Teaching is not a "thankless job" for ReformK12's readers, one of whom sent in a nice thank-you from a parent after handing out an "F":
I was in the middle of an activity with my students when the school's guidance counselor approached me. With a very serious face, said he had a parent who wanted to speak with me, and would I be willing to spend a few minutes with her while he watched my class?
Not a problem. I went to his office, and found a glowing parent, who profusely thanked me for all that I'd done for her daughter, who would be graduating at the end of this school year.
She was especially grateful for one little thing I did.
See, I'd given her daughter an F for the third quarter, and her mother couldn't be more tickled.
What this failing grade had done was give her daughter a well-needed kick in the pants. She'd done a mediocre performance the first two quarters, but this failing third quarter grade gave her the sobering thought that she might fail the entire course.
The student in question had actually turned her attitude around before her mother's visit, but the teacher should be commended for giving the student the grade she deserved. Kudos also goes to the mom for worrying more about her daughter's achievements than her "self-esteem."
Update: And kudos to Jay Mathews of the WaPo (with whom N2P readers should be very familiar), who can't imagine why kids are expected to stagger under the weight of high stakes tests when kids are given grades, tests, and homework every day in school. He also cites research which suggests that students do best in the classrooms that have the toughest standards:
What was most important in the differences between hard and easy graders was the improvement shown by their students. Students in classrooms where higher standards were enforced showed significantly greater test score gains than those in classrooms where A's were handed out like candy samples at your local multi-screen theater...
Also, high-achieving students exposed to tougher grading standards showed even more improvement if the achievement level of their classroom, on average, was relatively low. The same additional improvement was seen in low-achieving students assigned to tougher grading teachers whose students had an overall achievement level that was relatively high.
Thanks to Devoted Reader Mary C. for sending this in.