A Kentucky high school teacher is praising one of his pupils for generously offering to give up his own bonus test points to a fellow classmate in need. If nothing else, this story proves that student solidarity is a very real thing.
Winston Lee, a history teacher at Letcher County Central High School in Whitesburg, recently shared a photo of the 11th grader’s test in which he included a note asking that the extra marks be transferred.
A photo of the pupil’s test shows that he had written a message to his teacher right below the answer bubble section.
“If you could, can you give my bonus points to whoever scores the lowest?” the test reads.
Below that, Lee gave the student a final score of 94%, which would have been increased to 99% had the student decided to keep those bonus marks for himself.
Instead, he passed them on. And it was that selfless gesture that has left his teacher truly stunned.
Lee explained that this particular teen is a straight A+ student, but he was willing to part with his own 5 bonus points for the sake of one of his struggling classmates.
“Totally offering up what is rightfully his, his earning, to any peer that may have been struggling especially hard the day of the test,” Lee wrote in a Facebook post showing the sweet note.
“He didn’t care if he considered them a friend, didn’t care if they were cool, didn’t matter to him what situation had caused him to score lower.”
“He just wanted to help, be kind, commit a loving act.”
In the end, those five bonus points went to a female classmate and ultimately helped increase her score to a passing grade.
“She was really thankful so it turned out great,” Lee told Good Morning America . “She does not know who gave her the points.”
Since it was first posted on February 21, Lee’s photo on Facebook has gone viral, amassing over 91,000 reactions and 64,000 shares.
In the comments , users are praising the unnamed student for his act of anonymous kindness towards one of his classmates.
“One sweet gesture that gave me chills,” this person wrote. “Feels great to still see genuine kindness.”
Another added, “Kudos to this exceptional, thoughtful student.”
However, there were also those who didn’t think simply giving the other students bonus points is very ethical or responsible.
“Just a thought,” this person wrote. “Maybe the smarter student should spend extra time helping the struggling one learn instead of wanting to give points that do nothing to help the ones that get something for nothing.”
Sharing bonus points is one thing, but some folks wanted to get across that sharing knowledge would be better.
As someone else chimed in and added, “I really do value people helping out others, however this isn’t the right approach. The only solution to help out lower scoring individuals is to help tutor them.”
Although not everyone agrees with Lee giving away another student’s bonus points, it was still a heartwarming gesture on the part of the teen.
“Not all [students] are great test takers or in a comfortable situation at home that allows them to focus on studying,” Lee told GMA. “I feel really great that it helped this student from 58 points to passing. We don’t know what her situation may have been.”
