Girl went to court over diploma, school forced to give it

[sabaku_no_gaara]

http://www.gva.be/nieuws/binnenland/...ttest-toe.aspx

google translation

he Sint-Jan Berchmans College in Genk, the 17-year-old student who at the Council of State was pulled because they had received a C-certificate, still an A certificate awarded. The Council of State was indeed a fine of 1,250 euros per day imposed if an A certificate was received, as became known earlier in the day.

Director Freddy Verpoorten explained the decision to the VRT radio. "As a high court such as the Council of State imposes you to do something, you do it. Whether there are or not a penalty attached, which I find really beside the point."

That the Council of State on a deliberation pronounceable, Verpoorten find strange. "It is unprecedented that the Council of State in the place of the deliberation class. I can imagine that this far-reaching consequences." But top woman Mieke Van Hecke of Catholic education does not fear that dissatisfied students now flock to the Council of State will pull it sounded on the radio.

The Council of State "has the last word" to judge a "student she does not know" or not during the school year in the lesson seen, decision headmaster Verpoorten.

So the girl was given a C attest based on her work in school and behaviour, her parents didn't accept this and they took it to court, the school was sentenced to pay her 1250 euro's per day that she hasn't received the A attest, wich the school is now reluctantly awarding her.

teachers are furious because they fear that students will work less hard because they can allways go to court!

[Aodh Mor]

wait what, she went to court over her result? what were her argument for deserving an A and not a C?

[sabaku_no_gaara]

The school didn't tutor and guide her enough according to the girl and her parents, and the judge followed this reasoning.

It's important to have a A attest for higher education and job options, a C attest doesn't leave many options open, apparntly by not getting the extra attention she should have gotten, the school limitted her future options so the school was forced to grant her an A attest.

Last year I read in a paper that more and more college students appeal their exam results through lawyers. This is a high school case tough and the first time it happened in high school I believe.


Education is becomming a problem, last year a proffessor at the university of Leuven complaigned that Universities have become the daycare centres of the Bourgois who keep sending their children to uni regardless of their abillities.

[Hmmm]

The school didn't tutor and guide her enough according to the girl and her parents, and the judge followed this reasoning.

It's important to have a A attest for higher education and job options, a C attest doesn't leave many options open, apparntly by not getting the extra attention she should have gotten, the school limitted her future options so the school was forced to grant her an A attest.

Last year I read in a paper that more and more college students appeal their exam results through lawyers. This is a high school case tough and the first time it happened in high school I believe.


Education is becomming a problem, last year a proffessor at the university of Leuven complaigned that Universities have become the daycare centres of the Bourgois who keep sending their children to uni regardless of their abillities.

That everyone should get their due help from teachers I do not dispute, and if this was indeed the case she would have a point. But, and this is important, why the hell did she wait until after she got the grade to complain about the lack of tutoring (I'm assuming this is what happened)? Why didn't she mention it during her time in high school, when the supposed negligence on the part of the teachers was taking place? And how did she prove that there was insufficient tutoring, this is kind of a serious accusation and the burden of proof should be on her.

And even so, unless she can prove that only she didn't recieve enough tutoring, that the teachers apparently on purpose neglected her, specifically, it seems to me her only complaint would be that she happened to have gone to a bad school.

[Himster]

Ah, we're getting back to the good old days where grades can be bought. Solidifying class distinction, again. Jolly-good.

[John ''True Grit'' Wayne]

Who can I sue to make me a Gynacologist

[Mangalore]

Who can I sue to make me a Gynacologist

Have you checked eBay. You can buy all sorts of "diploma" there...

[Simon Cashmere]

Have you checked eBay. You can buy all sorts of "diploma" there...

Why do that when you can make your own with glue and paper mache?

[Liamgamer55]

Who can I sue to make me a Gynacologist

I can give you a diploma that says you're a gynaecologist who specialises in old fat chicks if you want

[Col. Tartleton]

If it's on the wall he's a real doctor.

[Kanaric]

lol, last place trophy culture at it's finest. Rest assured that she is going to be someone who doesn't even contribute in society.

[Sigma]

lol, last place trophy culture at it's finest. Rest assured that she is going to be someone who doesn't even contribute in society.

Fifty years from now we're going to have doctors chewing gum and texting while doing surgery I fear.

[Jom]

For someone going into the teaching profession, this is pretty horrifying news and I hope that it's an incident which doesn't set a precedent. The article isn't terribly clear on whether the girl appealed to senior staff in the school first (i.e. the head of department, deputy head, headteacher) before taking the case to court, and I can't really decide which option would annoy me less, because if she and her parents did speak to all those people and received the same answer (backed up by evidence of previous grades, other pupils in the same situation etc.), and still went to court, then it just spits in the faces of all those people's expertise, undermining the entire school, whereas if she and her parents simply went straight to court, then it just shows an unwillingness to understand why her grades were what they were.

This is just anecdotal evidence taken from my colleagues, but I think that there's an increasing amount of pressure on teachers to constantly justify every single grade they give out, especially from parents, rather than the pressure being on the pupil to improve those grades. Whilst I don't think teacher judgement should be held up as sacrosanct, I think that parents need to realise that teachers aren't there to hold a pupil's hand every step of the way, but to give them tools for learning and to provide direction.

[LaMuerte]

It 's even worse than you think . The courts decision is ' provisionally, pending a definitive final judgement'

You can all imagine the implications I suppose...

source

[Father Jack]

Urgh, it's like the modern day version of buying a peerage, hopefully it doesn't set a precedent.

I know someone in the UK who tried to contest their university degree result and argued that they should have got a 2:1 (if you score under a 2:1 many graduate employers will not employ you) but his professor was rubbish so he didn't. It was completely thrown out on the grounds that;
a) he was a bit of a moron and didn't work hard enough.
b) Many others on his course managed to get very good results so tough , work harder.
c) you will not be treated like a school child at university, the onus is on you to work and do independent research. Don't just rely on lectures.

[Kanaric]

hopefully it doesn't set a precedent.

The court just set one.

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Not familiar with dutch legal system but can the school appeal this to a higher court?

[sabaku_no_gaara]

It happened in Belgium, I believe de raad van staete is the highest authority in these matters

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Opps my bad.
Well in that case, the ruling is horrible.

[Yoda Twin]

Making a judgement on a matter before a court when only two paragraphs of information is being provided? You're definitely going to have a bad time and usually, will look like an idiot when more details are released.