Week 20: Report Card

This week my mind has been on grades because, well, it’s that time of the year. I teach a semester course and, as I was reflecting on the students I taught this semester, I couldn’t help but notice that our president has also finished his first semester. Just like my students, he started in late January. This gave me an idea… why don’t I grade him like one of my students? Just like when grading my students, I will try not to be bias and stick to what he actually did.  

My grading categories are pretty simple:

50% Assessments: This is the biggest category. In my class, it consists of formal discussions, formal

speeches, quizzes, projects and essays.

30% Classwork and Homework: These are your day-to-day assignments. This is the stuff that prepares you for your assessments.

20% Diplomacy: This is your behavior in class. This is how well you work in a group and your ability to succeed and lead the people around you.  

Let’s start with assessments category. The president has had a lot of these, but to keep things brief I think we should narrow it down to the three biggest tests he’s had this semester.

1. The Travel Ban
2. Appointing a supreme court justice
3. Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA)  

Whether you support the travel ban or not, it has clearly been a complete failure for the president. I look at this assessment like an essay. He wrote one. The courts sent it back and said “this doesn't fly.” So he revised it, but it got sent back to him again. Just today it was sent back to him a second time. Like my students, he can still revise it but until then it’s a big fat zero in the gradebook.  

Regular citizens like my friend Cindy rushed to airports to support people banned.

So did lawyers and courts. Both bans were ruled unconstitutional.

In the next assessment, the president faired much better. He needed to appoint a supreme court justice and he did. With little fanfare, Justice Neil Gorsuch was appointed. People may disagree with the appointment, but I think the process of the appointment was well executed by the president, and stacks up to other supreme court justice appointments. I would consider this a quiz, and as long as you follow the study guide you should be fine. He didn’t get anything wrong so he walks away with a 100%.

Neil Gorsuch and the president

Since the ACA became law, many republicans wanted to repeal it. The president talked about this ad nauseum during the campaign. However, since entering office, he and the majority republican congress have been unable to pass a repeal and replacement for the ACA. This is a huge project, and like the Travel Ban, he can still revise it and submit it, but until then, the president receives a zero on this assessment.   

0 + 100 + 0 = 100/300 = 33% Assessment Grade

Next, the president will be graded on classwork and homework. The president has been busy. He turns in a lot of classwork and homework. He signed more executive orders in the first 100 days than any president since Truman. He has sent hundreds of Tweets since taking office. At first sight, this is looking good for the president. Teachers love students that turn in their assignments. However, after a quick glance at several of the executive orders and Tweets it’s pretty obvious that he has not done the required reading and he is rushing through things.

      

He’s doing his classwork and homework, but as many teachers would say “this isn’t his best work.” If he was in my class I think he’d earn an 80% in this category. If I had time to sift through everything his grade would probably be lower, but I don’t have time for all that. What teacher does? I figure if he’s not doing his classwork and homework correctly, that will catch up to him on the assessments. So far it has.    

   

The president displaying one of his executive orders.

The next category the president would receive a grade for in World Studies would be diplomacy. A quick Google search of diplomacy says that it is “the art of dealing with people in a sensitive and effective way.” In this category, I grade students on their ability to work with others (for more on this see Week 6: Diplomacy). For the president, this would be translated into his ability to work with the people around him. The president seems to work well with some people. For example, Vice President Mike Pence and senior White House advisor Jared Kushner. However, he has also fired his National Security advisor Michael Flynn and the FBI director James Comey. When students come to me and express that they are struggling to work with some people in their group, I stress to them to resolve that matter in a “sensitive and effective way.” The president was unable to do this with both Flynn and Comey.

         

Since he’s working well with some members of his team, I think the president earns a 70% in diplomacy. It’s a very low C, which I think is fair.

Now, let’s tally his grade:

Assessments = 33.3% @ 50% of the grade

Classwork/Homework = 80% @ 30% of the grade

Diplomacy = 70% @ 20% of the grade   

Final grade… 55% F.

As much as a teacher tries to make grades fair, grades are always an objective practice. I’m sure there are many that would dispute how I calculated the final grade for the president. Either way, I think my point is clear. Let’s hold our leaders accountable. If you are going to be in office and represent the rest of us, you can’t turn in unfinished and poorly thought out classwork and homework. You need to perform on your assessments. You need to use diplomacy. The bottom line is, if the president was in my class, and performed the way he did this semester, he would be heading to summer school.    

How would you grade yourself since January? I know there are some areas that I could improve. Let’s take this week and make those improvements.

Let’s concentrate on our classwork and homework so that we are prepared for the assessments. Let’s deal with everyone in a “sensitive and effective way.” Let’s be thoughtful before we speak or post.

Otherwise… summer school!