Saturday Funnies!

So“there”w/you Auntie….I LOVED walking “downtown” to my library, the genesis of the mobile lending library in the USA. I could even check out LPs of musicals (Oklahoma!, & others) as well as reproductions of works of art. The problem with the internet vs old card catalog is, searchers have to have some smarts/background to search. For instance, I can teach Aboriginal Art of Australia, & if my students want to search for additional information beyond my instruction, they often come to me & say, “There is nothingon the internet.” So, I ask, “What did you “google.” Often the answer is, “Australia, or, aboriginal, or broadly, “dot art.” Etc…Our kids in schools today have blind spots b/c they do not absorb the facts/details of a subject as it is being instructed…they rely upon the broad labels of the internet, believing that “google” or “wiki-pedia” will take them to the information they require, so they don’t have to learn anything or pay attention to any instruction.

I can’t tell you all how weary I am as a teacher of being a “cell phone police.” Anymore, I just can’t do it, as it would take up half or more of each of my instructional periods. If that’s what the parents send their children to school to do in public schools, then that’s what I have to accept….and esp. if that is what my district, and my school admin accepts/expects me to gloss-over or deal-with. There are certain students in my classes that, even when told by me to put their phones away….refuse, keep playing their phone games/videos/etc. If I take the phone away, there ensues ,almost guaranteed, a HUGE ruckus, defiance, interruption of 10-15 minutes or more of my classroom and instruction…..many times a call for campus security to come to my room. The “culprit” of this disturbance is taken away, with the phone, and is returned to my room in less than 5-10 min, with the phone. EVER THUS ….our schools follow the greater society…no consequences. No rules. No responsibilities.

You want to know why the schools are going to crap? Just look at the greater society trends…esp the criminal justice system. If you can burn/loot/harm others without consequence as an adult in our society…on the TV news night after night, then what is a “no-no” to an impressionable middle-schooler? NOT MUCH. I just had a 7th-grader…for the first time in my nearly 30 yrs. of teaching….find my purse in the room &steal $114 out of it…share it with others…&nbesides being suspended from JUST my class for 2 days…..no one else was punished, the admin never addressed the money reimbursement, …never addressed my request to speak w/student & parents…no feed-back whatsoever. This is a freakin’ REPEAT of the time I had to sneak up behind a student who was aiming a totally “look alike” (ILLEGAL) revolver in my room, & jerk it out of his hands. The KID came back to my room, smirking at me, 5 minutes later. I lived in fear for months that he could bring a REAL one the next time.