posted on March 26, 2004 07:39:45 PM
Is it true that kids in California can get better grades by bringing tissues and toilet paper to the state's financially strapped schools?
posted on March 27, 2004 06:12:39 AM
Talk about tight budgets! I've heard about teachers who have to buy books for their class...but now, toiletpaper? What a way to rate student progress...by how much toilet paper they bring to class.
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- In California, Palo Alto High's budget is so tight that Sonia Ferrandiz-Bodoff's German teacher offers three extra credit points to any student who brings a box of tissues to class. In Cupertino, Calif., science teacher Katheryn McElwee gives her Monta Vista High students five points for a roll of paper towels.
Even English teachers at Harker, a private school in San Jose, Calif., that charges up to $21,000 a year tuition, have resorted to awarding extra points for school supplies.
"The teachers are pretty desperate, and so are we," said Sonia, a freshman.
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The California Department of Education does not provide guidelines on awarding extra credit. And principals often don't know what teachers are rewarding with bonus points.
Some teachers add a point to a student's participation grade for bringing supplies. Others tack on five points to the final exam score. Many set limits on how much extra credit a student can earn. Teachers offer different explanations on how the extra credit can impact a student's final grade.
"If they are on the border, it might help them out," said Elizabeth Brimhall, a Palo Alto High science teacher who awards a maximum of five points extra credit for one box of tissue.
