Dear Mrs. Principal:

For students everywhere, the best part of school is trying out for sports. There's a different activity for all kinds of kids. Golf is for the quiet ones while football is for the loud and rowdy students. Most of these students try hard in school to get a C average, lot less a B. Some simply cannot get grades that high while others don't seem to care enough. The reason they come to school is not because they want to do algebra or literature but because they enjoy playing the sport that is afterward. You have to understand that all students on teams can't always afford to get B' s.

Not everyone is an Albert Einstein. Most students are happy with a C on a report card because a C is average. There is nothing wrong with that. B' s are harder to come by as you get older because the material you are learning becomes tougher. Some students, however, cannot absorb enough material to get a higher grade. Their mind won't hold anymore information about a subject, and the student only remembers a few things. Other children forget information. They don't do it on purpose, but it does happen. As you know, not everyone is an excellent test taker. As soon as a test is handed out, all of the information needed to take a test flies straight from the mind. Test weigh more then homework or other assignments in a grade book, so if someone were to get a 50% on a test, that would bring any grade down to a C. Now if a student has a C, they can't participate in sports if you pass this new standard. Teenagers nowadays could honestly care less about school. They come for the social time, clubs to take a role in, and sports to participate in. C is average. Anyone can make a C who isn't trying. Kids do that so they can play in sports and still hold themselves as an average student.

So, as you can see, raising the standard to a B instead of a C would not help students, but hurt them. The best player on the team could have a C average but not be able to play. This would hurt the team and then you would feel bad because you set them up for failure. It's not easy to get a B average. Very few students can. Mentality space is different for every person. No two people have exactly the same grades. Consider the ones who are horrible test takers. Their grade falls because they forget material and then they can't play sports. Do you really want to crush a kids hopes and dream? Consider this letter as you think about raising something to an impossible standard.

From,

A worried C student wanting to play sports