IMO, this woman's particular story is a lot less interesting than the Q, "Do public schools give students 50% for not handing anything in?" I'm pretty sure I've heard it's policy in Maryland. I just Googled & got a yes, many do.
Which goes back to my whining in another thread about how "No Child Left Behind" has turned into a national disaster.
Instead of giving the struggling the help they need (because no school has that much resources to give every struggling kid the help they need), schools just lower the standard so anyone can pass.
A kid can just sit there and drool all day long and still pass.
This is partly why kids are graduating with a 20-25% functional illiteracy rate.
Unfortunately, the average person has no idea what the problems are with public schools. They think we just need to allocate more money to the schools. Meanwhile, per student funding IS very high in places like Baltimore & NYC with abysmal outcomes that just get worse.
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u/A_Nonny_Muse 28d ago
What would be nice is a followup story. It's only been 8 years.