Frighteningly Accurate

So, I just finished reading a book called, "The Corner." It's by the same guys who wrote for The Wire (my fave tv show.) It is a documentation of "a year in the life of an inner-city neighborhood" in Baltimore.
The book is really on point about a lot of things, but this page about teachers giving end of the year grades? Yeah, it is EXACTLY how things happen here. It is so realistic, it sortof freaked me out. (Made me feel better about the fact that WE do it, but more horrible about the fact that it happens so much it's commonplace.)
here it is:
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There’s nothing in writing, nothing for the record, but everyone in the room knows what’s feasible and what isn’t. Three percent can fail, maybe 6 or 8 percent if you want to push it. But the system can’t sustain itself on a 25 or 40 or 60 percent failure rate. So you sit there with your colleagues, roll book in front of you, and you being, alphabetically as always.
"Abbott."
"He’s okay…pass."
"Adams, Monique."
"I saw some improvement at the end of the year."
"Well, not in my class."
"You can fail her there, but I’ve got to pass her."
"Me, too."
"Addams, Robert."
"Lord, one more year and I can adopt him."
"Hey," someone jokes, "third time’s a charm."
"Now way. I’m tired of him tossing books out the windows."
"Well Herbert Thomas sets his on fire and we passed him."
"Please. I can’t deal with Robert."
"Okay, pass."
You sit there for hours, making judgments off the top of your head, all the while sensing the absurdity of the thing…
Now, you sit here going through the motions, pretending that there is a difference between the kids you send to the tenth grade and those left behind. The no-shows are easy enough—if they didn’t exist in your class, they can’t exist now—but virtually everyone else is an open question.
Failing grades in core classes? That alone could disqualify more than half the eighth grade. Achievement, or the lack of it, is not enough of a filter. You factor in class absences, disruptive behavior, and indifference; still, the number of those actually deserving promotion is appallingly low. But next year, there will be another swarm of eighth-graders. And they can’t be taught if a third of last year’s class is hulking in the back of the room.

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Seriously. Change the names and I've had that exact conversation 6 times-at the end of every semester. Isn't that horrible?