Memo 55

Dear Student:


If you did not get a 95 or better in algebra please give up on the notion of ever taking advanced placement calculus.  You just aren't smart enough.  We are trying to build a very elite group of students who will do well in BC and you are not one of them.  We cannot waste school resources by allowing you to double up on math courses in your junior year.  You certainly are not honor material so don't even think about trying to get into one of those sections.  You just aren't worth the money it would take.  Besides, your grade of 92 means you are incapable of succeeding.  And, those of you that got in the 80's, stick to English or history.  Math is not for you.


Those of you who aren't good enough for AP calculus might not meet the requirements for AP statistics either.  Don't bother asking me.  You should know that you don't make the grade.  I don't want to waste my time on you.


Sincerely,


I won't waste a signature on you guys.  You probably can't read it either.

Okay, I know the above is a slight exaggeration.  But, it is what I got out of the memo posted below.  You can read it and decide for yourself.  I spent years trying to make the AP classes more accessible to more students.  I see nothing has changed.  Actually, not nothing.  Things might have gotten worse.  Just think what a memo like this would have said to Einstein.

May 14, 2012

Please open the classroom windows during the day. It is very warm in some classrooms and students are dozing off. Fresh air also does the mind good.

Please announce to your students that the Math department final dates will be June 1, 2012 for long questions and June 12, 2012 for short answer and multiple choice questions.

Please spend some time talking to your students as to what math classes they will be taking next year. You already know what we programmed them for.  I have seen many students, particularly from the upper level classes wanting to know if they could take AP Stat, etc. Please make sure you communicate with them so that they do not come here to ask me. They either meet the requirements or not.

Students in ME22 should only be recommended for MR21H if they have a 95 or above average, meaning they will score just as high on the Regents exam, and have an overall average of 95 or higher.  It is my mission to build the AP Cal BC program and these students are certainly good enough to be in that class. If you gave a student a grade lower than 95 in ME22 and their academic average is below 95, there is really no need for the student to double up during his/her junior year.

I have seen a number of teachers regarding the recommendations. In some cases, only two recommendations were changed and it was because the teacher was trying to be nice by giving a grade of 55 instead of 50. In other cases, more than ten changes were. The G.C..s would have programmed these students for the wrong classes. Remember, students were programmed based on the second marking period grades you gave them and if your grades do not fall in within the guidelines, some students will be incorrectly programmed. I recognized a while back that some of the programming errors were caused by math teachers who fail to follow the guidelines. We must work together from this point on and avoid these kinds of issues.

I will meet with the G.C.s tomorrow (maybe).  I would like to give them the recommended program by tomorrow. So, I would greatly appreciate it if you will just look at the students with the very high and very low class grades and make sure my recommendation is correct. I would appreciate it if you could give me everything by tomorrow morning.

If you are not sure what to do or say to your students, please stop by to see me.

Thank you and have a nice week.