Cavey Mc-Caver

Well, I caved. caved caved caved caved caved. such an awful word. and an awful feeling. I had my reasons for doing so, but I also have this twisty feeling in my stomach now. Ugh.

I'm talking about the latest decision related to grades. After the whole fiasco with the midterm Bs (a decision which I STILL support, by the way - regardless of the fact that it has caused me NO END OF GRIEF), I was worried about what I would do come quarter time (stick to my guns vs. give them all As). Because I knew that people would be less inclined to worry about a B at midterm than a B at quarter. Midterm grades don't count. Anyway, my mom said "don't worry, you'll know a couple of days before grades are due when your principal comes to you and tells you in no uncertain vague terms what he wants you to do."

And boy was she right! He came to me the other day and started talking about how he believes that all students should be able to earn an A and how he was glad that I have standards, but they can't be TOO high, and that if I were staying on next year, he would definitely encourage me to stick to my guns and really raise the standards for music, but did I want to be plagued by parents for the last nine weeks that I taught here? and he would NEVER tell a teacher how to grade or to change a grade, but he wasn't going to restrict parental access to me during Parent-Teacher conferences, and I should just think about those things.

So I did. And I came to the following conclusion: It is not worth my time and energy to fight this fight when I will not be returning next year. My ONE semester of high standards will mean nothing when compared to all the other semesters of teachers coddling and babying the little darlings. Of course SAYING that does not take away the sick feeling in my stomach, because I believe a person should have standards and stick to them, no matter how long they will be in a situation. But, I think I made the only decision I could. For one, I did see MAJOR improvement in all my students after midterm grades went out. So, maybe I won a little part of that battle. For two, I only see these kids once a week. That's really not time to establish a pattern of behavior (heck, I still have trouble remembering all their names!). And for three, I will still hold them to that standard during my class, and I think that they know it.

Have I justified the decision to cave well enough?