This past Wednesday I accidentally slept in longer than I intended, so I had to rush to get ready and finish up my English homework that was due in about half an hour (sound familiar mom and dad?). I was completely frantic by the time I finally finished and was headed out the door with about 5 minutes to get to my class that's 10 minutes away. I got to the door fully expecting Brother Schaffer to already be well into our inspirational thought for the day, but he was nowhere to be found. Everyone was in their seats chatting and trying to decide how long they had to wait before they were allowed to go back home. I sat down, relieved, and we decided the rule was 15 minutes. We waited impatiently for Brother Shaffer to show up and explain why he was so late. 10 minutes passed, and still no sign. Finally, 13 minutes into class, Brother Shaffer walked in and we could tell something was wrong. Brother Shaffer is the kind of teacher that is usually there at least 5 minutes early with a smile on his face, so we were all quite concerned when he walked in without saying a word. After gaining his composure, he told us we had something very important to talk about. The discussion went a bit like this:
Guys, I just came from a meeting with the English department. Next semester a group of people will be coming to evaluate our school to make sure that it can still be an accredited university, and one of the most important things that they look at when accrediting a university is grade inflation. When I was in college, the average grade was a C, but in this class, we have a B average. This might sound like a good thing, but this makes it look like our class isn't difficult enough. In order to fight this grade inflation, the head of the English department has decided that we will begin using a 'reverse curve' on our final paper. In fact, it is possible that this policy will become school-wide. A 'reverse curve' is exactly what it sounds like. You will all write your final papers and the two lowest grades will automatically become F's and everything else will drop with it. So, if the lowest 2 grades are C's, they will drop 2 letter grades to an F', B's will drop to D's, and A's will drop to C's.
As you can imagine, the class pretty much turned to mass chaos at this point. In my head, I had already made up my mind. I'm not coming back to this school. I will not go to a school that lowers my grade just because my class did well. This is a school based on gospel principles, and this policy would go against every gospel principle I have ever learned. Brother Shaffer agreed with this argument, and told us that he was late because he was trying to think of loopholes that would make this situation more fair for us. These were his options:
If 2 students fail this paper anyways, then no one else's grades will have to move, so you will end up with the grade you earn. The first option is to take the 2 students with the highest grades in the class and give them the F's.
At this point, several students looked at me, a few making guns in my direction with their fingers, others just looking very sorry. Now I was pretty furious.
Now I'm not going to make you write the paper if I am just going to fail you, but my reasoning behind this option is this- if you have an A in my class right now and fail this paper, you will complete the class with a C+. Assuming you have similar grades in your other classes, and this is your first semester, you have plenty of time to make up for one C+. Now the other option is to fail the 2 students with the lowest grades, because if you have a D in this class, you should probably retake this class anyways. So I'm going to leave it up to you guys. Do you want to fail the top 2 students, the bottom 2 students, or just stick with the reverse curve and take whatever grade you end up with?
Frankly, we weren't ok with any of these options. We tried to figure out who the top and bottom 2 students were, but no one knew their exact grades in the class. We tried to find an alternate assignment for those who failed to do instead, but Brother Shaffer said that the English department would get him in trouble for doing that. In the end we decided to see if anyone would be willing to take the F, and 3 girls volunteered. (It felt a bit like the Hunger Games...) Brother Shaffer had each girl explain why they were willing to take the F. Each girl gave their explanation and we decided we would vote on what to do. As we were about to vote, I realized that we had forgotten to start class with a prayer, and asked if we could do that before we decided to fail 2 students. Brother Shaffer said that was a good idea, and then asked me in whose name we pray. I said we pray in the name of Christ. He said:
Correct. Well, Christ took your F for you. None of this was real, you can all take a deep breath now.
As relieved as we were, it was hard not to be mad at Brother Shaffer for the agony he just put us through, but the lesson behind this activity was one that is important for all of us to remember. In this situation, we had a choice as to whether or not someone would suffer and fail the final paper so that we could all get the grade we worked for, and we were about to allow that to happen. As guilty as we may have felt, we were selfish enough to make 2 students retake English 101 so that we could get a "fair" grade. Brother Shaffer had us think about how we felt a second ago when we realized that 2 of the sisters in our class were going to pay the price and fail so that we could succeed. I thought of the debt I owed them, the gratitude I felt for them, the respect I had for them, and how I would do my absolute best on that paper so that their suffering would not be in vain. Then we talked about how we could apply this to the Atonement. Christ already paid the ultimate price so that we could have a fair chance here on Earth. He didn't just take an F on a paper, He gave everything. He felt every pain, every sorrow, every feeling of guilt we have ever felt and ever will feel. When I thought of this in comparison to the debt and gratitude I felt toward the girls in my class, I realized that I owe everything I have to my Savior and it is my responsibility to take full advantage of the opportunity I have here on Earth because of my Savior. His suffering is in vain if we don't use the Atonement every minute of every day. We have the chance to have eternal happiness because of Him, because He loves us more than we can possibly imagine. Because of Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter how many times we screw up and fall down, we can always get back up again. I hope all of you remember that sacrifice He made for us, especially during this season of Thanksgiving. I am so grateful for His Atonement that allows me to try again every time I mess up. I am grateful to know that I am never alone because my Savior understands exactly how I feel. No matter how bad things get, He has felt the same sorrows we feel and knows exactly what we need to make it through. I don't know how people go their entire life without knowing about their Savior, so I guess this is just my way of trying to let everyone know that He lives.
D&C 76:22-24 And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father- That by him, and through him, and of him the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.
Now on a little less serious note, the rest of my week was pretty fun! I think the highlight of my week was decorating for Christmas. I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but we got a little impatient, so as soon as the lights and snowflakes came out, I just went all out.
Also, Nahiomi and I got to go teach 2 lessons with the Sister Missionaries and it was a bit crazy getting there, but it was an amazing experience! I don't want to bore you with details, but it made me so excited to serve my mission in less than a year! I hope you all have a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving and eat your little hearts out!! I miss everyone at home so much and I can't wait to see you all in less than a month!! Hugs and kisses! (:
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