leftovers from teaching...

forgive me as i vent and bitch....i've already semi-released it on two people but that was very unfair to them so let me now vent it here for the world wide web to see...(to be honest, i don't think anyone really reads anymore...boo!)

one of my former coworkers called me today asking me about some school related stuff...apparently one of my former students has his coach contesting the last grades he received in my class....he's a basketball player on the A team. one of my friends from work had actually told me that this coach is basically one of those people that only care about having his team together for wins...therefore will bug teachers about his players grades.

well apparently he feels that there is something wrong with the student's grades and that he should have been passing at the 2nd 9 weeks (the grade that counts towards UIL eligibility) unfortunately since he failed the 9 weeks with a 67 (according to what my coworker told me that the coach relayed to him) he is unable to play. the coach recollects that i signed off on a grade check (at some unnoted time) that the student had an 81 in my class....unfortunately i doubt that the grade was during the 2nd 9 weeks, the one where the grade is being contested.

i remember before i left, the student came to my class to see what he made on the final...i recall telling him that 1) he passed his final (with like a 73 or 74) thus passing the class for the 1st semester and receiving 1/2 credit for the class but he 2) still failed the 9 weeks and thus would not be playing basketball in the spring.

it really angers me a LOT that there is soo much debate, questioning and so forth about the grade! i remember receiving an email from the coach asking about his progress in my class since he had apparently not been receiving any of the student's grade checks. i asked the student to come up to my desk and questioned him about the grade checks and he claimed that he hadn't showed them to the coach since he wasn't passing my class...i strongly believe that i had done my work by filling out the progress report and that it was the student's fault for never relaying his grades to his coach. even if the coach argues that the student (CLAIMS!!!) to have done a bunch of makeup work, i cant control his grade POST-DCA! if anything, i shouldn't allow make-up work because my students had MULTIPLE extra credit opportunities that ONLY a HANDFUL of kids took advantage of...

one of the problems with education and students today...they DON'T take school seriously!! this student, which i whole-heartedly believe is quite intelligent, never cared about my class! he chose to sleep in class and other things. i can't help and refuse to help a kid who doesn't care about his academics.

one of the things i wanna emphasize is that these kids are STUDENT ATHLETES...the first word, STUDENT, is the MORE important word out of the two. unfortunately, coaches, parents and sometimes teachers and administrators allow them to be an athlete first. because of this, we have kids who don't care about academics and never going anywhere pass high school sports!

it's frustrating because i do have the handful of students who work their tails off academically and are great on the field, court, etc. they, essentially, are the kids we need to applaud and given credit for all their hard work.

when will they (students, parents, coaches, teachers, administrators, society, etc) realize the possible detrimental precedence we are setting for the future?

hopefully sooner than later...