School District Forces Teacher to Pass Senior Student Who Has Missed 49 out of 83 Classes and Earned Zeros on Most Quizzes

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Jun 2, 2026 8:30 PM EDT

Why should he get to graduate when he never came to class? 

Schools have a major incentive to pass their students, even when they don't deserve to pass and matriculate to the next grade. They don't want their school's graduation rate to be low. If only 60% of high school seniors graduate, the school looks bad. Long gone are the days of the 19-year-old high school sophomores. If a kid does not complete the work required of him in 10th grade, he's passed along to 11th grade, just like the rest of his peers who actually did the work. 

When kids face no consequences for not doing their work, there is very little their teachers can do to motivate them to come to class and complete it. There will always be some kids who are actually internally motivated and want to get good grades for the sake of getting into college, but they're not the ones who make teachers' lives miserable. The kids who don't care whether they pass or fail need some external motivation to actually get their work done if they're not getting it from their parents. If a kid actually thinks he'll be held back and unable to graduate with his friends, he might become more inclined to do C-grade work instead of F-grade work. 

The teacher in this story literally isn't allowed to fail her student, who, in any just society, would fail her class. She's forced to watch him graduate with his peers because that's the state of education today, and there's nothing she can do about it. 

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  • A delinquent high school student who never shows up for class but still passes, no matter how much his teacher doesn't want to pass him.
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    A delinquent high school student who never shows up for class but still passes, no matter how much his teacher doesn't want to pass him. 

  • I am getting close to the finish line, but check out these numbers from a senior who will pass.

    Student has missed 49/83 classes both semesters. (It's definitely more)
    via u/Khakisuitsam
  • We have 20/80 grading system, where summatives get the big share of a kids grade.
    via u/Khakisuitsam
  • We've had 10 summatives, most of them super easy quizzes. He has a 4, 2, 2, 2 and the rest of them are zeros. He will pass and graduate with a D.
    via u/Khakisuitsam
  • A graduation ceremony full of students who don't deserve to graduate high school but do so anyway because the school administration demands it.
    via Joshua Hoehne

    A graduation ceremony full of students who don't deserve to graduate high school but do so anyway because the school administration demands it. 

  • Mainly because we have no attendance standard to earn credit for a course. And if a student gets a zero, it still counts for 50 percent credit.
    via u/Khakisuitsam
  • Make this make sense.
    via u/Khakisuitsam
  • The Limit of X-axis is: 84X41 And the of y-axis is: X² = Thrufou values and • we get: 6 dy - JS (2x+2x) dy ex Lucky 2xy + 2xy xdx 2x(x)+2xxx =
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    A frustrated teacher, who doesn't want to give students a 50% grade when they literally don't do anything in class that they're supposed to do. 

  • PotentialDiligent823 49 out of 83 classes missed and still graduating with a D is exactly why teachers get frustrated with these policies at some point you're passing the system, not the course.
    via u/PotentialDiligent823
  • DrakeSavory Actually, I'd be more frustrated with the D with so many Os on summatives. If my district ever moved to "minimum grades" like 50% for a zero, I'm printing up my resume. But before I leave, I'm going to no-call, no-show everyday then demand of the Superintendent that he gives me 50% of my pay.
    via u/DrakeSavory
  • Excellent-Cheetah153 When 50 is the lowest grade a student can be assigned, they have to try harder to fail than they do to pass. Basically if a student knows more than 10 percent of the content; they would in theory be passing. What kind of system is that? Like what are the possible justifications?
    via u/Excellent-Cheetah153
  • Joshmoredecai If I can score higher by not taking the test than I can by guessing, statistically speaking, I'm just not going to take it.
    via u/Joshmoredecai
  • rust-e-apples1 With all due respect, I don't think that's the way most of the "50% is the lowest a student can score" systems work. Typically (there could be exceptions), assignments are scored and any grade below a 50% gets entered as a 50%. So a student scoring a 10% would still fail the assignment.
    via u/rust-e-apples1
  • What you're describing sounds like a system where 50 is added to a student's score. If a student scores 10, they get 50 more points and the grade is entered as a 60. A system like this would be problematic if a student scores above 50 and scores could end up over 100 (example: kid scores 75, but with the 50 points they end up with a 125 in the gradebook.
    via u/rust-e-apples1
  • To be clear, I'm not addressing whether or not the "50 is the lowest grade" systems have merit or not, just trying to be clear about what the grading systems typically are (I say "typically," because | can't say for certain there are 0 systems out there that use the system you seem to be describing).
    via u/rust-e-apples1
  • ForestOranges I had a friend that worked at a school where as long as a student attempted, the minimum score they could earn was a 50%. Writing their name counted as "attempting" the assignment, so students could just turn in blank papers and earn a 50% as long as they wrote their name.
    via u/ForestOranges
  • rust-e-apples1 I've taught in systems like this as well, and the policy was always "grades below 50 are recorded as 50" (which sounds like what your friend's grading policy was), and never "start at 50 and add the student's score." I am legitimately wondering if that's what's happening anywhere.
    via u/rust-e-apples1
  • JorVetsby So many examples like this is why I can't get excited about this time of year anymore. "Congratulations on graduating" feels like you're congratulating someone for being mostly conscious the last 4 years.
    via u/JorVetsby
  • BlackOrre The same reason my school's demerit system is in the gutter with the new principal. When people think about reducing suspensions, they think school culture is safe. Instead, we have number crunchers who want to take the path of least resistance for things like number of ISS and graduation rates. Anyone who knows anything about metrics and measurements knows that methodology matters, but the powers that be don't care or know and choose to get these metrics to reach the target anyways.
    via u/BlackOrre

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admin school students passing quiz senior district teacher grades high school
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