The Seattle Times had a story yesterday that there was an extra class offered to both Tony Wroten Jr. and a couple other students to help them get the right grade in Spanish 1 so they could take Spanish 2. It’s still a gray area as to what this class exactly was, was it an extra tutor session that just didn’t happen? Was it just an extra class that didn’t meet? Was it a work at your own pace class? Was it fake? Regardless both boys got a C in the class or non-class and was then able to go on to Spanish 2.
The principal of the school and the teacher of the class are both pointing the fingers at each other and the boys are caught in the middle of it. The teacher in question was also the athletic director at Garfield High School and has some other issues surrounding him and has been fired.
Honestly, this issue is only a big deal because of 2 reasons:
- The teacher has a record of sketchy dealings with his star athletes.
- Tony Wroten Jr. is in the center of this controversy.
This, quite frankly, is a non-issue and something that should be handled inside the confines of Garfield and no one else should care. The students shouldn’t be penalized either, they may have realized it was a fake class after it started and should have done the right thing and said something sooner. But it is up to the adults around them to hold them accountable and make sure they learn. From the report it seems as if the students that were involved in the ‘fake’ class were completely cooperative with investigators about how it happened. And the principal is not putting the blame on the students involved but squarely on the teacher, right where it should be.
In reality, every school has classes that seem a little sketchy at best and its not just in high school, college is sometimes worse.
I went to a community college where I had a buddy go to class twice the whole quarter and he got a B. It wasn’t an online class, just a regular class. How does that even happen? I had many friends in high school do office work as an elective to help bring up their GPA.
My Spanish 1 class in high school was more of a Cinco De Mayo party everyday rather than a learning environment; I received an A. Then I went to Spanish 2 and realized I hadn’t learned anything.
Finally, when students don’t receive the right grade and need extra work, schools should offer an avenue in which students can try again without messing up their graduation day. As a school that would really show they care about their students.
When I read the article about this “controversy” I yawned because it is a non-issue and almost every school has this sort of thing happens. And most of the time it’s not even for star-athletes.