Tuesday, November 17, 2009

What Were They Thinking?

A Rosewood, North Carolina, Middle School teacher hit upon a scheme to raise funds for the cash-strapped school.

For a mere donation of $20, her students could buy 10 extra points on two tests of their choosing, allowing the tests to be jacked up one whole grade.

What’s more, the parents of her students were the ones who proposed the plan, and the school principal, Susie Shepherd, gave her approval to the proposal. After all, she rationalized, the cash-for-grades plan would raise more money for the school than last year’s chocolate sale.

And, she insisted, it wouldn’t make much of an impact on overall grades.

What’s wrong with them anyway? Didn’t the principal, the teacher or the parents realize that serious ethical breaches were being committed, and that in effect they were teaching the students that money talks and advancement can be bought?

As an ethical solution, the ends don’t always justify the means.

Thankfully, when state education officials found out about the scheme through news reports, they scrapped the plan.

This is just another sign that the Apocalypse is coming.

2 comments:

Beverly said...

This was a bad idea from the beginning. No wonder so many kids nowadays don't know squat.

R. said...

Mind boggling!