The first thing we do let's kill all the lawyers
Apologies to William Shakespeare, although if he were alive today, I believe he'd be as befuddled as I over this Salon article that describes the recent rash of lawsuits against schools who have flunked students. Ah, isn't it wonderful the way lawyers help clear the air and stabilize the balance of power among administrators, teachers, and parents? It's amazing to see great minds at work, such as the lawyer in the Sunrise Mountain High School case, who not only agreed to take the case of a student who had clearly flunked class through her own boneheaded and careless behavior, but made sure to include veiled threats against the teacher being sued in his opening salvo.
The school district caved and made the teacher give a last-minute test to the student - a test the student had previously taken, by the way - so that the student could graduate on time. Good thing, too, considering the student claimed to have "been very sick, unable to sleep or eat and...forced to seek medical attention", thanks to her own ineptitude. What could the teacher have been thinking, flunking a senior who had "plagiarized a test, skipped classes, failed assignments and even missed a make-up session that might have allowed her to raise her grade"?
Bonus points to Salon for managing to work in a quote from Kathleen Lyons of the NEA, who thinks that one reason that misguided parents are rushing to sue schools is because "the high stakes of standardized testing has led to high stress". Too bad she doesn't also give a convincing reason why the school districts, who presumably implemented the higher standards, should suffer such fools.
Amusing asides - The Curmudgeon bemoans his "pitiful lack of education", and Damian Penny of Daimnation! reports on the same story, with the same Shakespearean quote.