Now Wait a Second

Michelle Malkin links to this story about a teacher being fired for reducing the grade of a student who was sleeping in class. I can't find any information related to whether the student was passing the class or not...

Teacher fired after lowering grade of sleeping athlete
The Associated Press - ATLANTA

A Gwinnett County teacher was fired early Friday after refusing to raise a student athlete's grade he lowered because the student appeared to be sleeping in class.

The Gwinnett County School Board voted 4-1 early Friday _ after a marathon Thursday night meeting _ to fire Dacula High School science teacher Larry Neace, said school system spokeswoman Sloan Roach.

Now, when I was in High School... there were occasions when I dozed off in class. I know, I know... given my rantings, some of you may find this surprising (or may think "ahh, that explains it!"). ;-) Sometimes I laid my head down and listened to the lecture, althought it may have LOOKED like I was sleeping. I would even raise my hand and (and my head) to contribute to the discussion. By the way, in the classes that I did this, I was getting A's. If the student athlete was performing poorly, but still being given good grades as part of some social promotion (aka "soft bigotry of low expectations") scheme, then this is an entirely different story.

I don't think the teacher should've been fired... I also don't think the student should've gotten a reduced grade JUST b/c he wasn't paying attention. If it was a problem and he needed a nap, he should've been given detention... not a reduction in his grade. Do students get a grade reduction when they get in a fight with other students? No, there are other disciplinary measures that can be applied.

Also, there seems to be an anti-student athlete bias in the blogosphere which is a little strange... Yes, we all know the stories about student athletes getting favorable treatment (although it certainly is more of a problem in college, since kids in H.S. are ALL treated with kid gloves in my opinion). But we have zero evidence as to whether this student-athlete was a good student as well or whether he was relying on his performance on the field for inflated grades in the classroom.

That's my two cents...

***UPDATE***
When I talk about the anti-athlete bias that seems to be part of this discussion, I'm referring to the lack of information about the student's academic performance in the source article and this post from Mad Mikey. Michelle Malkin and some of the other bloggers (Windfield Myers) out there probably couldn't be considered to be "anti-athlete," but they certainly aren't asking what I would consider to be pertinent questions and simply assuming that the teacher was courageous for docking the kid a letter grade. As I've said... there are disciplinary measures available for inappropriate behavior in the classroom and they don't involve lowering of a grade.

Your Co-Conspirator,
ARC: St Wendeler