The dispute over the "D" on the girl's report card probably lasted:

Choices:
A. 10 minutes
B. not enough information
C. Over an hour
D. 5 minutes
Over an hour
So many kids, so many stories. Parents die, leaving kids devastated and unable to speak for days. Parents get deported, leaving kids despondent and hopeless. Children endure emotional, sexual, physical abuse. And more.
The saddest story I ever heard was from the kid in my AP Lit class who had taken her senior year to accept invitations from education reform groups to speak around the country, which she did, without doing any of her homework. She waited until after grades were turned in at the end of the year to contest the “D” on her report card because it meant not going to UC Berkeley. She brought her mother with her, and her two sisters. After going around and around for a while with me and the principal, her mother said that her divorce had really affected this girl, and she had been fighting so hard all her life to get into Berkeley, and what did I have against her daughter? She deserved to go to Cal! They were all in tears.
The principal found a way to change her 64% to a 70.01%, and off she went.
This young woman full of potential and energy, learned from her mother and my boss, that excuses rule the day. She appears to think that “social justice” means fighting to get your way because the deck is stacked against you, instead of doing the right thing. This is sad. I know this isn’t what you were after, and that this memory says more about me than it does about her.
Many other kids I have counseled, who are getting through something life-changing, seem to understand that life is in session, there will always be challenges to rise above, and that focusing in the classroom is a great way to get one’s mind off one’s troubles, if the environment is supportive and the spirit is willing.