Students Must Earn Grades

On a September day a number of years ago, I found myself driving into a small town in southwestern Washington looking for the high school.

I had just returned from Montreal where I had taught high-school English for three years. This little town was a sharp contrast to the beautiful metropolis on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec.

I had signed a contract to teach because the regular English teacher hadn’t shown up and school was about to begin. Though I had some misgivings, wondering why the teacher hadn’t shown up, I thought I could be of some help.

But my misgivings were confirmed in a few weeks when the principal, Mr. Olson, stopped by my desk and informed me that “these students are used to getting A’s.”

I had given a test and had given the usual mix of grades depending on merit. There were only a few A papers.

Naively, I asked, “Do you mean all the students are supposed to get A’s?”

“Most of them,” he said.

I thought he must be jesting, and I continued grading according to the merit of each paper. But in a few months, I learned that he was not kidding.

I was called into the superintendent’s office and summarily dismissed. I had read and heard of teachers being let go for not giving A’s, and now it had happened to me.

Some parents also had been calling to tell me I was out of line. Even the telephone operator told me in no uncertain terms that her daughter was used to getting A’s. I told her I would be glad to give the girl an A if she turned in an A paper.

Someone asked if I was going to sue for the balance of my contract. I did not. The principal probably wanted a raise, and I was just glad to get out of the boonies.

I learned from this experience that adversity has its own rewards. William Shakespeare said it all: “Sweet are the uses of adversity; which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.”

I quit teaching then, mainly because of the low standards. I worked as a technical writer for Boeing and had a business of my own.

I still believe that schools should be places of instruction, not places for giving students A’s they don’t deserve.

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