Teacher’s Fight for Right to Fail

The plight of teacher Larry Brown, described by Barry Siegel in his story (May 28), because he would not give higher grades or lower his standards for students who did not do the school work is something that I have thought about as a teacher for many years.

Much of the controversy comes down to the question of whose responsibility learning really is, the teacher’s or the student’s. The responsibility lies first with the student--aided by the teacher, family and community. Learning is not solely the responsibility of the teacher any more than the doctor must accept the full responsibility for making a patient take the necessary steps toward good health.

Sometimes, it is interesting to contrast classroom education with school athletics. Is the athlete who won’t practice or learn the plays allowed to participate and then given extra points to make his/her scores look good? Are the players allowed to talk freely during the huddle, thus ignoring the quarterback? Are the final scores put on a scale of some sort? Who gets the blame for a loss or a losing season? Whose responsibility is it if the athlete plays or doesn’t play? And, yes, what is the ratio of coaches to players?

Teachers teach because they want to help others. They want to be proud of a successful product. They know they won’t be around for the rest of the student’s life and so they want to prepare the student for a successful future. Do they do this by usurping the student’s responsibility or by expecting the student to be responsible--and helping the student be responsible?

And, just how does a teacher, facing a group of students, not one, reach this goal when the student, human that he or she is, comes to the class already struggling with life’s problems?

Is the answer in letting the student sit it out on the bench and giving him or her a “manufactured” grade or by expecting and challenging the student to try to grow? Which student is more apt to succeed in life?

URBAN NAAL

Garden Grove