Teachers Should Never Betray Their Rubric
Grade erosion will cause extra work for all your colleagues
In my time as a student, I met a variety of different educators. Some of them I admired, some of them I learned to get along with, and some drove me absolutely crazy. Of all the types of educators that I found problematic, there was one particular transgression that still, to this day, I haven’t been able to forgive.
The teachers I can’t stand are the ones that say, “Oh, I don’t believe in perfection, that’s why I never give an A.”
Now that I’ve become a teacher myself, I’ve learned to understand the importance of a rubric. A teacher that gives an assignment with the preconception that no student in his/her class will do good enough work to get the highest possible score betrays the student’s trust not only in that classroom, but in the educational system as a whole.
Odd teaching dynamics
My wife is currently enrolled in a program to earn her teaching license. She had a wonderful teacher the first semester who was a great mentor, and who even offered her a job based on the strength of her papers. The second semester, however, has been something of a disaster.
