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Primeau & Grose: Behind the Scenes
Teachers!!!!! Where are you???
Posted 9/13/2012 10:14:00 AM

One lowly teacher, regardless of reason stood up and said, if a zero is deserved a zero you get. Over the summer another teacher stood up and said, ditto!! There you have it, two teachers. In the entire province of educators there are only two teachers who believe marks should be earned? Two teachers who believe students must actually do the work to earn marks?  Two teachers with back bone?

Sure maybe both these teachers are complete asses. Maybe no one likes them. Maybe they don’t rank high on the ‘I love you list’ from students or other teachers for that matter. Popularity isn’t the issue. Subordination isn’t the issue. Teaching is the issue. When you send your child to school you expect that in twelve years they will learn the fundamentals of learning, not regurgitation. Any fool can parrot, not any fool can learn and life is about the ability to learn, to adapt, to advance.

This crap about esteem makes me want to gag with a wooden spoon. Esteem ought to be generated at home. A parent should instinctively know if their child is actually doing the work. What kind of parent really wants their child to get an underserved mark. Wouldn’t that set your kid up for natural failure? The world is a tough teacher. Get used to it!

But I digress. What surprises more about this whole issue is the number two. Two teachers. Are you telling me that hundreds of teachers in Alberta actually believe the crap about unearned marks? Do they actually believe a child should just be passed along until they hit the streets and if fundamentally they are ‘stupid’ that’s okay? A teacher’s responsibility is to teach! If a child is taught that reward comes without effort or work what have we done?

Every teacher in Alberta who actually believes they teach should pick a day and stand on the front lawn of their school in support of teaching, not just these two, but TEACHING! Frankly every parent who believes in teaching should join them. What a disgrace for Alberta Education, the ATA and every school board that this has gone on for so long.

What has this mess taught everyone??
Posted By: Lesley Primeau  

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  1. KimT_3 posted on 09/13/2012 03:58 PM
    Good one Lesley. It's time the kids out there learn that everything is not going to be handed to them. The best thing PARENT's and the teacher can do for these kids is to teach them it takes hard work to suceed.
  2. dmayhew posted on 09/13/2012 05:15 PM
    The big problem here is that high school funding is based on course completion. This is a Provincial government policy. If students don't complete the course, the school does not get money. Because of this, teachers have been instructed to get the students through the course at all costs, as it affects the bottom line of individual school budgets. All a student has to do to get a zero or two, and they do not stand a chance of completing the course and then the school does not get money.
  3. Dean posted on 09/13/2012 06:46 PM
    My oldest goes to Ross Shep, and the kids there had a campaign going to have the first teacher re-instated last year. The other teachers were ripping their posters off of the wall. We are raising a whole batch of kids that don't know how to deal with failure because we are so involved in keeping them from it. They will have NO CLUE how to deal with it when they are older. Everyone makes the team, and everyone gets a trophy, they have no idea that sometimes you just aren't good enough, and it's coming back to bite us in the ass now.
  4. Pat posted on 09/14/2012 10:48 AM
    I'm a retired teacher, but I agree wholeheartedly with the two teachers who have put their job on the line. I wonder what I can do to support these two?
  5. FosterC posted on 09/15/2012 05:07 PM
    IT IS TIME TO LAY THE LAW LAW DOWN AND GET RID OF THE PATHETIC SCHOOL BOARD AND ANY TEACHER OR PRINCIPAL THAT ARE NOT WORTH BEING IN THE EDUCATION FIELD IF THEY THINK GIVING NO ZERO'S THEY DOING GOOD. ALL THEY ARE DOING IS PUTTING OUT BUNCH OF PEOPLE THAT WILL NOT LAST IN THE REAL WORLD. ALSO GET RID OF THE COMPUTERS FOR DOING EVERY THING NONE OF THE STUDENTS AND THE GREAT MAJORITY OF TEACHERS CAN NOT WRITE PROPERLY OR DO ANY THING THAT REQUIRES MATH WITH OUT A COMPUTER.
  6. SAUNTER.MM@GMAIL.COM posted on 09/16/2012 09:32 AM
    Support fired teacher Dorval - switch YOUR PUBLIC school tax to SEPARATE school at City Hall. PROPERTY TAX DOLLARS will be loud protest - the public school board MUST respond and resind the firing of the "ZERO-Marking" teacher. ZERO was earned by the students - ZERO was given. Public Protest at Ross Shepherd Public School. Take your tax dollars out!

    Your ZERO TAX DOLLARS TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD WILL GET ATTENTION! CALL CITY OF EDMONTON PROPERTY TAXES.
    taxinquiry@edmonton.ca or call the
    mayor's office 780 496 8100 and request to change your property school tax to separate.
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