Tell me what you really think.
Man, I wish I could think you were joking, but I know you're not. There are so many reasons why my husband and I aren't teachers anymore and you hit upon several. Whew...
In San Diego, their new superintendent is trying to introduce a new business model for his administration....the key chink in the armor? The district bureaucracy. IMO, much of what you wrote about is a sad statement of what America has come to.....no one, especially in public education, wants to take responsibility for doing what is right or correct because SOMEONE might turn it into harassment, discrimination, etc., AND those who turn a blind eye often do so with regret because they know that NO ONE is watching their back to support them for doing what is right or correct. Actually, for the most part, SOMEONE is watching their back so they can nail them for something.....
Great, great post. Great writing.
Mind blowing use of examples. I need to rest now.
I used to teach but I was fired because our Principal Mr. Incompetent said there was to much laughing coming from a math class. I guess students are not suppose to enjoy class. I enjoyed your post and yes the school system is broken.
you should submit this for big newspapers and magazines, PLEASE, so that the 'civilians' have a clue about the utter nonsense going on in public schools. rile up the masses, let's have school-morals revolution!
Yes, what Julie said.
As hard as my daughter has to struggle in school (and she's only in the 5th grade), I do NOT want her just passed through if she can't do the work.
One thing: even though I was complaining this very day about the teachers at her particular school insisting she was ADD--even though the doctors say she's not and I say she's not--at least they took interest in the situation and talked to me about it. That gives me some small confidence that she'll have to earn her passage through. 
I wish you were her teacher. I only wish that EVERY DAY.
"but DO NOT GIVE THEM A DIPLOMA."
AMEN!AMEN!AMEN! This should be required reading for every teacher, principal and parent in the land!
It makes me sad to read such a post, because it is so true. I'm so glad that I don't have to do it any more.
Wait. My high school was deep in rural southern Indiana, about as redneck an area as you can find, and I'm from the duck and cover generation, so I was in school when we had rifle teams (not the band rifle teams) and regularly took rifles and shotguns to school and put them in our lockers so we could go shooting after school, long before any of this PCness existed. But we were never allowed to smoke on the school grounds, nor was chaw allowed. I'm sure of that.
You were my teacher. I know that we laughed a lot in class and that we had fun. I can't remember many of my teachers’ names past the fifth grade, but I'll never forget yours.
I do believe the most fun I have ever had in a class room; we wrote instructions on how to make PB&J sandwiches. I remember it like it was yesterday, you were standing in the front of the class and, literally following the instructions you were given. Mine was the first in the class that came close to resembling the sandwich. The first one you read told you to put the peanut butter on the bread, HA, HA, HA, you smashed the jar of peanut butter down on the loaf of bread and the class erupted!
One other time I remember is in the class at the end of the day, I can’t remember what they called it but it was like home room. Two students were arguing and it broke into a fight. You grabbed them and told them they were not going to do that in your class room and took them toward the hall. I think everyone thought you were going to the office when you turned them loose and said “there you’re not in my class anymore”. That was great! They didn’t know what to do, I think they went back at it but they had to be laughing on the inside. It was a great year, 1987-88 I think it was. You have a lot of friends that you might not even know about, and we all love you.
Oh, I thought Oklahoma was the only place where guys (and a couple girls, EWWWWW!) were allowed to carry around their grody spit bottles in school. Great memories. Good times. Yeah, epseically when the kid in front of me knocked his over and it soaked into the carpet and I turned green. I don't think I learned any "Taming of the Shrew" that day.
And, if we started the day later, the football teacm would be practicing in the dark! Can't have that! Better that everyone else be in a coma for half the day-- including some teachers, right?
I commend you for being one of the few who are willing to tell the truth about what really goes on. Involved parents sorta know the lay of the land, so for us these examples come as no surprise (unfortunately). I do believe the growing number of uninvolved parents are what's been the catalyst for these examples to get worse every year.
Doug's PB&J story was cool.
I hope you feel better having gotten all of that out. I have a laundry list from my former school that contains crazier stuff than yours. It's so, so sad.
This is why I - as a well behaved, A/B, theater/music geek - didn't love everything about HS. Double standards.
Need to miss class for a doctor's appointment? Counts as an absence, too many and you fail.
Miss class because your team has an away game?
Don't even have to do the homework.
I am not even going to go on, because I might throw up.
The best though, was when the varisty football team took advantage of homecoming hall decorating to spray paint their NAMES and numbers above their locker bank. Did they have to clean it or get in any trouble at all? Course not.
Hehe. Unfortunately, I know that at least most of these really ARE true, because I remember Mamacita's state of mind as they were happening. Not good
My favorite incompetent administrator story (and I have many) is the one in which my principal observed my class the day after a concert (naturally). I was showing the students a video of their own performance (with the lights out, of course). The principal scolded me--verbally and in writing--for having "insufficient lighting in the classroom". A real winner, that one. I think he became a superintendent later on...
BUT, in light of all the shortcomings of the public school system (and, again, there are many), I challenge anyone to "sell me" on the alternatives. A private college prep school? Of course the odds are in its favor to outperform even a really good public school (although I would put mine up to most any). No schooling? No thanks. Homeschooling? Don't even get me started. I know there are some VERY good homeschoolers out there--but I know of others who choose this option out of fear or ignorance, and that just won't fly with most good public school educators.
Just my two (ok, 4) cents!
OK, DG, I'll give it a try:
I don't think this is a hard "sell" to reduce the obstacles to an alternative to the monopoly of government-funded schools.
Why should conscientious parents of bright, curious kids have to enroll them in local, accredited, tax-supported public schools if those local public schools are bureaucratic messes which are acknowledged failures at meeting standards they themselves have dreamed up? If a local, accredited, tuition-supported private school is not a mess and produces results, why should those parents' tax dollars have to go to the school which is failing its mission? Why couldn't some of their tax dollars follow their kids into a local, accredited, private school?
One key is, I think, the accreditation process which is tedious enough to serve as a pretty good check-point for school quality. Another key is that some of the tax money ought to stay with the public school system so that the community's children are still offered a free public education. Would that provide enough of a balance between individual and community responsibility and accountability?
Thanks, Jeri! Your ideas are valid, and I agree that there are flaws with the accreditation process (I've been on several accreditation committees, so I know the drill for getting a school through the hoops). As you stated, the problem lies in the balance: parents who choose a private school because the local public schools are not meeting their child's needs should be able to afford to do this without breaking the bank. On the other hand, there are plenty of other children out there who need a "free" public education, and who deserve GOOD public schools. In a perfect world, all public schools would be meeting the needs of ALL children. And no child would be left behind (sorry, I couldn't resist!). NCLB, by the way, is directly responsible for many of the recent public school problems: teachers are too busy filling out paperwork and "meeting standards for every child" to teach effectively.
Thanks for your response. Let the dialogue continue!
My son does not attend public school for the same reasons this post was started. 75% of what I pay in property taxes goes to fund several new elementary schools in the county, not to mention new additions to the High School almost every year. People around here think that if it looks good on the outside then it will turn into something good on the inside. I pay taxes to build and maintain the public schools and tuition for my son to get a good education where I know the teachers that are conducting him, and the type of kids he is playing with on the playground. All I hear at work from people with kids in public school is “did you here about the 12 year old girl that got pregnant?” or “around here they are trying to get the third graders hooked on ecstasy so they can move them up to the hard stuff by junior high”. I know he is safe and will be taught morels as well as how to read and write. I learned a lot in public school, a lot that wasn’t in a book or taught by a teacher. I sure would like to apply some of my tax money toward the school my son is going to.
following this post and commentary with interest.
Something I learned while marking time in High School:
Varsity Football Jocks are The Master Race.
Everyone Else are The Subhumans.
That Is The Way It Is.
All High School taught me was how to hate.
Great post. I have a million stories of craziness as well.
I am certain "those" people...the ones in control that make the crazy decisions are all in collusion to systematically kill public education.
Our state senate is preparing to decide on a bill that, if passed, may designate our county for a 10 year pilot program to establish a countywide administrative school district. There will be no input from parents or community members...instead of our boe, there will be a "board of four" hand picked by the county freeholders. I have one child in high school but if this happens, I'm pretty sure my two who are still homeschooling will not ever see the inside of a school.
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