to be furious that my son got a C for his project?

[fostermumtomany]

the project was to bake and decorate a cake by yourself with help from parents.
he is in year 9 so is quite old enough to use the oven etc, although i still supervised (neurotic mother me), he baked said cake from scratch from a recipe he googled, once baked he decorated it beautifully with an angry birds picture that he firstly drew freehand, then cut out of icing he made himself and coloured it with food dye, the result was brilliant. i posted a photo of it on facebook and everyone on my friends list said how good it was.
now i am bragging here massively and i really dont care, but i want to mention that my son is in the top 20% in the county we live in for his art skills so that tells you how good he his at art.

anyhow, he took his creation into school, and was awarded a c grade. which is fine and i am proud of him, but what has really annoyed me is that another boy in his class, whose mum is a professional cake maker, admitted his mum had made his entire cake and he had only told her what he wanted, and he got an a+.
now im sorry but that is very unfair imo. my son worked for hours on his cake on every tiny detail, this boy said "mum i want a star wars cake" and it was presented to him fo rhim to submit at his project.
personally i dont think that is right and iam wondering whether to phone the school and complain.
you see to me that gives the kids the message that if you dont follow the rules you will be rewarded.
now am i being unreasonable?

Sounds very unfair, I agree, but assuming the grade doesn't count for anything important, I would let it go (or just suggest your DS might ask for feedback as people suggested).

When it comes to GCSE coursework and exams, they'll have to do that on their own, so really it'll be the kids who've never made any effort and had their parents do everything for them, who'll find themselves at a disadvantage.

I think you need to forget about the cake decorating lady's cake and concentrate on why something which sounds like it could have graded far higher, only got a C.

If your DS wants to do creative subjects at GCSE this is important as the same teacher could be grading his coursework.

Could it be that he was graded down as it was copying an existing design? Although probably not as the A+ was star wars. Or was the teacher unaware of Angry Birds and didn't realise how true to life it was?

DS is in year 9. The marks he gets in food tech are for the written work; the actual food produced counts little towards the mark. Cooking that had gone wrong but with a clear written evaluation of why and how it could be improved next time would get a better mark than a perfect cake with a poor evaluation or explanation.

When I was 8 I won first prize in a school cake decorating competition. I was amazed at the time, as even I could tell that my cake (unlike your son's which sounds excellent) was not in the same league as the others.

Years later my mum explained that I'd won because my cake was the only one clearly not decorated by an adult .

Don't let it get to you. MmeLindor's approach is far the most constructive way of dealing with this.

Yes it would be interesting to know what he would have had to do to get an A. Marking something like this must be very subjective, and unless you know the marking criteria and what they're looking for it must be hard to know what's expected.

I'm surprised too that the teacher couldn't clearly see that the other boy's cake was a professional job, must have looked quite different from the average 13 year old's efforts surely!

Sounds like your DS put in a lot of effort and really used his initiative and worked independently - those skills will stand him in good stead for the future I'm sure.

In terms of karma (and I do feel a bit bad for saying this but...) I know some people who did this for their children constantly, all through school. They even wrote whole essays for them. Both of their children are now on the dole and smoking ALOT of dope and yet they were actually smart kids. Hopefully they will sort themselves out but I used to say to their mum that actually she was hurting and not helping them because they would derive no satisfaction from their achievements and in turn might grow to lack confidence in their own abilities.

Bear in mind the other boy might be (wrongly) embarrassed by his cake making skills and fibbing that his mum did it.

I do agree with mummytime - my experience of my son's varied efforts in Food Tech is that the accompanying written work counts for a lot.

But that still wouldn't explain the "cake-cheater's" A+ unless his mother wrote all that down for him to copy out at home/in class.

Ask for feedback at the [dreaded] parents' evening.

Your son sounds fab, by the way.

art and cooking don't go hand in hand. my dh is currently working on a portrait commissioned by the national portrait gallery. he's a very accomplished painter but his culinary skills begin and end with toast!

i would just chalk it up to experience, your ds may be a bit embarrassed if his mum contacts the school to complain about a grade in baking. just enjoy a slice of his cake later.

Linerunner - the OP has said that this was a project for Art, not Food Tech.

I'd be cross too - and I think I would talk to the school.

More importantly, did you get to eat the cake?

Annoying but regardless of whether the other kids mum made his cake, it wouldnt have altered your sons grade would it.

Maybe they were just looking for other things rather than just the look of it.....did you test it after??

I wouldnt worry, I dont think your DS will be scarred for life in getting a C, sets him up for the constant disappointment in life and no dont contact school, it will make him look like mummy is fighting his battles for him.

Wot mme lindor said.

The C isn't important.

The fact that you're teaching him that he has to tackle his tasks himself and not rely on others IS important. And he's likely to do better than the other kid in the stuff that matters because of it.

Pity the other kid for having a mum who thinks the A+ in the year 9 classroom is more important, and let it go.

SDTG Sorry, it took me so long to post my drivel I missed the OP saying the cake was for art and without written work.

In which case the 'cake-cheater' really was ... well ... cheating.

Definitely what MmeLindor said.