REPORT CARDS

Report Cards

I haven’t had to deal with report cards for a long time, but I still remember the mixed feeling that came on the day we knew we were getting them in school. The time is going to come soon when I started getting them for my own daughter, and I have a feeling that things have changed quite a bit since I was in school. Though it might have been very easy for those I went to school with to change their grade in hopes of not getting into trouble with parents, I think those times have come and gone.

Today, I know that most schools in my area mail home the report cards. This wasn’t the case when I went to school. We were handed our report cards four times a year at the end of the day and we were to take them home to give them to our parents. Though I was never too worried about failing, I was worried that I was not doing as well as I should have been. While I made decent grades in almost everything, I did have a problem with advanced math.

Because of my issues with math, I did badly in Algebra and Algebra two. I know I should have been able to pick it up rather easily, but I couldn’t concentrate and never did well. Those two classes plagued me, and they are the only times I dreaded getting my report cards. Once I even changed a D to a B. My mom never scolded me, but I think she may have known all along. She didn’t say anything to me because she knew I was a good kid. Instead she offered to get me help with math if I needed it, and probably understood why I did what I did. I shouldn’t have done it, but I did.

Today I’m pretty sure that students are not given the report cards to be taken home. I suspect that most schools will mail them out so that they children do not have a chance to change the grade like I did. They may still give the kids a copy so they can see how they did, but the problem of them giving deceptive report cards to parents are long gone. In most cases, changing your grade won’t do you any good anyway. You may have missed getting in trouble then, but if you fail the class, no amount of grade changing on your card will save you from having to retake the class all over again.