Grading Students: A Teacher Challenges the System

When I served as a superintendent, I fired a teacher for giving an A to every student he taught. George D. was a high school social studies teacher in Arlington (VA) when I led the district (1974-1981). In the Fall of 1976, one of our high school principals called me and said that he had received complaints from many parents that George D. had given an A to every single student. Both Black and white parents were outraged because they believed that there was a bell-shaped curve of performance and in a class of 30 students, maybe 3-5 would receive As. Most students would receive Bs, Cs, and Ds and a few would fail. These parents believed in a meritocratic system where teachers were expected to grade students on how often they did their homework, participated in class, and performed on tests. Parents told the principal that this teacher mocked and undercut values of hard work and persistence by giving every student an A. I asked the principal to meet with the teacher, ascertain whether…