Fear and Loathing in School

Failure, it makes us strong, we learn by it to deal with adversity and depending on our personality type we either sink or swim. This failure and renewal built the greatest civilizations on earth, our best thinkers, our fiercest advocates for change in the human condition, the leaders. Why then are we so intent on removing all failure from our schools? You can't say it's the liberals or the conservatives, it seems too pervasive for any one faction to be behind it. It puts teachers and parents on opposing teams and our increasingly neurotic children right in the line of fire. Please read the essay on the following link for an in depth look at how WE are ruining the future of America.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200411/nation-wimps

Teach your children well

In all my years as a substitute I have always wondered when I was in a Kindergarten room how some of those little buggers had developed such capability for being a real PITA to a sub. Granted the larger percentage of any particular class is a delight to work with but then there are THE OTHERS. And then of course follows monkey see monkey do and before you know it you have a room full of wee ones doing what all and there you go again spending the rest of the day yelling, timing out etc. etc. You can't blame the school for this one unless you want to say that perhaps these few STINKERS as I have often heard regular teachers referring to them should have already been thrown out in their first week of K. I think I covered that in another essay. What have the parents of these shining examples taught their kids before they ever set foot in school? Do we learn at that tender age to disrespect our elders? Seems I remember that when I was young that didn't necessarily happen until the much later "rebellion years" and now it seems to be at pre-school and even in our rebellious times we were still afraid and in awe of the adults around us. In the past we knew there was some sort of secret adult network where anything we did that was off the rails was immediately communicated from one adult to another and it always came home to bite us in the ass and any adult was just as likely to haul us off for discipline as our parents. Or at least we thought that and no adult was going to disabuse us of the notion. I can remember like it was yesterday the turning point in the 60's when I first heard "I'll sue you" said by a misbehaving child to an adult that was attempting to correct. There was a change in the air, a declining of civilization you might say when we as kids began to realize that the united adult front was crumbling and we didn't have to pay attention to what Mr. Crabapple down the street said because all we had to do was tell on him and our parents would sue him. Is this what we as a nation have become, each person an island filled with resentment and fear with one hand on the 911 line and in the case of Western PA the other on a gun? If we do not as adults present a united force in the eyes of our children why should they obey. This is not to say that you and your neighbors must agree all the time on everything but DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN SEE OR HEAR YOUR DISAGREEMENTS with other adults. Maintain at all costs the line between the child's world and the adult world, how can they be children if you are constantly forcing them to participate in the adult drama.

Unionism in schools

Don't get me wrong, I have worked union scale and loved every fat paying minute of it. It was a fantastic to see such large paychecks but I knew it wouldn't last, not all of our work was a union rate. I wonder though what role unionism plays in education? Some teachers have told me that THE UNION IS MY SHIELD, o.k. so you need a shield against what, oppressive slave driving employers, long hours and low pay? unsafe working conditions? Oh, you need a shield against all the angry taxpayers who have been pouring huge volumes of cash into the system and seeing little result. Poor Babies, but does this shield really have to encompass such liberal sick time, comp, and benefits. The rest of us out here in the private sector with minimal holidays, no sick time, crappy minimal vacation time, lousy health benefits if we have them at all, and much much lower wages think YOU NEED A REALITY CHECK.

 http://teachersunionexposed.com/meritpay.cfm

I'll show you mine if you show me yours

What has happened with the High School Diploma? Are we diluting its worth even more in our effort to leave no one behind? Back two years ago before schools got hip to the HIPAA act around here some of them would have subs doing administrative work in our plan periods. After all what does a sub need a plan period for. This is not unfair but considering the paltry sums we are paid it is a bit Scrooge like. What I got to see that no sub should ever been allowed to see because a sub is not a real employee of the school district unless they are actually hired, most of us are just per-Diem without rights or privileges, gave me much insight. I saw AGPA'S on student records I was filing! What is an AGPA? It is an adjusted grade point average. HUH? It's like golf or bowling where you can't play as good as the others so they give you a HANDICAP. The school uses information and recommendations  gathered as a result of your IEP. Another acronym I know,  your "individual education program" which has been developed because you can't pay attention and do your work in school, to come up with a formula which magically turns your D's into B's. One such AGPA I saw made a 67 into an 82. Straw into gold indeed!
This is all well and good for the recipient but what about the kid who took the college prep classes and studied  and made his hard earned B average. Is his diploma given the same value as the adjusted diploma? Are future employers allowed access to this AGPA and the "real" grades that were earned? I think not, remember HIPAA?
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Shame Shame

It has been said that we are now living in an age of no shame. Our constant sharing of each minute detail of our existence on our phones and via  internet accounts such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook have changed our inner world. Is this good or is it bad? I don't know and it will take years to find out.

 What I do know is what the Jr. Hi.  kids tell me. When recently in a "team meeting", a what, you say? This is a yell at me meeting like unto those many of us have encountered in the business world. Held regularly and dreaded by all who must participate these meetings are disguised as work sessions where we all have input on the betterment of our productivity and well-being. Anyone who has attended at least one of these meetings knows exactly what it is. So anyhow, these meetings are held every week at the school and the teacher has something to hand out and a--- it's coming, it's coming, POWERPOINT.

 You may roll your eyes now.

This particular meeting was on RESPECT or lack of it I should say. Complete with graphs and charts it was my duty to point out to the little dears that respect issues topped the list when it came to Discipline Referrals.

Subs out there, you know what these are, they are the forms you fill out and put in the teachers mailbox at the end of the day that are promptly thrown in the trash the next morning. You see these things when you are in the same school on two consecutive days or if you go to talk to the teacher you subbed for the day before. How can you blame them it's not their fight and who cares. In ten years of subbing I only had one Principal call me and inform me of disciplinary action that was being considered and to get my go ahead. Also in these years I have only had two teachers contact me with either apologies or results of my recommendations.
Back on track, so what did they tell me during discussion? WE DON'T CARE. Respect for one another and for teachers is a non issue because we have no shame about treating others with no respect. It is commonplace and really of no importance. Am I wrong in saying that anyone over the age of 40 would reflect on this and their own upbringing and be ashamed to even hear it. A person who possesses shame seeks the approval of those around them, especially those who are in positions of power such as adults. This type of person may make mistakes, may rebel, but at their core there is a value and a respect for others that seems to be lacking today.
Why are the Amish children so well behaved? Some teachers have said to me it is because they are beaten. I don't believe this, sure their kids are paddled when they misbehave but I do not think that such coercion is the core, I believe it is the understanding of Shame, the deep respect for Elders and the Church, and the desire for approval.

Oh My Oh My, No Blood From Stones ?

When eating in the teacher's lounge (a place I learned to avoid).
 (Remember kiddies, especially you Guest Teachers, that you do not belong to the teacher tribe and they resent you invading their space. Have you ever been subjected to those thinly veiled interrogations that are disguised as polite get-to-know-yous.)
 Anyway, I digress. One day I overheard one retiring male teacher saying to another that "he just didn't know how he was going to be able to get by on a mere $66.000 a year come retirement. Wow, don't we all wish we had that problem. Our geographic area is one in which the median household income is $26,000. We're not talking Silicon Valley here or Tahoe, this is rural Pa. Oh My Oh My I wonder now how he has managed to get along as the years have passed.
The Teacher's Union is mighty and powerful and has its cashy green tendrils wrapped around every politicians nuts right now but then the same might have been said about the UAW back in the heyday of Detroit's GM Ford and Chrysler. Times have changed for the UAW, after much kicking and screaming they saw that you just cant get blood from a bankrupt stone. Do you think that as budget cuts tighten that the Teachers Union will come to a similar enlightenment? Right now they are doing their best to paint the governor as a thief who will stop at nothing to destroy our children's educational opportunities. For God's sake, do they have their heads up their collective asses or what, DECLINING REVENUES>TAX SHORTAGE>BUDGET DEFICIT=LESS SPENDING OR GO BANKRUPT. This is not hard to grasp, even for people with master's degrees in Education.

enabling- too much love at school

When we love an addicted person so much that we try to help them all we end up doing is feeding their pattern of behavior. What follows is a tough love intervention, sometimes the addict sees the light and straightens themselves out often not. What is also important that the friends and family stop ruining their lives by tolerating the offending behavior. Sure it hurts, is it cruel? Most would agree that it is the only sane course of action.
What has this to do with subbing? Those of you who are in the trenches know exactly what I am talking about.
Johnny can't behave, he's made a nuisance of himself since he started K. He comes from a bad home environment, oh my! No one sat this kid down when he was a tyke and made him stay there until he finished what he was doing. Bad or ignorant parenting it sounds like to me. Johnny loses, the rest of his life is doomed unless the bulb lights up and he realizes that he has to make himself sit down and do his task until it is completed.
The school has been thrust into the role of parent. but does the school sit him down and make him learn self control? HMMM.
We order up a TSS, who sits with him at school usually drinking coffee to stay awake. I've been there done that. USELESS

The kids say: SPED and PROUD OF IT  I heard this all the time because I would take the time to actually talk to them and get to know them because what certified teacher in their right mind is going to sign on to sub one of these rooms. The kids are learning but its all the wrong things. They're learning how to staff hop, just how far to push behaviors. etc. etc.  Kids are smart, they know exactly what they're doing and they are deep into the attention addiction and they are feeding the habit.
We put him into
 LEARNING SUPPORT wow the work here is really easy, he likes that. Not too much is expected and the more he acts out the more attention we lavish on him and the less we expect academically.
UNTIL he makes it into
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT even more attention and even less expectations. We're groovin' now. We get candy as a reward, whoohoo.
If all this fails
PLACEMENT closer attention and less expectations, we're stringing beads and making blankies now and three squares and a clean warm place to be. The kids call this "THE COUNTRY CLUB" We are now training the for prison life. CO's, walk in a straight line to and from, low expectations in what they term DUMMY SCHOOL.. lights out, excursions to town. As Adam Sandler would say Not too shabby.
WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE DONE
WAAAAY back in K thrown them out of school when they couldn't keep from ruining all the other kids learning experience handed the parents a video of just how this essential training is to be done and let them figure it out he's their kid not the schools. Then rinse lather and repeat as long as it takes.
No more frustrated teachers, no more ls/es drain on the budget, no more placement (we pay for that you know)
The district should be immune to lawsuit for denying the education to little Johnny, after all think of all the education that is being denied to the kids who can behave. You subs have seen them in every class, sometimes they cry but they always quietly sit there and do their work, WE NEVER GET TO KNOW THEIR NAMES. I always took a minute at the end of each day to thank them for being such great students and you should too. Their school experience is a living hell. Change the laws so that if Johnny is still in 6th grade when he's 16 he can finish whenever that way we are not denying him anything.

1st day of the rest of my life

Welcome everyone who is a burnt out substitute teacher to a place where you may rant and rave on about the crap you put up with every day. Today is the first day after I finally turned away from all the abuse burned my badge and went off the grid.
WHAT A RELIEF
You may say that's all well and good for him but I've got to bring in some dough. I feel for you, I did this work for over 10 years and although I was never more than an emergency sub (some schools call us guests) I worked just about every school day. But never long enough in any one position to get any more than the base rate. A lot of work and little return. I paid my dues, took the abuse and collected my pay.
Well here is a place where you can vent about the student turkeys, the teacher turkeys, the principal turkeys and last but not least the TURKEYS who control your certification.