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I admit it. I’m a NERD and proud of it! I’ve always been a NERD and I fully embrace my NERDINESS. Learning came fairly easy for me so school was never a problem for me. I certainly had classes that gave me trouble, like Calculus. But I never felt the need to cheat. I felt that if I applied myself, I would at least be able to get a “C” and have the basic knowledge of what that subject was about. And while a coupIe of “C’s” did lower my overal GPA, I am pleased at having a 3.2 GPA throughout my high school and college education. Could it have been A LOT higher? YES! Should it have been higher? YES? I guess I was born about 24 years too soon. Because in the state of North Carolina, students can BUY points that can be added to a test and raise the grade. That means a student who might have failed a test can buy enough points to raise that grade to passing. All this is being done to raise money for a cash strapped school district. This takes “buying and education” to an all new level!
The “point policy” for Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro, NC, says that for $20.00, a student can apply 10 points to a test of that students choice. So a “B” can become an “A”, and an “F” can become a “C” or a “D.” I’m at a COMPLETE loss as to what kind of lesson we are teaching these kids. A lesson that says instead of studying, you can just buy ten points and keep them in reserve just in case you need them? That if “mommy and daddy” will “kick in” the student can put the book down and continue surfing Facebook or playing with their WII?
Continue reading “Buying an education” »
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There was an article recently in the news that stated there are thousands of teachers, NATIONWIDE who are being paid, with full benefits, including medical, vacation and holiday pay, for literally sitting around in a room during school hours doing nothing. This new kind of Rubber Room, is a holding tank for teachers or administrators who are waiting for their disciplinary hearings. Some of these teachers have been accused of major infractions lik esexual conduct to minor infractions like insubordination and everything in between. While I certainly wouldn’t want to have a teacher suspected of sexual misconduct to be allowed to teach in class, this idea of paying someone a full salary to sit around, for months, is just plain silly.
If you had read this blog before, you know that I had lost a job that I loved working with kids, because the new administrator didn’t like me. But I didn’t take it personally. She singlehandedly got rid of at least 8 other people. And because of her dirt, the Non Profit organization lost the contract with the San Diego Juvenile Probation Department to do Teen Drug and Alcohol Counseling. I guess you could call that Karma! And in reading this article, some of the excuses used to get rid of these teachers seemed pretty flimsy. Using the term “insubordination” is another way of saying “no reason at all, it just sounds good.” That was the excuse that was used to fire me. But when pressed by the Employment Development Department, my boss gave some many contradictory reasons that the Mediator sided in my favor. So listening to some of the reasons these teachers are in “purgatory” sounded familiar. One teacher is in the “room” because she allegedly allowed a student to sing in class while wearing a hat. Another teacher was there because he pushed another student while breaking up a fight. Another teacher is there because he blew the whistle on an Assistant Principal who was fudging test scores.
Continue reading “A new Kind of Rubber Room” »
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When people send their children to private schools, whether it be an elementary, high school, or college, it is usually done to get a better education for that child. To socialize with a “higher class” of people. To make social contacts that lead to business contacts that can last a lifetime. So what does it mean when these EXACT same “private school” students act like kids from the “public school” system?
At a private, CHRISTIAN college, Point Loma Nazarene College, in San Diego county California, it has been revealed that a hazing gang initiation incident where students were “awakened at 2:00am and forced to walk to the beach and swim naked.” Some if not all of the students were “slapped” and some were “urinated upon.” That sounds like a “Gang Initiation“ to me.
Before anyone says it is an “over reaction” by using the term “gang”, let me give you my definition of gang. I define “gang” as “a group of people together for a common cause that require either ”initiation, deeds, or money, to join.” In this case, “upper classmen” gang leaders, make the “lower classman” (wanna be gang members) ”prove” themselves by doing whatever they are told to do. Certainly being forced to swim naked in the ocean at 2:00am and then having to walk back to the parking lot naked certainly has some sort of sexual overtones. Whether consciously or subconsciously. And urinated on them? Wow! That disgusting act goes without saying. I guess this was their version of the “jumping in” process known to occur at public schools. Their “process” even had a name, NOSing (Naked Ocean Swimming). These “initiations” can take the forms of being forced to drink a certain number of drinks, whether alcoholic or not, to being spanked or forced to perform sexual favors or acts.
Continue reading “Hazing or Gang Initiation” »