# Worried about graduating high school? Get yerself a lawyer. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 11, 2002, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519 "2002-06-11T20:56:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![colour\_wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@colour\_wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colour_wolf)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/21 "2002-06-12T07:11:04Z")
One of the great things about teaching in Asia is that the teacher is actually sometimes right. If a student fails a test, then _shock_, it’s the fault of the student, not the teacher. A teacher is there to facilitate the learning process, not babysit. Especially high school students. Sheesh. Chris ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/22 "2002-06-12T14:51:10Z")
My eyes have been opened. I am planning to sue Harvard Medical School for not admitting me (even though I didn’t apply). I will then sue, or threaten to sue, my way through classes as I hear they can be quite difficult if you actually have to study and do the work and stuff. Upon graduation (at the top of my class of course. My lawyer will see to that), I will accept only the most prestigous residency assignment . I will then litigate my way to a chief surgeon position within a few years of med school. Jeez, this plan is _so_ much easier than the traditional way all the suckers do it. Every year, about this time, I get really jealous of the several teachers I know. Summers off!! Man, that would be great! Then I read something like this. If I were ever a teacher, I would seriously be a high risk of strangling a parent or two, or an administrator. You couldn’t pay me enough to deal with shit like this. In a way, I almost feel kind of sorry for this kid. What will she do when mommy and daddy aren’t there to pull her sorry slacker ass out of the fire? Oh, right. She’ll always have her lawyer. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2002, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/23 "2002-06-12T23:08:26Z")
I agree that school’s need to have some kind of policy for retesting. Every math teacher I had in high school would let students who failed a test retake it for a 70, but I don’t know if it was a universal policy. I never heard of such a policy for any other subjects, like English or history. I wonder if this girl did all the usual grad-celebration stuff. If I was a relative of her’s, I wouldn’t feel right giving her a check or dropping by the house for cake after the ceremony. ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/24 "2002-06-13T04:32:10Z")
Universal policies for retesting and homework and grades? I say no to all three. One of the things teachers go through all their schooling for (or at least, what I have seen) is to get used to creating agendas, assignments, and methods of grading etc for the classes they will teach. Now, maybe I just come from an old-fashioned school (and currently attend an old-fashioned university), but in my classes, instructors hand out a little sheet of paper called a _syllabus_. This paper describes how the class will be handled, as far as assignments, tests, and grading goes. Heck, some instructors will even let you miss a couple of assignments without ANY penalty. My point is-- I would be _thoroughly_ surprised if the teachers from the OP did not do something similar to handing out a syllabus at the beginning of the school year. (At least talk about it in class). It really chafes (sp?) my ass that people can get away with plagiarism etc etc and wind up getting the same grades that I work my ass off to get. LilShieste ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/25 "2002-06-13T04:55:07Z")
Re: Universal policies for make-up tests. When I was in Jr. High there was a district wide policy. If a student failed a test than that student would have 5 school days from the day the test was returned to do the make-up work (whatever the teacher assigned), and take the test on the student’s own time. (Not during regular class hours.) The best a student could do is an 80. Worked great. When I went to HS in CA, there was no retest policy—_because students were expected to pass the first time_. Worked like a fucking charm. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/26 "2002-06-13T06:28:05Z")
She plagarized a paper, and still got _partial_ credit? She should have gotten an F for the paper, and perhaps been suspended for a while for pulling that stunt. Plagarisim (sp?) is despicable. The little slacker knew better. The hell with her. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/27 "2002-06-13T08:25:16Z")
pepperlandgirl got my point – to prevent this kind of problem, there should be a retest policy, it should be district or school-wide, and it should apply in all academic subjects. Period. > [@](#): > > _originally posted by amarinth_ > \*\*What if Mr. McCoy gave harder tests than Mrs. See or Mr. Frank? What if Mr. Smith gave horrible, evil, soul destroying tests that few students got above a 70 in, so he made 80 an A, while Mr. Jones gave 20 question multiple choice tests and therefore required a 95 for an A? > > It makes no sense whatsoever for a 90 to be the same grade across the board when it may clearly be more or less work depending upon the subject and teacher. \*\* While there is certainly going to be a variety of different teaching styles and methods being used, there shouldn’t be so much discrepancy between different sections of the same class (i.e. Mr. Jones and Mrs. Sees general track, freshman level, Algebra I sections) that a 90 in one teacher’s section is the equivalent to a 93 in the other, especially when percentage grades translate into letter grades which translate into quality points which translate into grade point averages which determine honor roll and class ranking. Obviously in some subjects, test grading is always going to be subjective – English, for example. But in classes in which objective grading is easily accomplished, and the goal of those tests is to demonstrate the students’ mastery of identical subject matter, there should be no significant variation. ---
**Author:** ![Journeyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/779978/32.png) [@Journeyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Journeyman)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/28 "2002-06-13T16:39:45Z")
I have no sympathy for this girl. I actually did fail one year of high school, and put in double time the next to catch up. It wasn’t fun, and it wasn’t easy, but I didn’t fall behind. All I’m saying is that it’s very often better to just accept the consequences of your actions. There’s always summer school. ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/29 "2002-06-13T17:41:34Z")
> [@](#): > > The Arizona State Bar Association is investigating a lawyer who wrote a threatening letter to a Peoria teacher, demanding she reverse a decision to fail a student. > [snip] > “We really need to take a closer look at this,” said association spokesman Matt Silverman, declining comment on the case itself. “We are always concerned about allegations of any attorney’s unethical conduct, and this case does not fall into a neat category.” > [snip] > Massad’s letter said everything in Joice’s background, including employment and class records and dealings with students, would be relevant. [http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0613teacher13.html](http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0613teacher13.html) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/30 "2002-06-14T02:14:13Z")
Ha! Let’s hope this bunch of yahoos get what they deserve! Sue this, bitch! ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/31 "2002-06-14T04:52:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yosemitebabe \* > \*\*She plagarized a paper, and still got _partial_ credit? She should have gotten an F for the paper, and perhaps been suspended for a while for pulling that stunt. Plagarisim (sp?) is despicable. The little slacker knew better. The hell with her. \*\* These two stories tie together beautifully! > [@](#): > > [Piper, Kansas high school teacher Christine]Pelton resigned days after the board ordered her to give the students partial credit and to decrease the project’s value from 50 percent of the final course grade to 30 percent. Ms. Joice, the Arizona teacher, was probably ordered to do the same thing. If she hadn’t, Little Miss Lawsuit would have failed outright, and the exam grade would have been moot. P.S. It’s _plagiarism_. Oh, and: > [@](#): > > Of course, all information regarding your background, your employment records, all of your class records, past and present, dealings with this and other students becomes relevant, should litigation be necessary," [attorney] wrote to [Joice]. Why so subtle? Why didn’t he just have her kneecaps broken? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/32 "2002-06-14T05:23:36Z")
This is funny: [Lawyer made an offer school couldn’t refuse](http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0612ruelas12.html) ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519/33 "2002-06-14T05:28:48Z")
I’m not casting aspersions on Ms. Joice, but I wonder **why** she agreed to the retest. > [@](#): > > [District spokesman Jim]Cummings declined to say Tuesday whether Joice signed off on the retest or if someone above her made that decision. But he did say her job was not in jeopardy. Really? He can **say** that, but… > [@](#): > > “We’re not going to fire her,” Cummings said. “She’s an excellent teacher.” Yeah, excellent at jumping through your hoops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worried-about-graduating-high-school-get-yerself-a-lawyer/113519.md?page=1)