Parent Admits to Making a Scene with Teacher Who Threatened Their Daughter with a 0. Others Say The Teacher Was the Problem

A concerned parent said that they caused a scene with a teacher after they threatened their daughter with a failing grade. Now they’re concerned that they blew things out of proportion.

Taking to Reddit‘s popular “Am I the A–hole” forum, the parent explained that their daughter in the fourth grade had been struggling with math to the point where she was getting 80% of the questions wrong.

After they received yet another failing grade on a test, the parent realized that something was very wrong and escalated the situation to the principal.

Now, the Redditor’s wife is accusing them of blowing things out of proportion, but others don’t necessarily agree.

Keep reading to find out more…

In their post, the parent explained that their daughter had gotten tutoring but still wasn’t able to figure out multiplication and division the way that the school was teaching it.

They said that the method “isn’t easier and it’s just more steps.”

Frustrated, the parent showed their daughter a new way to do things, which she finally understood. They added, “Homework is a million times easier now because she can actually solve the questions.”

However, the student received a failing grade on a recent test despite only missing two out of 25 questions.

“I had a conversation with the teacher and it boiled down to she didn’t use the method [shown] in class,” the parent wrote. “I pointed out the test just said to show their work and not show a specific method. The teacher basically went too bad and that if it happens again it will be a 0.”

The Redditor admitted to being “fed up” and said that they escalated the situation and “made it a big deal” with the principal.

“I think it’s ridiculous that she got penalized for getting the right answers using a different method. It’s math… you can solve problems in a lot of different ways,” they wrote, justifying their feelings.

The principal clearly agreed. The parent said that “she was forced to [change] my daughter’s score,” and they were ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

“The teacher was not happy,” the user wrote, adding, “My wife thinks I was being an a– and keeps bringing it up. She says the teacher has other things to deal with and that I went overboard.”

However, others were quick to assure the parent that they did the right thing.

Many users in the replies pointed out that they also struggled with the new way of doing math. They added that it was the teacher’s job to make things easier and to accept other ways of thinking.

“This teacher is way behind the time if they’re trying to force all the students to use only one method,” one person wrote.

Another argued that it was “incredibly dehumanizing and confusing to children when they are correct, but are penalized because of things like this.”

“Like a good parent, you found a method that is good for her and you advocated for her,” they wrote, adding, “Children should be encouraged to learn things the way they best process, especially when that process garners correct answers and understanding of concept.”

A final Redditor said the parent “did everything the right way.”

“You tried teaching her the way they wanted and it was just causing more struggles. So you showed her a different way. The test said to show your work which is exactly what she did. You tried talking to the teacher first and got no where so you went to the principal. Clearly the principal agreed with you so now you have validation,” they wrote.

Concluding, they wrote: “Not all methods work for everyone. But forcing a kid to struggle that much doesn’t make them smarter, it makes them feel less competent and can actually create a lot of anxiety around the subject or testing. Teaching should not be a hard line. You made every reasonable effort and it didn’t work. So you found something that did.”