the blog quebecois

Well played, Edmonton! Remember: it matters not what they're saying, just as long as they're talking about you.

Cracked:

A teacher in Edmonton, Alberta, was recently suspended for the egregious crime of refusing to pass students who had failed. He contends that he was instructed by the school's principal to not give out zeros for missed assignments. The principal says a zero doesn't accurately reflect a student's knowledge, that pupils should be given the chance to make up the work later and that every day students should ride to school on moonbeams and marshmallows. That way it's more fair and demonstrates that they have in fact learned the material and are not just mouth-breathing little douchenozzles being sent to day care.

Right away the problem with this is exemplified by people who no longer remember what it's like to be a student in a school. Maybe one kid in a whole class, in a whole year, legitimately missed an assignment because of some insane reason -- all their grandmothers and fathers died in a week, they had dengue fever, a Kardashian tried to hump them, whatever. But that kid will likely go to the teacher and ask to make it up upon realizing he was going to fail.

Slack-ass slackers don't hand in assignments on time because they probably don't give a shit. That's why they're slackers. The school feels this is a behavioral issue and the students should be encouraged to improve, not given a self-esteem-shattering zero. You'll notice this is the same way the rest of the world works. Remember how you can choose not to go to work for a week and your boss will ask if there's a better time for you to do the work? Do you remember that? Do you? Hell no you don't, and neither does anyone else.