4 ms·

That complaint doesn't make any sense. I can understand teachers complaining about kids disturbing their lessons, are unruly and threaten them with violence and

That complaint doesn't make any sense. I can understand teachers complaining about kids disturbing their lessons, are unruly and threaten them with violence and so on. I can not understand teachers complaining about kids being extra ambitious and doing what they can to get the highest grades! I'll get downvoted for this, but if your moms worst problem is overachievers and parents caring about their children's education, she needs to suck it up. :)

fromthestart 8y ago
There's a line between caring about your children and helicoptering and/or demanding special treatment for your child. If you care about your children, you teach them to work and study, or at least approach the teacher on their own for things like extra credit. The teacher probably has 20+ students. How much extra time per student do you expect him or her to suck up so that everyone's special child can make it into Princeton? Plus, isn't the point of grades a measure of ability? If we can just erase any bad grade at a parent's discretion, what's the point in having grades at all? The whole system in my opinion is rotting. We seem to be increasingly reluctant in the U.S. to measure merit - but in this case, if nobody loses, then nobody wins. Sometimes that's life. Princeton only has prestige because it is selective, and that selectiveness depends on some kind of measure of entrant ability.
lachm 8y ago
Caring about education and caring about grades can be very very distinct.
- threatofrain 8y ago
  As distinct as a chicken is from an egg, since grades lead to tracking.
jogjayr 8y ago
Asking the teacher to set and grade extra credit work because a student didn't get the grade they wanted isn't fair to the teacher. I don't think the teacher is the one that needs to "suck it up" here ;-). The student could just try not going to Princeton - most of the world hasn't studied there and done fine.
- bjourne 8y ago
  The teacher isn't obliged to work for free - I didn't write that. I wrote that a teacher whose worst problem is a too high fraction of overachievers trying to get into Princeton among his or her pupils has no reason to complain.
  - jogjayr 8y ago
    An actual overachiever would do everything possible to get an A on the first try - get feedback on assignments and projects before submitting them, ask lots of questions to understand the material, pay attention in class, come to office hours, study harder etc. I think most teachers would welcome that variety of overachiever. This is just wasting the teacher's time with whining and grumbling.
    - bjourne 8y ago
      Er, you are clearly failing to take into account unforeseen circumstances. Perhaps the pupils knowledge actually warranted an A grade but he or she had a cold and weren't able to perform at top level during the exam? Maybe he or she misunderstood some task description? Etc.

fromthestart 8y ago

There's a line between caring about your children and helicoptering and/or demanding special treatment for your child. If you care about your children, you teach them to work and study, or at least approach the teacher on their own for things like extra credit. The teacher probably has 20+ students. How much extra time per student do you expect him or her to suck up so that everyone's special child can make it into Princeton? Plus, isn't the point of grades a measure of ability? If we can just erase any bad grade at a parent's discretion, what's the point in having grades at all? The whole system in my opinion is rotting. We seem to be increasingly reluctant in the U.S. to measure merit - but in this case, if nobody loses, then nobody wins. Sometimes that's life. Princeton only has prestige because it is selective, and that selectiveness depends on some kind of measure of entrant ability.

lachm 8y ago

Caring about education and caring about grades can be very very distinct.

threatofrain 8y ago
As distinct as a chicken is from an egg, since grades lead to tracking.

jogjayr 8y ago

Asking the teacher to set and grade extra credit work because a student didn't get the grade they wanted isn't fair to the teacher. I don't think the teacher is the one that needs to "suck it up" here ;-). The student could just try not going to Princeton - most of the world hasn't studied there and done fine.

bjourne 8y ago
The teacher isn't obliged to work for free - I didn't write that. I wrote that a teacher whose worst problem is a too high fraction of overachievers trying to get into Princeton among his or her pupils has no reason to complain.
- jogjayr 8y ago
  An actual overachiever would do everything possible to get an A on the first try - get feedback on assignments and projects before submitting them, ask lots of questions to understand the material, pay attention in class, come to office hours, study harder etc. I think most teachers would welcome that variety of overachiever. This is just wasting the teacher's time with whining and grumbling.
  - bjourne 8y ago
    Er, you are clearly failing to take into account unforeseen circumstances. Perhaps the pupils knowledge actually warranted an A grade but he or she had a cold and weren't able to perform at top level during the exam? Maybe he or she misunderstood some task description? Etc.