In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. - Desiderius Erasmus

Today is the last day of the school year, with students, anyhow. Grades are due by tomorrow, to be posted to the computerized grade book and this ingenious program will tally and make the grades all neat and pretty, ready for the world to see.

Welcome to the mythology that we are operating under in my little world.

Today is definitely the last day. Grades have been posted. That much is verifiable fact, not to be confused as truth, which is another thing altogether, being, as it is, rooted in agreed upon mythologies and the like. From this point on, the situation is a bit muddled. See, we have this brand-new, time saving, super-muscular entity that runs all of the record keeping for us...and none of us really know how it works. Grades entered do not tally in any mathematical universe, but this is not true for all teachers, just some. We don't know why. Grades posted appear on the web, so parents and students can receive info instantly; thus, we are subject to immediate scrutiny, and we have no solid answers. And reports? Pish. Who needs those to reflect what we know to be fact, as entered by our own (fallible !?) human hands. 

Case in point, a student of mine earned a 70 for the semester. It shows a 70. Yet, when I wanted a print out summary of the semester grades for my class...it shows a 69. Now, I know it's not a rounding down thing; I hand entered the 70. What??? Weird, eh? Teachers are stressing, the Administration/Guidance people are hatching an egg, parents and students are confused, and grades are due. As in, due. Over. Semester/year all done. And NO ONE knows or is completely sure what needs to be done/can be done. See, in a perfect world, someone would have arranged for training about this program for us. We.Had.None. OK, a photocopied handout of links. We were informed that it was easy to use, to just click around and get to know what it can do. (In my spare time? OK, I did. I'm compliant.) If we couldn't figure it out, we should ask each other for help, or look on youtube. For the entire school year, we've been clicking around, and guiding each other, stumbling along...and now, it's the end of the year. I think my data is correct. I entered it, and checked it. What the program does from here on in is beyond my ken. And I honestly feel just passive-aggressive enough to be glad it's not my problem. At least not yet.

And the Computer Gods are laughing at our hubris.