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When one of our kids became a high school 11th grader, we expected her to continue her record of high grades she started from first grade. She was already planning her choice for college major at a prestigious university. Admission competition was rough, and GPAs were critical.

She took her 4.0 record into an English class, and was doing well for awhile. Then, one day we got a call from the school to come in to discuss a discipline problem. This was something entirely new and shocking. The teacher reported our daughter had been disruptive in class, frequently interrupting with sarcastic remarks. The teacher, who was foreign born, and whose English was highly accented, was insulted and angry.

What we found out later was that the teacher had been ridiculed by both students and teachers of the school for her very obvious problems with speech and with American culture. It was cruel, but the situation also left parents wondering how this teacher had been certified and hired to teach, of all subjects, English. Our daughter, at age 15, was just as guilty ... if that is the correct word ... of criticizing the teacher who was obviously unqualified for her job.

We had a long talk with our daughter and had her promise to do her work and not be distracted by the teacher's shortcomings. It seemed to calm everything down until the end of semester when grades were posted. Our all-A daughter had been given a C, which not only took her 4.0 down for the first time, but also jeopardized her chances of admission to the top-rated university. When we complained to the principal, she explained that the English teacher had graded the entire class with Cs or Ds. It was a clear case of teacher bias, directed against her student enemies, real or imagined.

Parents did get the principal to reevaluate the grades, and my daughter was given the highest grade in the class .. a B. Better, but still totally unfair and biased by the teacher's anger and well-deserved insecurity. During the summer, the English teacher's contract was not renewed, and she disappeared from the school scene.

Our daughter did get accepted at the university, and graduated cum laude with a degree in English and communication. Today, two decades later, she is a writer/producer on one of TV's most popular talk shows. Her most important job is to write sarcastic remarks for the host of the show.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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