Dear Dr Laura,
When I was in the 11th grade I was taking an information technology class. When we completed assignments we would email our work to the teacher and she would grade it and email it back. When my report card came, I had a C- in the class. I thought this strange because all the grades I had received via email were around 90%. When I questioned the teacher she stated I had not turned in a bunch of assignments and that's why my grade was low. I knew this wasn't the case and when I got a list of what I was missing; one of the assignments had been printed out and was hanging on the wall as an example of excellent work. We were instructed to clear our inboxes weekly, so there was no proof I'd done and received grades for the work. It soon became clear this teacher was either disorganized or had it out for me.
When I worked up the courage to show my dad the report card, he questioned the weak grade. I explained it to him and stood there waiting for the worst. An expression of anger, then he thought and resolve came over his face. He sat there quietly for a moment, and then said, "I believe you. We can't out power her, so we will have to outsmart her. Show me how to set up an email box or whatever you call it." Technology wasn't Dad's strong suit. The plan was simple. I would email all my work to both him and my teacher, and then save it all on a disk. I would then print whatever I could and have it date stamped at the school office.
The next semester, when this happened again, I walked in with the disk and all the date stamped assignments and set them on the teacher's desk. She still refused to give me the proper grade despite all the evidence sitting right in front of her. This time when I went home and told Dad, there was only one emotion on his face. At the end of the next day, I was called down to the office. I walked in to see my dad, my teacher and the principal waiting for me. I don't know what was said in that meeting, but the teacher sheepishly apologized to me, and the principal said my grade would be adjusted for that term and the grade from last term would be changed to match this one. Then the principal did something I'll never forget. He shook my hand, then my dad's and said, "The way you dealt with this is how fathers should deal with all situations." He turned to me and said, "You are lucky to have a man as your father."
On the way home, Dad said, "If you do wrong, I'll let them serve you whatever punishment they want, but if you're in the right, I'll fight the world with you." Dad has taught me how to work hard, fight smart, and accept responsibility when I'm wrong. Now that I'm a husband and father, I do my best to remember the times like that, when my dad had my back and do the same for my son.
Jeff
