I wish...

[learnteach]

...school would just once exceed my positive rather than my negative expectations.


Yep. Asshats in 4rth pushing the muttering to an art form. Network started down, discipline system down, and nothing but punkish insolence. If I'm not standing on their toes, they're disturbing class.

4rth period is a wash; grades going down. No joy whatsoever. FUCK THESE FUCKING ASSHOLES.

Just once I'd like to have a day without spitting rappers, without ... wow.

I can't believe this.


Why am I not allowed to throw these students out?

Comments

[terpsichoros.livejournal.com]

Why am I not allowed to throw these students out?

Because you might damage their precious self-esteem.

[ianhess.livejournal.com]

Is the assumption less about education and more about keeping them in a predictable place a certain number of hours a day?

[ianhess.livejournal.com]

I should clarify. My experience with the public school system, fair or not, was that it was more about socialization than the imparting of information. As a culture we don't assume all people will get good jobs, or enshrine language as an immutable thing. However, we do try to insist on a given level of restraint or at least low enough volume to be anonymous in the population.

That's accurate.

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

No Child Left Behind now has schools funded by direct payment for hours of students in seats. So, when you throw a student out of a class, you get less money. In a ghetto school like this one, it's pretty serious.

On a (higher, deeper) level, they can't model positive behaviour unless they can see it. And we've just accepted another 10 students who have criminal records, GPA's of less than 1, etc.

I'm a bit burnt; I could reach the normal students if I didn't have to spend all my time shutting down the punks, who know that nothing seriously bad is going to happen to them. And, for the socially conscious in the audience, yes, I understand that they have a lack of positive role models (they mimic rappers as much as they can, as the only "men" in their lives). I have 2 classes who are essentially failing/have failed because I spend all my time talking with problem students, writing up problem students, making up packets for problem students.

Bad fact: 1/5 to 1/8 of my students are now special needs. 1/5 are discipline problems. If you're not a problem, I don't really have time to deal with you. And this doesn't count the independent study students I accepted...

Re: That's accurate.

[terpsichoros.livejournal.com]

No Child Left Behind now has schools funded by direct payment for hours of students in seats. So, when you throw a student out of a class, you get less money. In a ghetto school like this one, it's pretty serious.

That policy is older than NCLB. [insert rant about people blaming NCLB for every pre-existing structural problem of the schools while expressing relief that they're no longer blaming Prop 13 30 years after the fact.]

If the school is accepting kids who have failed out of other schools and kids with criminal records, it's a "continuation school", no matter what else they're calling it. It sounds like the principal has the authority to change that if he cared; in your place I'd walk, unless I knew I was getting into a continuation school going in.

Re: That's accurate.

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

Got the rant. Note pre-existing problems. NCLB does make it worse, by tieing the DAILY attendence in, rather than the other possible measures.

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Trouble is, the school isn't a school, from what you've said. It's a detention center, and you're window dressing in a big game of pretend.

It's no wonder that you hate it, especially as it was sold to you under false pretenses.

Worst part:

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

I can reach most of the students; but I can't get rid of the ones I can't reach, who are disruptive. What should I do with a student who has literally failed every high school class for 3 years?

Re: Worst part:

[terpsichoros.livejournal.com]

Tell them to go hang out at the corner liquor store, since that's what they're going to do for the rest of their life if they don't actually learn at least a little something while in school. If they take you up on it, they won't be disrupting the class.