I watch the kids that are in my school make incredible decisions as if there are no consequences and everything can be overcome by saying "I'm sorry" (whether they are or not) and then they get a do-over.
I have kids who put nothing on a test and want recovery. What the heck do they think they are recovering? They didn't do anything.
I have a student who brought a weapon to school and pulled it out to show his friend - in front of the principal. Yes, he was suspended, but "it wasn't fair."
I have a kid who was college bound until she got pregnant by her drop out boyfriend of one month.
I have seniors tell me tht I can't write them up for being late to class because I didn't wanr them that they had tardies. (They can't figure out that if they arrive in my room after the bell has rung and the door is shut that they are late? The rules haven't changed since I've been here.)
They cut class and are indignant that they are written up.
And throughout this, it is my fault that they do not graduate.
This whole attitude thing is not limited to my school. There was a horrible accident last Easter morning. A BMW hit a Mercedes, forcing the Mercedes to collide with a VW. A child in the VW was killed. Two children and their parents in the Mercedes were killed. The driver of the BMW fled the scene. Ten days later the police found her. Her mother (who used to be a teacher but I bet she never gets her certificate back) helped her cover up the damage to the car by having it repaired.
So there was no evidence left on the car.
The judge and jury threw the book at both mother and daughter. (Google Aimee Michael Easter) In the case of the mother, the judge sentenced her to more time than the prosecutor asked for. The daughter got 36 years.
She is appealing. The paper asks if the sentence was fair. Fair is not a word that enters into this anywhere. How "fair" was it that a little girl on her way to church was killed? How "fair" was it that another little girl and her baby brother were killed on their way to have breakfast with the Easter Bunny?
Oh, and did I mention that Aimee has a history of speeding - probably a dozen tickets in the 6 years between when she got her license and had the accident. Did I mention the roach in her car? It had her DNA on it but, because she didn't stay at the scence, they don't know if she was smoking or not. They also don't know for sure what happened as the Mercedes burned up and Aimee repaired her car.
**deep breath**
I am tired of kids and their parents not accepting responsibility. I have been "requested" to come to a meeting about the jack-a-ninny who completely disrupted my test Friday. His mother will say that he is "overwhelmed" because he doesn't understand. He has missed 3 weeks of a block class and is late at least 1 day a week and he does no work and asks no questions. No shit he doesn't understand.
But I can't say all of that.
(I want to. I really want to.)
How does that excuse all of the crap he did before he walked out of my room? I really wish he'd just walked out to begin with.
But here comes another mama riding to the rescue. I realize his 20th birthday is looming a couple of years down the line. I know she wants him to graduate.
I want to teach.
A friend proposed something in passing that seems almost heretical: take the kids who don't want to go to class and learn, the ones who cut class and want to roam the halls, should be kicked out so that we can teach the ones who want to be there. The county proposed a night school a couple of years ago (to deal with kids like this who seem to chafe at regualr school) but it went nowhere.
What we are doing is not working.
The Small Subtle Poisons
6 hours ago
4 comments:
You are SO not alone here. I've just finished entering progress report grades, and I'm steeling myself for the deluge of both students and parents who are "outraged" by their crappy grades. Fortunately, I have evidence.
I spend more time covering my ass than I do teaching. I hate that.
I know the feeling. But, that paid off big for me this week when I had a problem with a kid and my AP tried to turn tables and blame me. The principal had my back because of all the documentation I had.
Just to show that this is not limited to a few choice locations, there was a party in a home last night. Fufty seven people were arrested in connection with the beating death of one of the participants.
The arrestees were loaded onto a bus and taken to the police station where they were held on the bus while they were questions.
Their parents called the NAACP because the police a) held the kids on the bus b) didn't contact the parents (the kids were over 18).
Oh, I have one for you... last April, two girls were killed and a third was injured in a car accident. The parents are suing the county because 'the light was unsafe.' (This was outside city limits, else they'd probably be suing the city instead.)
What happened was a truck hit the girls when they were turning left. The truck had a green light, and was going at the speed limit (60mph).
The law states that drivers under 18 are not to be driving after 11pm w/o a parent, and are not allowed to have non-adult passengers. All of the girls were 16 - thus the driver had her license under a year, and it was after midnight. They were making a left with a red light. Girl driver also had a history(!) of speeding. (How do you get a history with under a year's worth of experience and NOT have your parents take your keys away forever?)
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