Was the

[WantToBeAMamma]

AIBU to be upset that my daughters teacher took off 5 marks from her exam total because she doodled on the back of the paper while waiting to be allowed to leave the exam. She would have got 96% without the deduction. See attached the offending doodle. Teachers comment was "minus 5 marks for graffiti at the back. I have told you many times its not on."

She was punished for not listening to instructions/rules. By all means keep telling your daughter this is fine... and then explain why she's been disqualified from an official public exam if the examiner finds it offensive for any reason.

OP, the world doesnt revolve around your daughter and how "arty" she is.

The teacher set the exam. The teacher asked her numerous times not to do that. She did it anyway. The teacher deducted marks.

I'd say that's a valuable life lesson and you're not doing your daughter any favours by undermining the teacher on this.

It's not being arty 🙄 even 17 years ago when I did my GCSE, we'd have been marked down for marking the papers in any way. She's already been told before, maybe this time she will listen.

You think the picture is so good it deserves praise not punishment?

I have told you many times its not on

That makes the teachers response reasonable. She's been given plenty warnings and has ignored them. Now she's learning actions have consequences

Wind 'em up and watch 'em go 😂😂

Well played OP.

YABU

If your DD is secondary age then she is old enough to know that if a teacher says "Do not doodle on official school papers" then she needs to stop doodling or face the consequence.

Especially coming up to GCSEs, some papers will have specific instructions of how the paper must be filled in and where you can/can't make marks on the paper so the school setting a rule of not doodling/writing anywhere on an exam paper and if you do then you lose marks is perfectly understandable as they want to get students in the habit of checking what they can/can't do on the exam paper and respecting those rules before it costs them a GCSE mark.

yes

Oh ffs really? She's not being punished for 'being arty' Shes being punished for persistently ignoring what the teachers told her.

How old is she OP?
It’s well drawn, but that’s not the point. She’s been told not to do it, but she did it anyway, and that is disrespectful. I don’t know why you can’t understand that.
You’re clearly proud of her artistic ability, but I wonder if you’d be as indignant about the punishment if she’d just done a load of random scribbles. You seem to feel that the quality of the doodle should cancel out the fact that she’d been told not to do it. But it really doesn’t.

Why? What would you prefer?

"Behave your fucking self"?

It's not on and the teacher was right to say so.

I think you need to do better so she learns to do better because you are clearly part of the problem. Why would she respect teachers or rules if her mummy tells her it’s ok when she persistently disregards them

Good try op but even a five year old wouldn't describe that as 'arty'.

I marked GCSE papers for a few years. We had to send on defaced papers to our team leaders and they eventually were addressed with the school and sometimes with the candidate. It wasn't treated as unimportant.

Oh ffs, yet another one of these threads.

OP: AIBU?

Everyone else: YES

OP: But, but ...

The teacher is a prick. Using her control against your child. So what if she doodles when she's bored? She's obviously bright if she got 96%. Can't see the problem.
I had a teacher like this. Silly cow.

When have I told her it's OK? I have told her that it is disrespectful to the teacher to doodle on her schoolwork including exam papers. but considering the effort she put in to learn I feel that deducting marks was perhaps not an appropriate punishment.

But if it stops her from defacing exam papers in future where there are higher consequences than just losing 5% (such as in GCSEs when it can literally mean the difference between passing and failing if you mark the wrong parts of the paper) then surely it's the best kind of punishment?

I just feel that it's not a huge deal either way. She was told not to doodle - she doodled - she got told off/ penalised for doodling. Not even a huge penalty unless it dropped her below a qualifying mark for something (then that would be tight).

I understand her being upset but in my house that would be an 'oh dear, well you won't do it again will you'. Life is so much about following the brief. He has just taught her something she needs to know!

Tough shit though isn't it? Neither of you get to chose the consequence here.

If it makes her start doing as she's told then it's a win.

I think you must mean test or practice papers then. Not an exam. But that's by-the-by really.

how old is DD?

she needs to learn (sharpish) that in life there are rules & they apply to everyone, yep including her.

if you are told to do/not do something like draw on the back of test papers then you don't bloody do it unless you want marks deducted. She might think it's a stupid rule, but it's a rule none the less.

YOU need to teach her to follow the rules if she's going to do well in external exams. Not support her whinging!

if she bright, it shouldn't be too difficult to follow no drawing on the back of papers.

IF she's ND she needs to see what she IS allowed to do once she's finished.preferably she needs to be taught to spend the time checking her work.

What do you feel would have been an appropriate punishment then?

She doodled when told many times not to so had 5 marks deducted. I can’t see how else you’d reasonably punish that.

You're making a big deal out of nothing to be honest.

OP I think you’re being deliberately obtuse.

Your daughter has been told not to doodle. If she did that on an external exam she would lose marks for it, so whatever the teacher’s personal opinions may be, she has to train your daughter to stop doing it. The teacher has told your daughter this on several occasions, but evidently your daughter has taken no notice at all. So the teacher has to come up with another way of teaching your daughter not to doodle on test papers. Your daughter is obviously bright and hardworking, so the teacher has decided that deducting marks may have an impact.

What would you suggest, if you were the teacher? Because simply telling her not to do it hasn’t worked.

Because she would lose marks on a GCSE exam, so it’s not a good habit to get in to.

It’s nothing to do with teachers trying to be controlling. It’s about educating pupils.
Have you been watching too many Pink Floyd videos?!!

When my DS1 was given a detention in Year 7 for forgetting his lab coat he was furious. I shrugged, signed the slip and passed it back to him. He didn’t forget again. Lesson learned.
Support the school, and use this opportunity to lead by showing respect. It will benefit her.