Learning curve

I was disgusted by this quote from Rose Mary Ross, the Spanish teacher referenced in Lance Pugmire and Gary Klein’s Feb. 2 article [“Summertime, and the grading is easy”]: “The most important thing in learning is that everyone likes the teacher.”

This statement is a gross disservice to devoted teachers everywhere.

Popularity should not be a substitute for integrity. Ross herself is quoted as saying that if someone is lazy, “coming late all the time, acting like he doesn’t care, I won’t give him an A. I’ll give him a B.”

Merely showing up on time and acting like you care should not be 80% of the grade in a college-level course. Given those stringent requirements, I doubt that the USC “student-athletes” who so enthusiastically promoted her Spanish 3 class respected Ms. Ross for being anything more than an academic tackling dummy.

MARK I. MELO

Alhambra