Dirty Little Secret:I feel guilty I changed a students grade!

A former teacher calls in with a confession she's carried for years and it's one she still struggles to forgive herself for. While teaching at a school attended by the children of high-profile athletes, politicians, and business leaders, she found herself facing an impossible situation when a failing student with a famous father was approaching the end of the semester. Despite believing deeply in fairness, accountability, and earning your grades, she admits that pressure from above led her to make a decision she never thought she'd make: changing the student's grade to ensure he passed. The student hadn't earned it, and she knew it. But in that moment, the pressure won. Years later, the guilt still lingers. She opens up about how that choice affected her integrity, changed the way she viewed herself as an educator, and even played a role in her decision to leave that school district. It's an emotional conversation about ethics, privilege, and the difficult realities educators sometimes face behind the scenes. Was it a moment of weakness, an impossible situation, or a reminder that even good people make mistakes? Billy, Candice, and Producer Pooh react to one of the most honest and thought-provoking Dirty Little Secrets the show has heard in a long time.

And if you've got a secret you've been holding onto for years, you never know—your story could be featured in a future edition of Dirty Little Secrets. Tune in, laugh with us, and remember: what happens on Dirty Little Secrets stays on Dirty Little Secrets... unless it's too good not to share!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Dirty Little Secrets.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Think on Nicks one or two point nine.

Speaker 3 (00:06):
Good Morning Billy, a kid Canda, Slow Pets producer, Who's here?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Are your secrets? Your confessions?

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Anytime you want, even if we're not doing Dirty Little
Secrets reach out. Sometimes people hit me up on the
Instagram at Billy on the radio and they're like, I
got a secret?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Can I tell this? Sometimes I'm like, no, that's too much.
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Sometimes it's like involving people and other people. Yeah yeah,
and I'm like, okay, we can't do that. Well, thank
you so much. But others, ninety percent of the time,
I'm like, bring it on, Okay, you got one?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
What's going on?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
I do?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
So I have a confession that happened years ago, but
I honestly carry I just carry the goat with me.
I just have ever since. Okay, So I used to
be in a high school teacher. I was a teacher,
but I won't say where, like what city, because I
don't I don't work for that district anymore, and I'm

(00:56):
really scared someone will recognize my boys. It was one
of those schools where a lot of famous people's kids,
when you know, like politicians or successful business owners and
professional athletes. And when I first started there it felt
so surreal, but then after a while they were just

(01:17):
students like everyone else.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
I won't say any names, but I have an idea
of where it might be one, but I don't know
if that's it. I'm not gonna it could be, you know, honest,
it could be a lot of different cities around here.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
But okay, it.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Could be a lot of cities. So there was this
one student in my class who was failing, not not.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Like barely failing.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
I'm talking failing back. His dad was a very famous athlete.
But I can't give any hints because I do think
people would figure it out. So the semester it was
ending and I was pulled aside and told to make
sure that he passed by any means necessary. Really, So yeah,

(02:03):
And if you had asked me before that moment what
I would do, I would have said, absolutely not. I
would have my integrity is not for sale. But I caved.
I caved, and I passed him. Did you really, Yes? Yes,
there were reasons.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
A lot of pressure. There's a lot of pressure, and
the part of it is who his father was.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
And it didn't hurt that the student himself, was a
standout athlete himself.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
None of that should have mattered.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
It shouldn't have mattered, but in that moment it did. Yeah,
and it changed the grade and he passed.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
He changed the Wow.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
And I appreciate you being honest, and I know that
you're not proud of this situation that you were in.
But does this happen a lot? I feel like it does.
I don't want to say it because I love teachers.
Oh yeah, but it's just not fair. They're put in
this position to have pressure put on you like that.
So it's not like you're the devil for doing this.
But I get why I would bother you.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Yes, thank you. I know to some people this probably
doesn't sound like the biggest scandal in the world, but
it's still. It still bothers me, you know, like teachers,
I became one because I believe in fairness and accountability
and earning.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
What you get.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
And in that one moment, I compromise all of my values.
It really changed how I looked at myself, and honestly,
it played a big role and why I ended up
leaving the district. And I just promised myself that I
would never let anyone pressure me into something like that again,
And I don't care if it's the child of the
most famous person on the planet. If they don't earn

(03:46):
a grade, they don't earn the grade. Right, right, it's
a mistake I will always regret.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
I could see why I would weigh on you, but
that would be tough, Like what do you do in
that situation?

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Right?

Speaker 3 (03:58):
I'm so curious as who the famous athlete is. But
you know, the fact of the matter is, there's so
many in this area. Like some cities, there's not a
lot of professional athletes that are that famous. There are
a lot here, so it could be anyone. I'm not
even going to go down that rabbit. It doesn't even matter.
My sister taught a couple of famous athletes. But did
she ever pass it?

Speaker 2 (04:17):
No, she didn't. She wouldn't do it.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
No, that's what I thought.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
You never know, but you know what happened.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Do you know if she was approached and asked to
do that. No, she was never approached, but she did.
She did give him extra some extra credit. I do
know that, give some extra credit so he could bring
his grade up to a passing.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
She tried to give him opportunity, opportunity.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
She wouldn't she was never approached, as long as you'll
give those opportunities to other students. Yeah, and it's fair. Yeah, okay, wow,
Well that what a good confession.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Thank you. Hopefully you can move on and you're still
teaching though, right.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
I am, but I'm not going to stay where.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
No, don't anything.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
Don't say where. But you know, good for you for
getting off your chest. And at least you do feel guilty.
I know some people wouldn't even care, right, they do
it again, so at least you learn from it.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
But thank you for that confession. We appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Thank you all for letting me get it off my chest.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
I mean, life's not fair, it's unfortunate, but it's you know,
these advantages happen to people in positions.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, it sucks.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
Though when you think about it, I wouldn't do it.
I'm like, no, I no, I don't think I would.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
But then again, right, what if it was your like
favorite favorite favorite player, right, or you have a family
and you have like I can't lose my job. Whether
it's right or not, I don't know. It's a lot
to think about, there, You go