Yes, its wrong, but probably complaining will do nothing. I went back to college as an adult able to do my own complaining, so I know.
I wrote a paper in a course that was graded on a curve. My grade was “B++”. The school has published a list of the grades in confers and B++ in not on it. I asked the TA how many people got A’s. “None.” “How many other people got B++?” “None.”
In other words, I got the highest score in the class graded on a curve, and she wouldn’t give me an A. Complaining to the professor and then to the department chair was a waste of time.
Then don’t take the class. However, not sure we have yet had it confirmed the class is an elective or required though; that significantly changes the picture.
I’m with this. Some classes, in HS, are promoting entrepreneurship, sales, etc…and incorporate some of this junk in it. The students don’t work hard-my best friend usually left class an hour or two early, because he had only some minor sales objective. He took the class knowing what he was in store for. I avoided the class for the same reason. A yearbook class, 3/4 through the school year isn’t doing anything, because the yearbook is already a wrap.
Of course, transportation could be an issue, but, the class shouldn’t be blamed for that-if the victim, er student, knew about it, she just wasn’t prepared.
For the record, I think that any class that requires you to sell anything is a prescription for failure.
Thinking back to my HS days (a long, long time ago), if you were on staff, you had to make an effort to sell ads and document that you’d tried. It was part of the grade and it was well known. I think I remember there was a list of companies that had bought ads before to help with the process. But the grade was based on the attempt, not the result.
I’m also among those wondering who the teacher thinks they’re selling yearbooks to? Students are either going to buy them or not. No one else really wants a copy of the yearbook. In my school, pretty much everyone bought a yearbook, “selling” was sitting at a table for a week or so in fall so students could drop off checks. Is that even a thing in this day of electronic payments for everything? I could also see requiring students to spend a period or a lunch or even several periods or lunches manning the sales table for part of the grade. But again, not basing the grade on the result, but the effort and availability.
Your daughter is an artist. She should retain copyright on her works unless specifically signed away to the school. And if she didn’t do that, she is perfectly within her rights to demand that her creative work not be published. They can edit her work out, and if the yearbook has been printed they can reprint it or take a razor and cut her work out out of each copy.
There is probably room to negotiate in there somewhere. I’d go for a cut of the $70 price and part of the ad revenue. Or even an A.
It is a real class, or it certainly was when I was in high school.
I got an “A” and represented my high school at the annual Quill and Scroll Society meeting out of state.
I don’t recall ever having to sell any yearbooks; however, I held several positions on the yearbook staff, one of which was advertising manager, and I sold more ads to local businesses than anyone (of any school year) and that may have helped my grade somewhat, though I don’t know. I enjoyed all of the hard work. Our teacher never even suggested that our grades were dependent on sales, and only a few of us sold ads, and none of us sold yearbooks. As a journalist, I took the class seriously, and still had a lot of fun.
I can’t imagine that a teacher would flunk someone because they did not sell a lot, but I definitely could see doing that if the person did not even try (or worse, sabotaged the productivity of the yearbook class by being adamant that they are “above it all” and as an artist" don’t feel they need to do it at all) IF it was known to be part of the class description that one must sell yearbooks.
It’s a team effort and all must at least participate in the class, and if that includes selling, then that can be part of the criteria for the grade.
This just sounds too crazy. Was the threshold something easy, like sell 4=A, 3=B, 2=C, 1=D and 0=E? I can’t imagine anyone would expect a kid to sell 10 yearbooks.
Also, you people expecting a kid to go door-to-door are ridiculous. No one expects that; she’s supposed to set up a table in the lunchroom or hawk them where parents with check books are–like at a baseball game, tennis match, etc.
By all means call the principal, or a lawyer, or the press. But you may find that the principal is well aware of the policy and endorses it. It may be that the grading policy was clearly defined in a syllabus in September, the target number is not viewed by the school as burdensome, and students who objected to selling were supposed to drop in January.
I don’t blame you for wanting to resolve this quickly, but it’s not unusual for parents to dispute a grade in September. (I assume your daughter’s a junior.)
In this case, it’s really easy to do the math. $70 times the number of books to be sold for an A equals the cost of buying an A. The ads complicate things a little, but you and your daughter together have probably got enough information to calculate the size of the bribe that was being requested.
At least, I’m assuming that fits “Glengarry-Glen Ross”. Like astro, I’ve never seen it.
It wasn’t when I was a kid in the not-so-distant 90s. I was on yearbook, edited and wrote for the school lit magazine, was VP of the ecology club, did a couple of years of Amigos (big brother/big sister program with the elementary school), and was in national honor society. We didn’t get credit for any of those activities, but we could list them on our college applications. It strikes me as odd that this has apparently changed. Are kids required to earn more credits to graduate, then?
It’s probably got more to do with the individual school than the time- both the yearbook (art) and the school newspaper ( English) were actual classes when I graduated when I graduated in 1981. Of course, it wasn’t the sort of small school where you would have 10th grade English or social studies - there were 4000 students in the school and multiple choices in every department. Four years of English were required, but once you finished your semester or two of Comp you had your choice of many courses.
All through grade and high school, I refused to allow my kids to harass our neighbors. Whatever minimum sales were expected, I bought, then gave away or trashed the crap I purchased.
I don’t know the US school system, but I do run a marketing agency and deal with freelance graphic designers all the time. Their job is split between creating the art, and being able to find jobs and sell themselves to potential clients (creatives in agencies still have to sell concepts to clients to a certain extent but do have added account management support to do this).
So I can see aspects of this that would actually be helpful to her if she was seriously considering a career in graphic design/art. My mum is a tutor at an tertiary-level art school and the number of stories she shares of students coming out with no commercial nous is pretty alarming.
I wonder why selling ads over the phone to local businesses wasn’t an option? She could even have put together a mailout/email prospectus and called up after to discuss. That would have not required a car - or she could have shortlisted those interested and arranged to meet them in person at a specific time.
So I’m kind of sympathetic that selling is hard, but if she knew it was part of the curriculum perhaps she could have put more thought into creative ways to address the problem?
My wife is a high school teacher and an art teacher. I showed her this and she said it’s bs. She said you should discuss this with the principal and if he is unresponsive to go to the county school board. I my opinion this is come unfair and your daughter doesn’t deserve to have her gpa trashed because she couldn’t sell. If they want sales people, then hire some and pay them commissions.