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."

Ever since the “rein in her arty side” comment I’m thinking this is a wind up!

You’re

It might be, but sadly I have met some parents with similar attitude in real life, the level of entitlement of some people is astonishing.

Let her ignore the teacher. Let her continue to explore her artistic side when she's finished her GSCE paper before the allocated time slot. Let her see how appreciative the GCSE markers are of her arty side. You can guarantee they'll take a damn sight more than 5 marks off

But you just keep supporting her ignoring her teacher. After all what does the teacher know

What punishment do you think is in order?

Probably. But these parents do exist.

"What punishment do you think is in order?"

A five mark deduction.

Your child disobeyed.

I'd have loved to have turned my exam paper into a wagging dog, but I didn't.
I couldn't understand my further maths paper, beyond about half an hour into a three hour paper. Did I draw, scribble or graffiti it ? No.

Stop making excuses for your child.

She ballsed up. End of. Tough titties.

The ops replies are getting odder by the post…

Wow. I don’t understand all the harsh replies tbh. A lot of posters sound jealous that your daughter scored a very high mark and are responding bitterly. I understand you feel the doodle isn’t a reflection of her effort/marks on the test, so you feel perhaps, it shouldn’t been dealt with by deducting the marks she worked hard for and achieved. And that the doodling matter should have been punished differently. It sounds as though, since it was an internal test, the teacher can decide to take marks off for whatever reason. I don’t think it’s a massive deal that she drew at the back as it doesn’t look like an a offensive drawing, but if it’s a school policy, I guess you’ll have to be firm with your daughter that it is now unacceptable to continue this habit on school work. So no, YANBU, to feel this way, but just make your daughter more aware.

A lot of posters sound jealous that your daughter scored a very high mark and are responding bitterly.

Do you think, genuinely now, at all our grown ages that this is about jealousy of a young child’s mark in a random school test? Is that honestly the most reasonable conclusion you can come to here out of every possibility (including at this point the op drew that picture themselves and is on a colossal windup).

A lot of posters sound jealous that your daughter scored a very high mark and are responding bitterly

Nobody cares that her daughter did well. There's no point in being educationally outstanding if you're socially lacking.

This thread has stirred a lot of emotion in me because I was your daughter.l. I’m so glad to see you backing your daughter. Don’t even think about reigning in her arty side. She’s right there trying to free it. Get her art classes. Watch YouTube art lessons with her. Encourage doodling. Honestly institutional repression is just depressing and dampens all the wonder in the world. Fuck them. Her teacher should be finding a way to channel this passion but clearly your daughter doesn’t fit in their pigeon hole.

It was a test! You don’t even know if this was a specific secondary setting test, there is art class to work on naff drawings. Yes schools can be very constricted, but they also can’t give in to every ‘free spirit’ who feels that they’re not entitled to follow the simplest instructions because they’re ‘artsy’. Should the sporty kids start doing handstands during tests? What about the kid who thinks they’re the next Adele, should the teacher encourage them to howl like a dog in pain instead of doing algebra? Jesus let’s be honest at this point, if you’re going to insist on being ‘spirited’ and ‘screw the rules I’m special’ type person, at least make sure your art is truly worth the attention you want….

“Jealous,” maybe because their children aren’t scoring as well academically. Otherwise, why the need for such harsh and bitter replies as though OPs daughter committed a heinous crime, and “no one gives a shit about her marks,” etc. I don’t think the teacher is wrong to act this way, but it’s not unreasonable for the mother to feel upset about the deduction of marks. As the new mark isn’t a reflection of her ability on the test she worked hard for.

The daughter sounds like a child and the “doodling” sounds like a simple issue that she can learn from and hopefully, not repeat again on important papers. As the OP said previously, not all teachers have cared so maybe the daughter got carried away whilst being bored.

I don’t think a young child doodling on a test paper, suddenly means they are “socially lacking.” Children make mistakes and it seems like a trivial issue she can learn from and hopefully, not repeat again.

lot of posters sound jealous that your daughter scored a very high mark and are responding bitterly

😂😂😂😂

Yeah that's it exactly

A lot of posters sound jealous that your daughter scored a very high mark and are responding bitterly

This place gets crazier every day.

Is it a young Michael Eavis?

School is about more than just passing tests, it’s about showing your work in the best manner possible and a reflection of how serious you take a task given. All very important aspects of adult work that school is ultimately preparing you for.

’As the new mark isn’t a reflection of her ability on the test she worked hard for.’

The mark is reflective of a specific instruction give to the daughter as part of her test-taking that she had deliberately decided to ignore. Again. It was wholly part of her test not to doodle and she did it anyway.

I hate to lower myself to silly tit for tat about ‘jealousy’ over a child’s academic ability but I can assure you from my end at least, it’s not the case. I have one child who is very able academically, I’d absolutely back the teacher of it was him being deducted marks for the same reason.

That's not being arty. It's being deliberately defiant.
We can't just do what we want in life unfortunately - sharp lesson.
Lucky it wasn't a GCSE or A level where she's potentially depends on marks.

I'm so happy to have found a kindred spirit, who appreciates that artistic expression cannot be constrained to a time and place.

When she was in year 1 her teacher proudly told us at parents evening that my dd kept defacing her current project and that every time she added another doodle the teacher would cut it away and that soon she may end up without any project to bring home..... I remember praying that future teachers would be more understanding.