social issue - that these students' parents haven't shown them the value of education, of achievement, a good work ethic etc. If they never learned this at home, they are really going to struggle at the school level, but really whose responsibility are these people?
Then there are the kids who just refuse to learn, because they are bored in school, because they want out - whatever the reason, whether you are a teacher or a parent, and a student refuses to learn- can you make them do something they don't want to do and get an honest response out of them? Of course not! It's stupid to try.
Perhaps for those students it would be far better if they were no longer in the school system, but were allowed to leave physically, after all, they've already left mentally so why keep the zombie body there in the school where they do not want to be? I assure you that once they had to fend for themselves and be responsible for their own upkeep that they would have a very serious wake-up call about REAL life.
Why are we so insistent to wrap our kids in cotton wool, instead of allowing real life experience to be gained? What are we protecting them from? Failure is not a bad thing, it teaches resilience and it can make you try harder the next time. We are instead teaching our kids that you make a decision and there are NO consequences for that behaviour, it will all be fixed for you.
It's wrong and it should STOP.
Well said brother. In the past, kids that weren't academics could get jobs in manufacturing or trades. The unions inflated the wages and benefits so much that those jobs went overseas. Don't blame greedy corporations - blame greedy unions. And Puble Sector Unions (led by the teachers unions) are the last stranglehold. Reduce or eliminate minimum wage, employ more folks and rebuild manufacturing in Canada.
DeleteYou remember when you were a kid and had 'Play Days' at school? The winner of a particular event got a 1st place red ribbon, 2nd got a blue ribbon and 3rd got a white? Then they started giving out 'participant' ribbons. Really? What did we start to teach children then? Just showing up is good enough. It would appear that the perception of a higher percentage of graduating students is more important to the school board than actually producing quality students ready to face real world challenges. Hopefully the school board will be able to hire some of these same students when they are unable to hold a job in the real world because all they did was show up.
ReplyDeleteYou got that right! Perhaps the left is simply content just to breed more leftists!
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you all for your comments. As a parent of a child who is just starting her life in school this fall, I am hoping that they will begin instituting the "0" policy. I grew up in the system where if you didn't do the work, then you got a Zero for it. Yes, at Track and Field days, I got a participant ribbon, as a recognition of getting out there and at least trying to go for the Red Ribbon.
ReplyDeleteBut inside School was a different story. If I didn't do the work, I didn't get the mark. And I didn't have the luxury of handing it in late, and getting a full mark. One teach would allow it to be handed in late, but each week late, I would loose 5% of the mark. If I decided to hand it in a month late, the most I could hope for was an 80%. It sure gave me a wake up call, and made me actually work for the mark that I wanted.
It is sad to think that children have slipped through our education system, only to find out in Grade 12 that they can't read. That is the on the parents. To promote reading, they should be having their child read to them every night. There is nothing better than being cuddled up with your child on the couch or before bed having them read to you.
I remember in my Grade 12 year, there were about 6 people that graduated the year before that had to come back to Grade 12 to get their marks up so that they could be high enough to be accepted into University or Trades College. Why not get it right the first time?
I fully support the teachers that give zero's, and hope that my child's teachers give her the zero's if she deserves them.
Hey - thank you for writing. THe teacher unions forbid teachers from being tough on students because it reflects badly on them. And teachers certainly don't want to get caught in the same room as a performance evaluation. As teachers are apt to say "the performance of children can only be increased with the proper involvement of parents". Always struck me funny that they themselves are saying the best best way for children to be educated is to have less teacher involvement. I guess it makes sense when you think it through. Sounds like you are doing alright by your child!
ReplyDeleteNice work as always....
ReplyDeleteSuperior work!
ReplyDeleteI like commenting on my own blogs....
ReplyDeleteI agree with your agreeance
ReplyDelete