A few months ago I posted a story about two of my students who were accused of cheating on the math regents.. I've come to believe that the boy involved really was cheating but I am still having trouble dealing withe the way the whole thing was handled.
To begin with, the kids parents were never called. The kids themselves were never even told what they were accused of and they were never given a chance to try to prove themselves innocent. But, this is all old stuff that I have written about.
The girl involved got to take the regents in June. She found it easy and I am sure she did well on it. The boy was not allowed to take the exam.
The boy did not understand why he failed the class and why he was not allowed to retake the regents as the girl was. He is learning diaabled and will be placed in special education classes in September. He sent me an e-mail questioning his failing grade. I could only repeat what I had been told in June. His parents are fairly new immigrants to this country and his dad might have some learning disabilities also. They do not have the ability to question the failing grade and the disqualified regents.
If we are truly here to teach these kids, we should want this boy to learn from his mistake. Clearly, it was not handled in a way that would teach. And, since he doesn't understand his crime, there is nothing to prevent him from repeating it in the future.
3 comments:
That seems unfair that one was allowed to take the Regents and the other was not. It's hard to figure how they justify such a thing.
Couldn't you have told this student that his parents would have to meet with the principal to disucss this situation?
I told both students to get their parents involved. New immigrant parents are often afraid to question authorities. I also asked the guidance counselor to help. No response. I tried to intervene for the kids and got no where.
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