This one takes the cake......

[dangerdanger!]

I can see this side of the argument, too. I have a graduate student for my philosophy inductive logic class, and he likes to make jokes and make us laugh in class, and the whole class gets along really well. It's a small class and he knows all of us, and sometimes he'll be sarcastic with us, etc. (Would he write "loser" on a paper? Probably not...) Then again, we are college students, not middle schoolers. This is a tough one. I think I would have to know more of the story.

That's the part I can't find it in any way appropriate either - he's only a sixth-grader!!!! Kids feelings are so tender at that age. And if it was a joke, why did the teacher take away 20%?? If he was a high schooler, I could see a teacher maybe joking with his students in this manner. And in college, professors are constantly doing stuff like this to weed out the non-passionate students (I seriously had a Lit professor once who was raving my paper, and then when she was done, she looks at me thoughtfully and says, "Incidentally, I preferred your hair the old color." LOL).

It just seems strange that yes, there are parents who said that was just the way the teacher relates with students, but did not want to be quoted in the paper. It's just too easy to encourage kids that age to put those kind of labels on each other if the teacher is going to do it too, even if it's in jest, and somewhere along the lines joking becomes too much and someone's feelings get hurt.

[PHmom]

I HATE the way we automatically assume a teacher is always wrong. Maybe he is, or maybe he is an amazing teacher, who the kids love because of his joking style. I do not know this teacher, however, I hate the way we, as a society, always jump on the bandwagon against teachers.

I don't think we always "jump on the bandwagon against teachers" - I, personally, have given teachers the benefit of the doubt many times even against the word of my own son. However, in this case, I have no problem saying the teacher is in the wrong. I really don't care what his teaching style is and if he uses humor. I cannot see any case at all where it is appropriate to write the word "loser" on the paper of a sixth grader. Maybe a college student could take it in stride as a joke (their identities are often more established - especially by the later college years) but a 12 (or close) year old child is still that, a child. I don't find "loser" to be the same as "goofball" or other "silly" names. The word "loser" has no positive connotations unless you are on the reality show that starts with Biggest.