Are there more details? Does he allow makeups for excusable absenses? If yes, then I would support his behavior.

We had a teacher do something similar for 4th grade students last year. I don't support it at that age. Kids were getting a full "F" before parents were even aware of the situation. If there is a problem with a young child not turning in homework, then the teacher needs to contact a parent first to help fix the behavior.

I will start by saying, I'm a huge teacher suppporter. My mother was a teacher for 30 years in PA, one of my sister's is a teacher now in MD.

I will have to hear the whole story, but I give him the benefit of the doubt. It is driving my sister insane that she cannot fail a kid, for ANY reason. She teaches 8th grade.

Kids are so babied. Parents calling, emailing, coming in for every stupid reason under the sun to get their kids out of an assignment or a bad grade.

I'm telling you, we are not only "dumbing" down this next generation, we are turning them into sissies. They aren't responsible for anything, they are excused for everything, helicopter parents "fix" everything, and they feel entitled to everything. The schools have to teach so kids have "High self esteem".

millions upon millions of dollars are wasted, and kids know less now than a generation ago. You can't blame it all on teachers. The parents of these kids have to take responsibility. Teachers have to be teachers, nurses, babysitters, psychologists, and kids go home to empty or broken home with no one to care if they eat, do their homework, get enough sleep. It's a lose/lose situation for everyone involved.

Ugh, I'm sorry for the rant.

That's how it was when I was a kid....you don't turn in an assignment or take a test....you get a zero. Not talking about excusable reasons. How do you not "give a zero" when there is nothing to grade??

As for parents not aware of their kids not turning in homework...that is part of a parent's job...to be sure your kid does homework and staying on top of the situation. I used to know parents who punished their kids for bad report cards. I am against that to the extent that parents should have a handle on how their kids are doing in school. Don't wait until the report cards come out, they get a bad grade and then come down on them so hard. The parents should have a pretty good idea of how a kid is doing in school. There should be no big surprises when the report cards come out.

I'm talking about teachers who don't grade papers or post grades on a regular basis and let the bad grades pile up. The bad grades are there, but not known until it is too late to do something about it. Kids do need to be punished. At 9 years old, kids can be still be pretty immature. It is more effective is there is an action/(inaction) and then a timely consequence. A teacher sees the bad grades first. If graded papers or a note to the parents don't come home in a backpack on a regular basis, it is a reflection of her teaching skills.

That's how it was when I was in school from K - 12, no turned in homework/missed assignment = F. We also respected (and somewhat feared) our teachers, I do not see that today. I volunteered on a daily basis when my boys were in school and was shocked at how students talked to and interacted with their teachers. They knew they could get away with it because teacher's have become very limited in what they can say or do as far as discipline. Too much coddling goes on today.

I support that teacher 100%. If they don't do the work, the kids deserve a zero mark. I can see exceptions to this, if a child is sick or has a legitimate reason, then I think the teacher should allow a chance to make up the assignment or test. A teacher not being allowed to give a mark of zero if no work was handed in just encourages the kids today to have a sense of entitlement. It is not teaching good work ethics and responsibility.

That happened to my Stepson in highschool - he didn't turn in a folder on time for his Computer Science class - he was in accelerated classes and was told, at the beginning of his senior year - in writing, it would be required - NO EXCUSES. He and a couple of his buddies shrugged it off and lo and behold, he got an F in that class, even though he did superior work otherwise - he couldn't make it up - just tough cookies - hard lesson learned.

His Dad and I supported the teacher - it's either do as she asked or suffer the consequences. We found out about it at the end of the semester - the notebook was due mid-semester. He had no good excuse, so he had a lesser GPA when he graduated.

Katlan, you are right on the mark! I wish I could have said it so well.

I have a daughter and daughter-in-law that are elementary teachers. The excuses that the crazy parents give these days are outrageous.. We live in a different time these days and it is so sad.. Sadly the kids don't have a clue what the big old world is all about. I applaud a teacher that gives a kid a 0 for work not done. That is exactly what it should be. We always supported the teachers and our kids knew it.. More parents need to do this..

I support the teacher.
How do people expect children to learn responsibility if they don't let them know and feel the consequences of failure if and when they fail?

This whole idea of not letting a child to experience failure is what is ruining them. And what do we get out of this? A generation of young people many of whom are unemployable - for many reasons.

Here is the full story.
Every comment I've seen on this news item, is in full support of the teacher.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zero Grade

I support the teacher. Like the others have said...if you dont do the work, you shouldnt get the grade.
What is going to happen to these kids when they go off to college? Do they think the colleges allow this? Or how about out in the work force..Oh I didnt want to write that report and I never got in trouble before..dont know why you are firing me?
We are doing nothing for this generation of children. In our grammar school, they can get away with anything are given a pat on the head for misbehavior...It horrible the crap that adults are forced to put up with because *we* dont want to hurt little Johnny self esteem

The article says he gives the kids a chance to make up the work before he gives the "F". I agree with that. At that grade level, the kids are young adults and almost ready for the big world. They need to be responsible for themselves.

When I was in high school (back in the covered wagon era), if I missed school, I had to take a special card around to all my teachers so they could give me the makeup work for me to do. When the work was complete (and there was a time limit), the teacher would sign off on it. Completed cards were taken to the office. There was NO reason not to complete an assignment.

When my kids were in school, and they missed a day or days, someone had to go to the school ON that day to get their assignments. The kids had to complete them and take them with them on their return to school.

All of us poor people with bad self esteems because we had to actually do the work. tsk, tsk

Shirley

and when these kids go out for a job, and they don't do the work and you lose your nest egg, can you sue the parents?

at my dh's office the mechanics that take care of the product, have to attend classes, to attain the status of mechanic. if they don't? well they are down-graded in pay! and this is part of the union agreement. and mom or dad can't helicopter them, for sure!

I remember the first day in my high school classroom. I went over class procedures including how to make up work, and explained that I gave a 0 for missing work. I told them that I knew that other teachers maybe threatened and then relented when it was report card time and that in fairness to all my students, I would remain true to my word.

Then we did some math problems on the board, where I explained that an F is 59 points but that a missing assignment is 0 points. I'd give our hypothetical student average grades, and then show them what a 0 factored in to the grade did. Then I calculated the grade for a hypothetical student with all As and one 0, and then showed them what that did to our student's report card grade.

I provided every student with a sheet to keep a record of his or her grades in the English part of his or her notebook, and then had the class calculate their grades on report card day. I showed them how to do the math and convert to a letter grade. Then I told them that they had calculated the grade that they had EARNED. If they wanted me to add a few extra points and GIVE them a higher grade, they had to turn their grade record sheet over and write their English teacher a persuasive paragraph explaining what they had done in class to earn extra points, including asking questions, helping someone, or participating in class.

Even at that, some students still did not believe me and had to learn the hard way. That first report card was a real eye opener for many of them. I tried to get them all to understand consequences, but some had to learn the hard way. It's all a part of growing up, I guess.

Sheilajoyce--I love the way you explained your grading method to your classes--wonderful!

My older son's teacher tried to pull a stunt like that. I went to the principal's office and reported her. He said don't worry about, I'll take care of it. I had taken my boys out of school for a trip we had planned. My husband had been working a lot of over time and we all needed the time away. The principle said had taken his own kids out for vacations like that. As long as they are not failing, it is fine.

EmmaR - what do you mean "a stunt like that"? just curious.......

So if a students finds an assignment too difficult the student just doesn't do it and it doesn't count against him/her???

That's insane. This teacher should get a medal. Wish we had him where I live.

School is for learning. Enough of this self esteem crap.

Self esteem is achieved by hard work and accomplishment.
That's where the word self comes in. It can't be given to someone like a gift. It comes from within and must be earned. What's wrong with these idiots thinking otherwise?

So I went and read the article... then I read the comments that the editor had received both against and in favor of the no 0 policy. The people who commented in favor of the policy had a good reason, up to a point. Basically, they said that giving the 0 says ok, you got a 0 so you don't have to do the work. They said that instead of giving a 0 the student should be required to complete the work.

I'm not a teacher, but I do know that the authority of teachers any more is way to limited and much of the time they do not receive the support they need from the school or from the parents. Here's my question. How in the world is the teacher to 'require' the student complete the work? Apparently they can't use loss of grades (getting the 0) as incentive. They certainly can't physically force the student (potential child abuse issue - and I do agree that teachers shouldn't use physical force on students). Many of the parents aren't going to back them up. How is the school going to back them up?

I'm seriously interested in some thoughts on this. Can they make the students stay in the school enough extra hours that the student does the work just to get out of the building? Can they refuse diplomas (might work on Seniors, but I doubt underclassmen are thinking far enough ahead to consider this a real thread)? What are the options to require the students to do the work?

I think the teacher used the appropriate option......do the work and the 0 goes away, don't do it and you get a 0. Plain and simple. What other option should there be? Am I missing something?

The biggest problem as I see it is that these policies which don't allow children to fail, and hand out awards for basically just showing up (as opposed to actually achieving something outstanding), instead of giving the children a sense of self-esteem, give them a sense of entitlement. As wildchild says, self-esteem has to be earned. And the kids who actually _are_ achieving, if they are treated as if they are no better than the non-achievers, is that any incentive to do well?
Decades ago I read a science fiction short story set in a future where it was mandatory that everyone be equal, so no-one had poor self esteem. Intelligent people had a buzzer going off in their ear every minute or so, so they couldn't think any better than unintelligent people. Ballet dancers had to wear weights on their arms and legs so they were no more graceful than naturally clumsy people. And so on. Made it a very drab world, where everyone was going nowhere because there were no longer any high achievers.

jel48, I read the responses by those who are in favor of the no zeros policy, and I agree with you. They make a lot of sense, but I don't see how it would work in real life. The only kids it will work with are those with families who will enforce that the child has to do the homework. And I presume that most kids like that are already turning in their homework.

You don't do the work - you don't get the credit.

Not one iota more credit than you've earned/deserve.

ole joyful

In the article: "Some school administrators like the No Zeros Policy, Dorval says, because it�s a way of passing students and having them graduate. "

Aha !! - that's the REAL reason.
The more students who graduate, the better the school administrators look, the more funding they can get from federal and state tax money, and...the more the teacher's union can demand - "because the teachers are doing such a brilliant job that is proven by the high passing and graduation rate.

I have 3 teachers in our family and just from talking with them, can not believe how hard it is to teach!
I agree with Katlan, 100%.....
And, Monica Pa, you hit the nail on the head...Schools in Pa get more funding etc., if they have a better percentage of graduates etc.....And what a shame!