A Blow To His Confidence 27

More from K:
Bonjour M. Slavic,
J’ai une question pour vous. Je fais mes devoirs d’ete pour PIB French 2 et J’ai un problème. Je dois lire une histoire et puis écrire un résumé. Nous sommes censés utiliser l’imparfait. Mais, je tiens à dire “Il a dit que Jean-Pierre ne pouvait pas avoir un chien” ou “Il voulait un chien.” Ceux-ci utilisent l’imparfait. La plupart des étudiants ne savent pas l’imparfait. Mais je sais l’imparfait [ed. note: she learned it in 8th grade, a class that was not accepted by the high school for a year of credit because it was a middle school class]. Je ne veux pas que mon professeur de penser que je trichais. Alors, J’ai envoyé un e-mail à son. (Ce n’est pas mon professeur de l’année prochaine, mais elle attribué les devoirs alors elle corriger.) Elle dit que je ne pouvais pas utiliser l’imparfait parce que la plupart des étudiants ne savent pas l’imparfait. Si elle voyait l’imparfait dans leurs documents, elle leur manquent pour avoir triché. Il ne serait pas juste pour me permettre d’utiliser l’imparfait quand tout le monde ne pouvait pas. J’ai dit que je suis prête à passer un test sur l’imparfait. Elle a dit non. Au contraire, elle m’a dit pour changer l’imparfait au passé compose même si elle nest pas correcte parce que tout le monde sait le passe compose. Je suis fachée. Je suis heureuse qu’elle n’est pas mon professeur l’annee prochaine mais ma question est que dois je faire?
(I have a question for you. I am doing my summer homework for French 2 and I have a problem. I have to read a story and then write a synopsis. We are not allowed to use the imperfect tense. But I insist on saying, “He said that Jean-Pierre could not have a dog” or “He wanted a dog.” These use the imperfect. Most of the students don’t know the imperfect. I don’t want my teacher to think that I was cheating. So, I sent her an email. (It’s not my teacher for next year, but she assigned the homework so she is correcting it). She says that I wouldn’t be able to use the imperfect because most of the students don’t know the imperfect. If she saw the imperfect in their papers, she would take points off for cheating. It wouldn’t be right to allow me to use the imperfect when every one else couldn’t. I said that I am ready to pass a test on the imperfect. She said no. On the contrary, she told me to change the imperfect into the the passe compose even if it is wrong because everyone knows the passe compose. I am angry. I am happy that she is not my teacher next year but my question is what should I do?)
K further comments:
This [situation] is very messed up, and a major problem with the traditional method. They only teach you a limited number of topics per year and you are limited to using that information even if you know more. The idea that a student would study and learn French outside the classroom is very foreign to them and so if they see something “advanced” in writing, they assume they used a translator, which is cheating. So, now I must use the wrong tense even though I know the correct one, just because others don’t know it. We are making mediocrity the standard… and they say IB is better than that…. Ha! Grrrr!