The Blame Game

Sophomores Amirah Jabr and Bella Castro showing off their amazing grades they received on a paper.

Sophomores Amirah Jabr and Bella Castro showing off their amazing grades they received on a paper.

Tatiana Martinez, Section Editor

 You’re failing all of your classes. Your heart starts racing, knowing that when your parents open the report card, you’re going to get in major trouble. Who are you going to blame?

Oftentimes, students will blame it on their teacher, who grades too harshly or doesn’t explain the assignments. Other times, teachers will say that it’s on the student for not getting their work done on time and not being productive during class. In other cases, teachers also blame the parents due to their inability to discipline their child and teach responsibility. Everybody has different, clashing ideas of whose fault it is, but nobody really takes accountability for getting or giving a bad grade in the class.

So, the question we’ve all been wondering is, whose fault is it?

The answer is, it’s nobodies. Or, more specifically, it’s everybodys. Personally, I don’t feel like it’s just the teachers’ fault, or the parents’, or the students’, but that everyone is a little bit at fault, or at least shares the blame. Parents are the ones who raise the child, and in doing so, are the ones who discipline the child. Most parents do their best to teach their children to be respectful, responsible, and hard-working, all of which are important qualities that are vital in doing well in school.

When parents don’t teach their children good values and the importance of hard work, they start to slack off in school and tend to have no motivation to do well in class. In addition, when students are not taught respect, they show defiance and disrespect to their teachers, disregarding rules and the need to do their work inside and outside of class.

This makes it harder on the teachers because now they have to deal with a student that expects to get a decent grade when they’re not doing any work. I’ve seen my fair share of these types of students in many of my past and current classes, and I’m sure they make some teachers wonder why they got into teaching in the first place.

Unfortunately, teachers have the hard job of cleaning up after the parents when their children aren’t taught that doing homework and projects is necessary if they want to succeed in school. Obviously, if a student does not turn in work, they’re not going to get credit for missing assignments.

Sometimes though, for the students that are striving to get good grades and do well in school, it can be hard when they don’t get a great teacher. There are some teachers that are amazing: they can teach well, they know what they’re doing, they’re funny, yet strict when they need to be. And then there are the newer or inexperienced teachers: they’re kind of experienced but are still figuring teaching out, they don’t know how to handle obnoxious students, or they aren’t great at teaching. 

If you don’t get a great teacher, it’s definitely going to be harder to understand the concepts that are being taught. It’s challenging trying to figure everything out, pretty much on your own, especially if your teacher can’t teach the lessons well.

Yes, sometimes the classwork can be hard, even if you happen to have a great teacher. If the work is hard and you might not understand it, that doesn’t mean you have a mediocre teacher, it just means that you have to ask more questions and clarify. If you’re confused, that’s okay! I get confused all the time, and I kind of ended up okay.

The important thing is, you have to ask questions. I used to hate asking questions, and still kind of do, but if you don’t, it’s basically your fault for failing a class. You can’t just blame not understanding a concept on your teacher; you have to also think about the fact that you never asked for help when you were confused.

Nobody’s perfect, but just try hard and do your work. If you’re failing a class or multiple, that just means that you have to buckle up and start figuring out a plan to get your stuff done. Don’t slack or wait until the last minute like me, just get it done while the information you learned is still fresh in your brain.

If you’re unmotivated and think that school is stupid, it isn’t. Yes, we may never need to find the area of a triangle or the slope of a line in our lives, but it helps teach us important skills that we may need in future jobs. Don’t quit on yourselves, your teachers, or your parents.

Do what you need to do, get it done, and relax after. If parents just teach their children discipline and hard work, it’ll be easier for teachers to do their jobs. When parents don’t do their jobs, it makes it harder for teachers to do theirs. But, when everything works out well, and you’re able to finish all of your school work, it’s the best feeling in the world. Trust me, you’ll feel so much better after you get everything done, and you can reward yourself with a box of Cheeze-Its and a nap in front of the TV. Good luck!