'F' student graduates. Didn't go to class, flunked every class and got a diploma.

[proud2BlibKansan]

Tatiana Reina wanted to graduate in the worst way -- and she did.

The 21-year-old was enrolled at Lafayette HS in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, for six years with a dismal record marked by truancy and failing grades. She faked her own graduation in 2007, donning a cap and gown and sneaking into the receiving line. Faced with "aging out" of the school system this year, she got a last chance and still didn't bother going to class.

"She was a no-show all year," a school insider said. Regulations call for at least 90 percent attendance to be promoted or to graduate.

But that didn't stop the principal, Jacqueline Boswell, from granting Reina a diploma.

In June, Reina showed up for the last five days and was given some health and chemistry assignments in the guidance office, school staffers said. "She sat at a computer and Googled her answers," a worker said.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/student_graduates_qKSEek0SoPXTJBjV1Scc0M#ixzz0tdGrWyDM

[Octafish]

1. Bush at Yale?

Bush at Harvard?

He didn't have the Google.

[walldude]

6. Didn't need it... Daddy had the checkbook..

:toast:

[demodonkey]

9. Ha! I thought Bush too....

...as soon as I saw the thread title.

[ThomThom]

16. I suspect he hired other students to take his classes

and pass his tests.

[Fast Dude]

20. Actually, that's Ted Kennedy's old trick

Let's not be hypocrites. It doesn't look good on the site.

[Raster]

22. self-delete

[Octafish]

30. Here's what Smirko's professor from his postgrad days at Harvard has to say.

The Dunce

EXCERPT...

Bush, by contrast, "was totally the opposite of Chris Cox," Tsurumi said. "He showed pathological lying habits and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago. He was famous for that. Students jumped on him; I challenged him." When asked to explain a particular comment, said Tsurumi, Bush would respond, "Oh, I never said that." A White House spokeswoman did not return a phone call seeking comment.

In 1973, as the oil and energy crisis raged, Tsurumi led a discussion on whether government should assist retirees and other people on fixed incomes with heating costs. Bush, he recalled, "made this ridiculous statement and when I asked him to explain, he said, 'The government doesn't have to help poor people -- because they are lazy.' I said, 'Well, could you explain that assumption?' Not only could he not explain it, he started backtracking on it, saying, 'No, I didn't say that.'"

CONTINUED...

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/09/16/tsurumi/

Regarding hypocricy: Yes, Ted Kennedy admitted he cheated and paid a price for it. Going by his career as a public servant, the experience made him a better man. The Bush family have used their positions in public office to enrich themselves and their cronies, to the detriment of the country. Pointing out how Democrats truly are better leaders is the reason for the site.

[Maru Kitteh]

43. neither do pot-bellies and neon green hair

yet. . here you are.

[XemaSab]

2. If you make graduating high school as easy as sneaking into a club on friday night

then it's no wonder that kids can't get jobs with a high school diploma.

If you make graduating college as easy as graduating high school was back in the day, then it's no wonder that college graduates are good at flipping burgers and little else.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. They have what they call "credit recovery"

And it allows kids to sit at a computer and Google answers so they can graduate.

Pretty soon we won't need teachers. We can just use Google.

[Radical Activist]

4. Would you show up to classes with 17 year olds if you were 21?

Would you enjoy telling everyone everyday that you were too stupid to graduate any sooner? Why on earth would anyone think that would work? I don't know why they didn't work something else out or just tell her to get a GED.

[LisaL]

5. Quote from the student herself.

"There wasn't no problem. I just didn't go."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/student_graduates_qKSEek0SoPXTJBjV1Scc0M#ixzz0td8iKoYD

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. And why go when you can just take a test and Google the answers?

[laughingliberal]

10. After all, isn't the 'test' the most important part?

:sarcasm:

[Radical Activist]

8. Yes, I read the article.

Would you expect her to explain herself well? There were obviously problems.

[chemenger]

15. "There wasn't no problem. I just didn't go."

Which just begs for the question ... "Is our children learning?"

[otohara]

56. Oy....

her bad grammar is like fingernails on chalk board.

[theHandpuppet]

18. You have to actually study for a GED

This young lady isn't interested in anything remotely resembling work or responsibility.

[snooper2]

42. Nope, she's got her cellphone and cute purple purse..

what more is there to life?

Parents are a miserable failure with this one...

"So she returned to Lafayette last year. On Jan. 12, a school day, she was arrested for buying goods at Bloomingdale's at Roosevelt Field, LI, with $400 in fake traveler's checks; the felony charge is pending."

[Dulcinea]

57. "The felony charge is pending."

She might learn something in prison, because that's probably where she'll end up.

[Johonny]

27. I know people that did.

So the answer is yes

[WolverineDG]

11. they gave her the diploma to get rid of her nt

[Dulcinea]

14. We have a winner! *ding*ding*

Now she's no longer the problem of the school system. No doubt her teachers did what they could, but what can you do with someone as lazy as Tatiana Reina seems to be? Maybe she'll learn something in jail.

[WolverineDG]

28. Many moons ago, my brother was given his diploma for that reason

and I know he didn't have the foreign language or science requirements. He was such a PITA at school, though, they were glad to see him go. My parents gave him a year to decide what he wanted to do (note: I didn't get a year off, neither did my older brother, something we're still a mite upset about), and then his choice was go to school or enlist. He enlisted. It wasn't until he was in the Army that we figured out what all his problems with school were (he's not academically inclined, but give him something to build or take apart & fix, he's a freaking genius), & after he got out of the Army, he went to technical school & graduated at the top of his class.

dg

[Maru Kitteh]

49. So in other words, the Army kicked him in the ass and forced him to find

a little discipline and direction. Kudos to your parents. I wouldn't sweat the thing about the year off anymore. Children are different and we treat them differently.

[snooper2]

44. The school is closing down, last year of classes

Here's the key quote:

"This is happening all over the city, especially at closing schools," said Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters. "If you're a principal or a teacher and your chances of getting another job depend on how many kids you successfully graduate, the vast majority will give these kids credit, whether they deserve it not,"

[saracat]

12. This is the direct result of NCLB. Teach to the test and nothing else.

And BTW, the girl shouldn't be given any kind of a defense either. She pulled the same stunt of not attending over and over. .She had a "last chance" and still don't bother. No matter what the excuse, this was one lazy girl.And the Post is just loving this story to broad brush ALL teachers as the villians. This is disgusting and an insult to hard working educators eveywhere.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

21. while NCLB is crap...

it had NOTHING to do with this waste of oxygen getting her diploma.

sP

[JHB]

23. Maybe not NCLB, but other problems contributed...

...like upper management confusing numbers for results.

What happened at Lafayette HS, one of five city high schools that closed their doors for the last time last week, is not a fluke, critics say.

"This is happening all over the city, especially at closing schools," said Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters. "If you're a principal or a teacher and your chances of getting another job depend on how many kids you successfully graduate, the vast majority will give these kids credit, whether they deserve it not,"

That's exactly what a Lafayette teacher did, describing "coercion" by an assistant principal.

"I was told to consider raising a failing grade because the principal might not give me a favorable recommendation," said the distraught teacher, who admitted changing a final grade of 55 to 65.

The teacher also said Principal Boswell brought the student's mother into the classroom and then asked if the kid's grade would be changed. Boswell refused to speak to The Post.

The biggest problems were the kid (21 or not, she acts like one) and her mother. But it took teachers and the principal looking over their shoulders at the sort of numbers used to determine "merit" to complete this train wreck.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

24. it is indeed the child at fault (and probably the parent too)

and as far as merit is concerned...what we see here is school administrators and teachers fabricating 'passing' grades out of thin air to get jobs at the next school. if these teachers and administrators are found at fault in this (and i don't see how they could NOT be at fault) they should be fired and stripped of their teacher certs.

NCLB does do some nasty shit...but corruption on the part of the admin and teachers is NOT the fault of NCLB...

sP

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. Why is this the teachers' fault?

What were they supposed to do? She didn't even come to school! Should her teachers have gone to her house every day and brought her to school?

The teachers didn't come up with the brilliant plan to let her Google her answers either.

This lies with administrators. Not teachers.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

26. when i was a teacher

TEACHERS assigned the grades...not administrators. it took a teacher giving into the pressure from administrators to have this happen. i am no saying they weren't coerced. but they should have stood up to this and NOT let the kid get a diploma which essentially makes all the other diplomas that school issued worthless (oh, i guess really it cheapens diplomas from the whole school system).

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. And administrators can change grades

Happens more than you apparently realize.

You also have no idea if teachers stood up and insisted this kid NOT get a diploma. I am assuming at least a few did so. But with credit recovery programs that allow kids to take tests and Google the answers, as well as administrators changing grades, the teachers' pleas were likely ignored.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

33. actually i quit my job as a teacher

when a principal insisted i change a grade and then did if FOR me when i refused. so i do get it...that one moment in my life essentially meant that i had wasted 4+ years of college to teach. i also know teachers that would not bat an eye about giving a kid a 'passing' grade to get rid of them...maybe that happens more than YOU think...

sP

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. I believe it

But I am saying the reason teachers do this is because of administrative pressure. I teach elementary school and can remember when social promotion was the norm. We could never fail a student in a grade unless we jumped through numerous hoops and were able to prove the parent agreed with the retention. All it took for the child to move on to the next grade was the parent refusing to agree with retention.

So how many elementary teachers do you think failed a kid? I did a few times and over the summer it was always overturned by administration, usually after an angry call from a parent. In 13 years I only had one student who actually repeated a grade and about a dozen who should have.

We no longer have social promotion but we are advised to make sure we can back up any retentions. Some principals mandate that if you fail a student you must have them in your class again the next year.

So why fail them when you know it won't really happen? I don't blame teachers for passing kids who shouldn't. The problem is with the system, not the teachers.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

40. the problem is with the system AND

people who don't have the courage to stand up to it. i got SMOKED by the system in a VERY short time (i actually broke my contract with the county and they threatened to SUE me for the money already paid to me on the first semester) and i don't expect anyone else to walk-away like i did but i do want enough people to stand up and SHOUT about this that it stops.

sorry, i am pissy about the whole situation. i see our (and have watched for some time) education system disintegrating before my eyes. my parents taught...and i taught...and i nearly makes me cry when i see that it is not about actually teaching but about getting kids 'through the system'. i am sure we are both on the same side of this...forgive my assholeishness...

sP

[proud2BlibKansan]

47. I'm on your side

I just got home from the AFT convention where Bill Gates was the keynote speaker. And some there applauded him.

Most teachers don't pay enough attention to understand why Bill Gates should never be applauded by us. It's sad. But you can only speak out so many times while you are the only one speaking out.

[JHB]

31. I believe that was largely my point...

...by pointing out upper management and "the numbers".

The kid should have been expelled long ago. It wasn't the teachers making the decision not to.

This is one of those situations where you have to ask "What's going on here that this even entered anyone's mind as a course of action?" And one look at that points upward.

[Dr. Strange]

37. This is NOT due to NCLB.

It's shit like this that causes people to support NCLB. Despite all the complaints about "high-stake testing," if there had in fact been a test required for graduation, she might have been prevented from getting this diploma.

[NotThisTime]

55. I hate NCLB, but this has nothing to do with NCLB, this is a direct result of Community influence

Absolutely nothing more.

NCLB has done nothing but maybe help the kids at the bottom, and even that is debatable. When a 6th grader can get the highest grades in math and realize they never learned long freaking division, there's a damn problem, and yes I'm speaking from experience... Kids don't know what a damn country is, they've never seen long division, this is all at the end of sixth freaking grade, it's pathetic.

[old mark]

13. 21 after 6 years in high school? Why was she even there? Get her ass

out and get a job...I guess she didn't show up for that, either.

She should never have even been there to get the diploma.

There are lots of ways to get a GED later in life, but you actually have to work for that...


mark

[Blue_Tires]

17. i liked the part when she faked her graduation...

why deal with the charade if you're the school system, since she's now 21?? just tell her she's on her own now, and refer her to a trade school or something...

[tinymontgomery]

19. She isn't the only type of student that gets by

I knew a kid that did nothing (sometimes he wouldn't bring his books to the class for weeks at a time) but the teachers passed him because if they didn't or tried to correct him his mother would make the teachers life holy hell and work on getting them removed. After she got one teacher out thats all that was needed for the rest to get in line. The joke of the school (she was a sub) was when she tells the principal to jump he asked how how, and then he really did do it.

[Javaman]

29. I suspect anything that the murdock funded NY Post passes as "news".

It's becoming the new world news daily.

Watch next as the right wing uses this story as a reason to privatize schools.

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. There have been lots of articles - many in more dependable publications -

about how NY as well as other states are playing games with test data to make it look like kids are making progress when they actually are not. Teachers can also tell you about this credit recovery nonsense happening all over the country. So I don't doubt this story in the least.

And yes it will be used to attack public schools and teachers. Even in this thread, DUers are blaming the teachers.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

38. Sorry...pissy rant in here...

don't give teachers a pass as if they have nothing to do with this mess. there is plenty of blame to go around. if a teacher is being asked or TOLD to modify grades or scores to meet the directives of anyone from the lowly assistant principal to the architects of NCLB they should have the integrity to say NO and report it. blow the lid off of it...get some admins and school boards rearranged and this garbage will stop...or at least abate...

sP

[proud2BlibKansan]

46. Report it to who?

The media? And risk losing your job? No thanks.

And if you aren't fired for being insubordinate, you will be treated like shit by district administration.

Teachers are in a tough spot. Most would not speak up and I completely understand.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

48. i disagree... there are whistle-blower protection laws

and while i am not sure they apply (they damned sure should) my integrity and the future of the child and school system as a whole are worth a lot more than the paltry salary teachers are paid.

i quit...and spent years bartending and waiting tables til i found my spot...and it was worth it all.

sP

[proud2BlibKansan]

51. You must be braver than I am

I spoke out against an administrator once. Ended up having to hire a lawyer to stop the harassment that followed my speaking out.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

53. and to me...that should have been the other way 'round

please understand i am not saying you should DO anything...but in the 'proper' world, administrators would be harassed mercilessly for pressuring someone into changing a grade...

sP

[proud2BlibKansan]

54. I believe we are in agreement

:)

[backscatter712]

41. Indeed. This story smells very Willie-Horton-ish. n/t

[KurtNYC]

35. Education seems to be a new favorite target of the "War on Culture"

they want to play the budget cutting to get permanent cuts in public education. This anecdotal BS story in a paper owned by Fox News' parent company is just another part of the salvo.

[Gold Metal Flake]

39. This is clearly the fault of the teacher's union.

:sarcasm:

[LWolf]

45. Well of course she got a diploma.

SHE'S not responsible for her lack of motivation or learning.

If she fails, it's because the school failed. Everybody knows that schools, not students, are accountable for student performance.

Right?

The principal didn't want to punish her for the school's failure.

Just in case it's needed:

:sarcasm:

[donco6]

50. We catch hell for NOT allowing that here.

Every year there are 3 or 4 parents who are upset that Johnny isn't going to graduate. Their reason? "He really tried hard."

We have a school now for kids who have dropped out and want to get their regular diploma. Some can enroll in Community College through a "Gateway" program and get some concurrent credit if they score high enough on Accuplacer. It is not easy, but it is very specific to what they are missing in credits. It is not computer-based, but they do use computers. They do have to read, and write and do math. They have to get their PE credit just like everyone else. But it's not "sitting in the principal's office plinking on the computer." That's unethical.

[proud2BlibKansan]

52. They pulled some nonsense here to raise the graduation numbers at one of our schools

Why have standards when they are just ignored?

[donco6]

59. If I were a teacher, I'd be pissed, too.

Why do teachers always have to be the "bad guy" in giving kids failing grades, and then the principal gets to swoop in and be the hero! UGH! I hate that. We don't allow any waivers from grad requirements unless it's taken to a formal board meeting. In 15 years, I think I've seen 3, and they were all for medical issues.

[Jkid]

58. I would put the blame on Tatiana Reina herself.

She did not do any effort to make decent grades. I could blame the school for not helping her and her parents.

As for Tatiana in the meantime, her fate is sealed.