Off topic - School Administrators are like Bio Parents
Just a vent, because I'm fuming really hard right now.
It's 2nd quarter in schools, behavior is established.
I work in a title 1. Math, 7th and 8th grade.
The same kids that have come to tell me to f- myself on day 1 are still being huge assholes in the 2nd quarter. I personally just kick thier behinds from my classroom, and write office referrals.
I met with a VP today that told me that "he doesn't want to be punitive"., after 30 office referrals on one child from different teachers. I wanted to knock him out. Granted, that a VP isn't a teacher's "boss", now I have to go through a huge process of greiving his misuse of our counties discipline policies and behavior matrix.
It's bad enough that these children aren't being raised at home. They are absolutely horrible, the parents and children. Now they are being given a free pass in our school system from administration at the cost of the sanity of the classroom teacher.
Don't think for a second that "well, theyll fail the grade, and that will be their punishment". No. I've been at it for five years, and I can tell you that none of the 30+ kids that I've failed have been held back. They pass them forward into the 9th grade as they function on a 4th grade level. No, they'll sit in a class in the 9th grade and be mini-thugs, and they'll be sure that not a soul in a classroom is able to learn due to their lack of frontal lobes.
If anyone on this site is a reporter, I'd love to have a conversation with you. Maybe a headline would change their attitude.
LOL as a journalist, I can
LOL as a journalist, I can tell you with certainty these parents don't subscribe to news publications.
People know about bad parents. They know about unruly kids. An article or 50 won't (they've already written a few) bring more awareness. Shitty parenting isn't against the law. And few people want to shell out the extra tax dollars to hire the needed therapists for these schools. You are not a therapist. You are a teacher.
I am curious as to how you think holding kids back a grade or two solves the problems of bad parenting and the devaluing of education? Studies and articles that I've seen show that method simply speeds up the process of dropping out of school.
Just maybe those kids sense from you the same vibe I get: you think these kids are animals and won't accomplish jack shit and you want to see them punished. That's not exactly the type of teacher who gets movies made about them.
Are you seriously sitting
Are you seriously sitting here trying to advocate for children who disrupt the learning enviornment on such extreme levels that not even the kids who come with good intentions can learn?
I guess there are two spectrums of bad parents. The very low, and the helicopter.
To answer your question, no, failing isn't a punishment given from a teacher. A failure is earned.
No, they won't accomplish jack shit unless they are above a 3rd grade math level entering highschool.
Yes, children who exhaust every intervention should be punished, or referred to IEP.
I know your gig is math, but
I know your gig is math, but I will rephrase in the hopes you will answer my question:
How does holding a kid back a grade improve parenting and respect toward education?
Your complaints were exactly those, correct? Bad parenting = disrespectful, lazy students (equation form!). Holding them back a grade is the punishment you lamented wasn't used enough.
I absolutely believe disruptive students should be removed from the classroom so the other students aren't negatively affected. I also believe Fs are earned just as much as As. Those are separate issues from the outdated method of creating the three-year sophomore.
It doesn't, and it really
It doesn't, and it really doesn't have to. Respect toward education should be engrained, because the outcome of not being educated is glaringly obvious. There's not much you can do in school, other than remove the students who don't come to school to learn, or at least send them to an alternative school. Keeping them just screws every other student in the room over. Admin doesn't do that here, admin tries to send them back to class without consequence.
No, school can't change a parent. It's not school's responsibility to change a parent, but I believe that school has standards regardless of the parent. It's basic soceital expectations that teach kids about how it's going to be once they're too old to be here.
Example:
We have 1-3 bloody fights daily.
The fights here are broken up, the kids are sent on their way and given 1 day of ISI.
In 4 years or so, they will now be engrained with the thought that a bloody fight comes without consequence. I really think that they don't realize that they're going to go directly to jail for second degree assault.
Yes, admin is akin to a bio parent with permissiveness. Yes, it drives the teachers off the wall.
Unfortunately, admin is in a
Unfortunately, admin is in a situation not unlike a stepparent: they can't do/care more than the bioparents and expect results.
Perhaps it will help both
Perhaps it will help both parenting and respect for education by actually showing them both action (or rather inaction) actually does have consequence and improvement really does need to be made.
Disney parent has a more difficult time making believe that their poor performing child "isn't that bad because they passed".
The child learns that they can't just "get away with it" with no consequence, probably like they do at home. The child learns that it is not like at home when they are told "if you do that one more time X", except "X" never happens - they are just talked to again.
I for one am sick of these kids also.
Can you come teach my DD? She is in 9th grade and begging for real teachers. They spend so much time dealing with these kids that the ones that want to learn get pushed aside. Our school district has this terrible policy to not fail anyone, if you do nothing in class you still get a 50% and they will move you onto the next grade level.
They are voting on changing
They are voting on changing all failing grades to a 55% here.
We take a placement test at the beginning of the year with the math software provided for our district, and it gives a general grade level of their mathmatical understanding. In my 8th grade, the understanding sits around a 4th grade level - from day 1. There needs to be major reform.
I have a friend who is a
I have a friend who is a teacher, and he has had admin come to him and tell him the students he needs to "pass", usually the thug kids that they want out of their schools so they can pass them off onto the streets.
He refuses to give them passing grades, but they all graduate anyway. For those who don't realize as a teacher your hands are not only tied by your administration, but your governing school board as well. The system is a joke and it's not about teaching anymore, it' about keeping bodies in a seat for funding.
Thank you for being a teacher, it's a tough job that not many people sign up for anymore. I have my teaching degree and after 1 week of student teaching I knew it wasn't something I could do full time.
Not to say that all students
Not to say that all students are bad.
20% are bad.
That being said, I have classrooms of 35+. This means that 3-4 students in each of those classes really shouldn't be in public school, and it would only take one of those students to totally throw off a class for long periods of time.
We have an alternative school in my district, but this year, they refuse to utitilze it.
Do graduation rates affect
Do graduation rates affect district budgets in your state?
In my state, district funding is tied to attendence, so many schools that are underfunded do everything they can to keep kids in the building, whether they learn or not is immaterial. If we follow the money and actually invest in these schools and kids, we could see a lot of improvements.
Of course they do. My
Of course they do. My district sports a 98% graduation rate.
Every year, they have to appeal to the state's graduation requirements, which is - for math anyway - to pass the 9th grade Algebra I PARCC. To pass it, that's it.
Every year the appeal gets accepted, and ~30% of students are allowed to complete an "algebra I project", which consists of a one-page rubric and a few questions in order to be allowed to graduate, it's a joke.
So the real graduation rate should be right under 70%, 70% of graduating seniors can function at the 9th grade level.
It's a disservice to the kids, who head off to college, and wonder why they're so far behind, and ultimately drop out in the first semester with student loans. It's totally broken, and I wish deeply that it would get fixed.
I've been at it for five
I've been at it for five years, and I can tell you that none of the 30+ kids that I've failed have been held back.
Well I mean does any teacher want to deal with the kid again the next year? I wouldnt. Sometimes I wonder why so many of SDs teachers just push her through and dont raise any red flags with her parents and then I'm like well, I'd probably do the same thing if I was able to have in the back of my head that I only had to deal with her for 9 months. And a lot of parents are just going to get upset if you point anything out so...
With my own kid I get annoyed if I feel like the teachers are downplaying issues, but I get the feeling I'm in the minority on that so I cant say I blame them.
It's against policy, at least
It's against policy, at least here, for kids to attend the same class that they failed the year previously.
Hmm...i have no idea if that
Hmm...i have no idea if that's a policy here too. Do the teachers get blamed if the kid is failing? Another thing I've noticed every year is that the halfway mark report cards seem fairly honest but then SD is mysteriously passing everything at the end of the year report card even though the criteria for passing is on it in black and white and I KNOW she doesnt actually know it all. I just figured they expected that all the kids would be passing at the end of the year and came down on the teachers if too many werent.
Blamed? I guess it depends.
Blamed? I guess it depends. In a good rural district with few problems, they might be more apt to place it on the teacher.
Where I am, admin doesn't really blame the teachers. They know it's the kids + parents in most cases. They just have the power to edit your gradebook from their own computers.
Mandatory pass is in part
Mandatory pass is in part what drives illegal immigration. Due to the jobs that these types of kids used to perform before social programs were created to let them smoke, drink and lazy their way through life.
smh
I would last less than an hour as a teacher. The first kid that pulled that shit would be failed, I would not tolerate them to return to my classroom and if admin attempted to force that kid back into my classroom it would not happen. So, I would get fired.
I applaud teachers for what they put up with.
I don't know how teachers do
I don't know how teachers do it, especially in the inner city school districts. My BS13 in 7th grade, has anxiety disorder with panic attacks. Last year he was suspended twice, once for threatening to slit a kids throat, and once for biting a kid who tried to break up an argument between him and another boy. I completely agreed with the punishments and we got him in counseling and worked with the school (he has an IEP). This year, he lost the plot again when feeling threatened, and threatened the boys kicking his chair with a broken off tongue depressor. He is now expelled. I am working with the school and therapy, we got him on meds now, and he is probably going to a partial inpatient program for school and therapy. The school were absolute in following through and I agree with them. While every teacher said "he is 99% of the time a perfect student", neither BS13 or the other kids should have to handle when he has a panic attack and is out of control.
I will say, through all the meetings the superintendent, principal, school psychologist have been amazing. The principal is calling me regularly through the 45 day expulsion, checking on BS13. The interventionist has been sending all his schoolwork for me to keep him with him while he is at home. Information has been communicated with the mental health professionals, including referrals to the therapy school. The school psychologist is involved, in fact BS13 and I meet her tomorrow at the library to discuss safely integrating BS13 back into school regarding his triggers (he was abused which likely leads to the panic attacks and anxiety in social situations).
I am grateful to live where we live (semi-rural) with a small school district, and I cannot praise the school enough. I feel horrible for teachers who do not have these resources. The teachers need support, the school needs to be seen to have some "teeth". My ex argued they should let him back initially and tried to blame teachers, however I am custodial and I agree with the school - I cannot say this will not happen again, and that is not fair to the other kids or school personnel. Unfortunately too many parents only care about getting their children what they want!
Wow.
Wow.
What an amazing parent you are. Your BS13 is lucky to have you. As challenging as he is I forecast a positive outcome for both of you. Your embracing of reality rather than playing the blame game and deflecting BS's behavior onto teachers, other kids, etc, etc, etc..... is doing him the greatest service possible IMHO.
Don't forget to take care of you through all of this.
Bravo! When parents act as
Bravo! When parents act as you have done and accept that their child's behaviour is unnacceptable, schools can really work with them to make improvements.