I know a lot of people who are public school teachers, so this is going to be super-unpopular.  Still, it’s just me rambling about the system, not anyone in particular and I’m just gonna put it all out there.

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6:00 pm  •  20 April 2011  •   Let's talk about what you think.
| annoyed| education| me| news| politics| rambling wednesdays| teachers| new jersey| chris christie|

PATERSON, N.J. – A New Jersey school district suspended a first-grade teacher after parents complained that she had posted derogatory comments about her students on her Facebook page.

The Record newspaper reports that the teacher wrote about feeling like “a warden” and referred to her 6- and 7-year-old students as future criminals.

The teacher, whose name was not disclosed, was removed from the classroom this week after several parents who saw the posts came to Paterson School 21 and asked that their children be removed from her class. (cont.)

Well.  Can’t say I blame her.  I’m not a teacher or anything, but I ride the subway enough to know that kids are unruly.

But further down, the article makes reference to the Philly lady who posted about her kids on her blog, and a teacher in Chicago who took pics of one of her students and put them on Facebook.  Why was she taking pics?  Well….that little girl had Jolly Ranchers in her hair for picture day!

Oh black people.

And of course her mother had to name her Ukailya.  That could very well be some fancy word for Princess in a foreign language.  But I doubt any woman who is making hairstyles out of sugar snacks for their kids is studying Swahili on the side.

3:19 pm  •  1 April 2011  •   Let's talk about what you think.
| teachers| education| news|

If you hadn’t heard, there are actually a good number of studies that say separating students by gender leads to increased productivity and academic acheivement.  So this is just the latest in the trend.

Kansas City, Missouri (Reuters) – Single-sex lunches introduced in three schools in America’s heartland have helped to reduce misbehavior among students and improve eating habits, authorities said.

The Wichita, Kansas middle schools, for students aged 11 to 14 years old, started the separate lunches for boys and girls to reduce teasing, rough-housing and flirting.

“The girls really seem to like it because they get their girl time without having to worry about boys,” said Michael Archibeque, principal at Pleasant Valley Middle School. “And the boys don’t show off for the girls. I think it’s the perfect age for this.” (cont.)

That’s cute and all.

But is it weird that my first thought is, “Oh no…all those poor Baby Homos with no girls to sit with and giggle at lunch.”  I remember middle school/early high school.  If I had to hang out with guys all day?  In my southern redneck school?  After coming out and being the only gay kid?  I don’t even want to think about that stress.

There’s gonna be a whole new “It Gets Better Campaign.”  Don’t worry, gay kids, one day you can have lunch with girls again and not have to listen to made-up stories about how your fat, pimply lunch partner got to 3rd base with the hottest girl in school.

5:43 pm  •  10 March 2011  •   Let's talk about what you think.
| news| education| teachers| gay| kids|

So you show up for another boring lecture in Psychology.  Today it’s slightly LESS boring because it’s about sex and bondage and fetishes, so at least you did stay awake.  The professor has a guest speaker come out to talk about sex toys and such, but the guest is so annoyed by the clinical video that was just shown, she offers to demonstrate live for the class.  So, with her male partner, she disrobes and he brings her to orgasm in front of the with a fun little gadget.

That’s what happened at Northwestern University.

You know the dude who went out the night before and was too hungover to go to class that day was pissed as all hell.

4:09 pm  •  3 March 2011  •   Let's talk about what you think.
| news| teachers| sex|

I copied that headline straight from This Article because I couldn’t think of a better one.

A math teacher rattled his desk because his class wasn’t paying attention.

An 8th grader dialed 911 from her cellphone because she was alarmed.

The Police came…to find a class completely in order.

So now some teacher has been placed on leave because of……

*SMH*

7:30 pm  •  2 March 2011  •   Let's talk about what you think.
| news| white girls lol| teachers|

So let’s talk about Natalie Munroe.

Munroe is a 30 year old English teacher in Pennsylvania who posted a blog about her students.  According to her, the blog was only meant for her and a handful of her friends, but a student stumbled upon it and alerted school officials.  In the blog, she makes a lot of comments that, I’m sure, a lot of teachers think on a day to day basis.  One in particular rings especially true:

My students are out of control.  They are rude, disengaged, lazy whiners. They curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire and are just generally annoying.

Ms. Munroe…I agree with you on all counts.  Which is one of the reasons I could never teach public school.  I wouldn’t be able to relegate my comments to some shady corner of the web…I would hurt children’s feelings every day and that’s not cute.

She also makes a lot of comments about her fellow teachers and just being generally frustrated with the profession.  Teachers begin their careers thinking they’ll change the world, but then they just get that hope beat out of them, to paraphrase Ms. Munroe a little.

I would be an amazing teacher.  I’m good at relaying information and I’m a lot more patient than people realize.  But the Politics of Teaching I could never deal with, so I just stick to tutoring.  Kids are bad, and a group of kids is even worse…and you can’t even hit them anymore like when I was in school.  Parents don’t discipline their kids at home and they just go to school and run amok.  Kids are getting dumber and dumber every year and we just pass them along to get them out of school.  

And let’s not even talk about teachers.  I mean, in what other profession can you just show up to work everyday for 2 or 3 years and you automatically have a job FOR LIFE even if you suck at it?  That’s one of the main reasons a lot of mediocre people go into public school teaching anyway…because it’s so hard to get fired.  And they’re mediocre in the classroom…or worse.  There are teachers who can’t spell or do simple arithmetic without a calculator, but they get paid the same amount as Miss Amazing Teacher and how unfair is that?

I just went off on a huge tangent but our educational system sucks and we will never again be First in the World in any front because our economy is no longer goods-based…it’s information-based.  And our jobs will continue to be sent overseas to people who can actually do the work because we’re sitting on a bunch of lazy Americans and politicians too afraid to overhaul the system and make it more in line with other advanced countries.

What I’m getting at is that I understand Natalie Munroe.  I’m sure a lot of hopeful, shiny faced, people come out of college every day ready to change lives and groom the next generation…only to have that fire slowly drained out of them with classrooms full of kids who don’t care and schools full of teachers who’ve also grown bored, frustrated, and lazy.  

And if you wanna hear her talk about it, ABC News has a video where she’s being interviewed with her lawyer and responding to the controversy. 

5:00 pm  •  19 February 2011  •   Let's talk about what you think.
| news| teachers| natalie munroe|