Thyme Too Improv The Grammer

(I am an English teacher in the days before computers, word processors, spell check, etc. In freshman English, I assign a paper as homework on the first day, to evaluate the level of ability I am dealing with in the new class. After the paper has been graded, a very irate mother storms into my class with a girl in tow.)

Mother: “Are you Mrs. [My Name]?!”

Me: “Yes, I am.”

Mother: “What’s the meaning of giving my daughter a D on this paper? She has never had less than an A in junior high school!”

Me: “Forty-six spelling and grammatical errors in a two-page, hand-written paper does not get an A. The only reason I gave a D instead of an F was that the idea presented was good.”

(The mother splutters on about only the idea being important, not the spelling, and then says she is going to take it up with the principal.)

Me: “Be my guest.”

(Needless to say, the issue died a quiet death, and by the end of the year the girl was writing A and B papers legitimately. It makes you wonder about the junior high school teachers who passed her on.)