上周去查尔斯顿开会，临出发前，收到文化班学生家长来信，抱怨他孩子为什么只得６８分，说不能接受，引用其中一句原文“I  DO NOT agree with this grade, we do not have PowerPoint on our home computer！．．．”可以想象出那位家长的表情！

     美国公立高中是完全免费教育，好多学生错误地视教育为权力，没有意识到和其他国家的同龄人相比，自己是多么的幸运。因此功课只做他们必须做的事情，不愿意多写一个字，多作一道题。对于分数呢，还是比较计较的，尤其是想上大学的，因为每次作业考试都记录在案，并且和申请大学息息相关。家长呢，和中国家长完全不一样，他们经常抗议老师给自己孩子布置作业，但又想看到高分。由此可见，分数对于美国学生也是重要的。当然，这里分数和国内概念不大一样，美国学校什么都给分:做一次演讲，搞一次展板，读一本书，甚至连做一次中国菜都要视学生的努力及参与程度打分。对于这种比较主观的活动，老师得事先给出评分细则（Ｒｕｂｒｉｃ），让学生知道自己该怎么挣分，这最让人伤脑筋。美国很讲规则，很讲法律，这在学校就可以看出来，老师必须根据自己开学前制定的政策打分，要公平公正，不然，被学生和家长发现，那就麻烦来了。因此，对于类似家长，要有理，有利，有节地进行“斗争”，而且要注意风度。只要你有“法”可依，是按照标准来的，没有什么大不了的。重申一句，一定得按标准，公平评价，不管家长反映到哪里。顺便附上自己当时的回信：

12/12/08

Dear parent,

I am sorry for the delay, for I was not at school due to the State Department meeting.

It is great to have your child with my Chinese culture class. I understand your disagreement about his grade. Actually Shaquille did a good job in the first nine weeks. He earned 90, according to my grading policy.  And every time when he turned in his work, it was good. But somehow before the progress report was due last week, I did not receive his three assignments, including PowerPoint which you mentioned. For the PowerPoint part, the students were supposed to finish it in the school, not as homework.

And I also told Shaquille I do not have to, but I want to offer chances for him to make up so that it can help him raise his grades. Now I am very happy to let you know that I have already received two of his make-up works.

                                                             Sincerely yours,

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                                                         (Chinese culture teacher)