Johnny was so proud of finally getting A's on his report card. He knew how important that grade was. His parents had told him over and over again that if he got a B again, or heaven forbid a C, the house would be split up and the children would all be sent separate places to live. Johnny did not want to leave his family and he knew, as the oldest, a placement for him would not easily be found. He pictured himself spending the rest of his childhood moving from here to there, spending at most a month in any one location. He knew things would be better for his younger siblings. They didn't eat much and were cheap to raise. Besides, they were cute. Someone would pick them up immediately.Johnny also knew he didn't really have the right stuff to get the A's he so needed. Desperate times called for desperate actions and Johnny did just that. Instead of taking real courses, he took online courses and got his smart friends to do all the work. He handed in a portfolio to make up an art credit, but that too was done by someone else. He also took some late afternoon courses, courses that passed students for showing up and even rewarded them with pizza and trips just because. He managed to fulfill his math requirements this way as he knew he could never master even the simplest topics on his own. In addition to all this, Johnny still needed Saturday gym and credit recovery history. Overwhelmed and ready to give it all up, a kindly AP solved that problem by telling him to sign into Saturday gym (no one would look for him after he signed) and then go to the computer room where tutors were waiting to do the credit recovery
Johnny got his A and his family home was saved. His parents sent e-mails to all their friends and family, bragging about Johnny's accomplishment. But, Johnny knew the truth. He knew he didn't deserve the A. He lived in constant fear of being exposed. He knew he had nothing to boast about.
3 comments:
Clever analogy! How many of our schools have been restructured because Johnny didn't get his A?
In how many more places (cities--Washington,D.C.; Atlanta; Philadelphia...)did test cheating occur (& schools were saved)?
I don't know if you have been keeping up with the posts over at SUPPORT PUBLIC SCHOOLS, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Rhee has invaded college ed departments including Cornell's.
And people like Gates and Murdoch are donating huge amounts of money to candidates in local school board elections. They are running huge mudslinging campaigns against ordinary housewives in order to get their puppets in.
The attackers are infiltrating all levels of education from colleges to local elected officials and no one saw this coming. Now Eva has her sights on co-locating in middle class neighborhood schools claiming--get this---her school will not have overcrowded classrooms!!
The sad thing is, too many teachers are not aware what's happening around them. And it will be too late.
btw, I met someone who told me his championship soccer-player son will not get into any 4 year college due to his grades. I asked why was he allowed to play with horrible grades, and he said because the school wanted to win championships. Of course what I really wanted to ask was why he and his wife didn't take this action until his grades were up.
I am sure when parents get these inflated standardized test scores they have to know on a deeper level it's not real.
How about the math AP in my school who stands in the room during regents translating the exam but for all anyone knows might be giving out answers? Can this be legal?
Post a Comment