Danny D. wrote:
John Paquay wrote, on Thu, 30 Oct 2014 04:51:58 -0400:

My knee jerk reaction to the original posting in this thread was not
"What's wrong with these kids?", but rather, "What's wrong with this
teacher?"

She's brand new to teaching, but, it turns out that classroom
management is a standard problem in these multi-ethnic San Jose
schools.


Well - that's a big part of your problem. Rather than teaching kids things,
parents and teachers rally around excuses for what the things exist. I wish
you the best - deal with the problems you are creating.


One teacher uses a bathroom plunger, as his bathroom pass.

Brilliant! Shear stupidity - so why shouldn't everyone else follow suit?


To me, the whole idea of using some (any) ginormous item as a hall
pass is stupid, demeaning, and completely counterproductive... not to
mention, an exercise in futility. What does this really accomplish?

What it (attempts to) accomplish is the reduce undue interruptions of
the classroom environment.


Brain dead thinking. But that's fine - do that kind of thinking where you
live. What in the hell do you really think you are solving with this kind
of approach?


We all know that the kids can go to the bathroom plenty of other
times, but, all kids will take advantage of a "free pass" out of
jail, if
even for only 10 minutes (which they can synchronize with other
friends, if they're clever).

You just keep on letting those kids outsmart you. I'm sure you'll win that
way...



What the pass does, first and foremost, is it discourages such
intents.

Bull****! Are you and the teachers at that school that stupid as to really
believe this? If so - muck in your own mire.

Also, it allows the teacher to continue teaching,
uninterrupted, as
the students just get up, grab the pass, and return, unannounced.

Really? Do you even think about the things like this that you post?



It also is very clear to everyone, what the purpose of the kid is,
whether grabbing the pass or walking the hallways. It's also not
something they can leave hidden in the hallway while they
surreptitiously run a'muck about the hallways or outdoors to catch a
smoke or whatever.

Dear Parent...



Likewise, it prevents multiple kids (from the same classroom anyway)
leaving the room at any one time.

Really? The high paid teacher is this dumb as to not be aware of this
syndrome? Really?



Furthermore, it's obvious to all whether the bathroom pass is in use
or not. It's like the red sign on an airplane bathroom door showing
it's in use, rather than what we have to do at a McDonalds, which is
to jiggle the doorknob repeatedly to find out if someone is in there.

Yeah - when I was a kid I had a really hard time understanding a locked
door - are you really this stupid? How about facilities that accomodate 4
kids at once - where does that fit into your foolish thinking?


And, being so large (on purpose), the kids, who almost certainly don't
like it, can't lose it easily.

Oh man - that just can't be anymore stupid.


At the very least, it's objectionable to carry (as you noted), which
would further discourage the unnecessary potty breaks.

Really? What in the hell is the problem you are looking to solve? I think
you have a California mindset which just does not think at all.



Rest assured, this teacher has at least one kid a day out of her 200,
walk out on the class without excuse.

Really? Then fire the teacher. That is her or his responsibility to make
sure that kind of thing does not happen. Screw the 200 number - that's a
classic over-exageration - how many students in any one class session? The
total number is completely meaningless.


She has kids banging on the
table, and calling her a b*ch, and plenty of disciplinary problems,
all of which are common through all the classes, as she told me most
of these kids are being weeded out of the system through their
behavior in *all* their classes.

Guess you guys need to improve your school disciplines and forget looking at
magic tokens like stupid wood fobs for a key to the boys room. Do you
really belive that is going to fix the problems you guys have created in
your schools? Really? Are you really that dumb?


I also find this behavior strange, as *my* kids have always had
comments on their report cards of "very polite", "always helpful",
"pitches in to volunteer every time I ask", and even once "raises
hand to answer questions too often!".

Good for you! That's what is necessary - not stupid fobs.



I think this teacher, who is brand new, is learning on the job. In
California, they go through 3 semesters of graduate training, to
obtain a preliminary teaching certificate, two semesters of which
have on-the-job training of sorts.


Kudos to you for trying to help a new teacher but don't you see that the
problem is so much bigger than that?

Then, they're thrown to the wolves for 2 more years, until they get
their preliminary teaching certificate cleared. At that point, they
also get tenure (which is kind'a soon, if you ask me), and then
they're bona-fide teachers.

Well - you might want to take the problem up with your school district. You
guys created the problem and stupid ideas like wooden fobs is not going to
fix that problem.



The clearance process, apparently, starts with three weeks of
training on "classroom management", which I found odd when I saw that
it's the *first* thing they re-train the preliminary-credentialed
teachers on.

Oh well...


You have to remember these are Algebra classes, where probably only a
small percentage of the kids (maybe 1/3?) actually care to learn it.
It's a required class for the rest, which they hope to never see
again during the rest of their lives.

We have to remember? Really? Are you that stupid? They are in school.
They are there to learn what they are told to be taught. We have to
remember? I see the very root of this problem...


When is the last time you or I graphed a quadratic equation, for
example? Could each of us solve a binomial equation to save our lives?
(Building suspension bridges in the redwoods notwithstanding...

Competely irrelevent! We did do it when we were in school. What does it
matter at all when the last time was that we did it. I'll tell you that I
have used that knowledge throughout my life - though it may not have been on
a daily basis - but when I needed it, I could call on it. You are making
excuses for dumbing down our already stupid kids even more?

--

-Mike-