Homework is stupid for so many reasons. Let me list the ones I would highlight in a legal argument:
1. It seems to be a method by which the teacher gets out of actually teaching. The Diva actually got a test paper back with a note saying that she would have known the answer IF SHE HAD DONE HER HOMEWORK. Not if she "had paid attention in class" or if she had "participated in the class discussions"--it was if she "had done her homework". That tells me that he expected her to learn the material on her own.
2. Homework is sent home with little information for the parents to guide the work. How many times have you had YOUR kid come home with an assignment that basically said nothing except "do it"? Again, The Diva brought home an assignment to write an essay. No guidelines, no outlines, just "write and hand in".
3. There is no indication that doing a binder full of work every night makes the kid any smarter. In fact, most of it looks like "busywork". The last five science assignments brought home were word searches and crossword puzzles. WTF is that going to teach besides spelling? There is not much else going there that I can see.
4. It wastes a lot of time that kids need for other things. I am sorry, but school is NOT the only thing in the world any more. Kids do need to have some time for other activities and to just veg when they get home. I have nothing against projects that span the grading period, but the nightly crap has got to go. A night spent doing busy work is a night wasted.
I am not the only one who thinks homework is a waste, either:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-560499/Homework-primary-schoolchildren-complete-waste-time-claims-study.html
http://timesonline.typepad.com/alphamummy/2008/03/ban-homework.html
http://www.averageteacher.com/2008/02/homework-waste-of-time.html
http://www.megaessays.com/essay_search/homework_waste.html
Most teachers toss the turned-in papers at a parapro and tell them to grade them. That works with fill in the blanks and word searches as above, but how is a parapro qualified to grade a random essay or similar? And when does the parapro have time anyway since he or she is usually tapped to team-teach the kids the teacher is not working with at any given moment.
When I was teaching, I never assigned homework. I knew that it would get done half-assed if at all and that I would waste precious instruction and prep time having to grade it.
My rant is selfish in a way, I'll admit. The Diva has a disability that severely hinders her ability to concentrate at times. I have asked multiple times for an alternative to the homework as she cannot muddle through what they assign. However, the school district is of the opinion they do not need to provide her with extra help because she is SMART. Yes, she does have a high IQ and she scores high on the standardized tests, but she still has a disability!!!! However, I suspect that the money is so tight here that they are using any excuse not to provide the required services. Forget that she has a proper diagnosis and is on meds! Meanwhile, they just give her a shitload of "F's" and tell me she is just lazy and needs to apply herself more.
I hate yelling at her to at least try to do some of it because then she just shuts down and I can't get anything out of her at all. That sucks because only a few years ago, the same friggin' idiots who refuse to help her were telling me I need to put her in a school for geniuses. I would just like to get her into the private school here for kids like her--smart, but needing help with focus issues.
Anyone willing to spare $12K a year for the next five years so another smart child doesn't fall through the cracks?
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Saturday, December 15, 2007
In other news...
Ballet politics are the same. Childish and annoying.
Nutcracker is in performance now. So that means a lot of schlepping over to UNLV for performances. D is adorable in her silver princess gown, but keeping her hair curled is a booger! Also, she got about half the rehearsal time as the other girls because she is the ONLY one NOT in A or B casts and RH-N never bothered with her--but she seems to be doing pretty well for learning by watching. Petty beotches think they were clever, but OOPSIES! D has proven once again that she is more than up to the task despite them.
D wrote her contest essay for the NBT (I'll post it later). The prize is a month's paid tuition, some academy store credit, a small check and tickets to the Black and White ball next month. But I am sure she won't win... I don't spend enough money there to buy her a victory like the likely winner's parents do. In fact, most of us have private bets as to who will "win" and we all have the usual suspects names in the hat. Besides, her essay was not all full of BS about lightness and ethereal thoughts and kissing ass vicariously. It was an honest assessment of how she feels when she dances even when she is treated like crap, so you know that went over really well.
This year, her last performance is Christmas Eve, so most of Winter Break will be resting time for her--except for catching up on homework and finishing a book report. School is a nightmare for D because she cannot keep track of her papers and she ends up getting in trouble for not turning in her work--even though she does it. She is the only person I know who can lose an assignment in the five feet between her desk and the teacher's. At least, after the quarter ends, she will be put in another math class so that she might get better attention (her current math teacher has decided D will be her scapegoat this year and has made life hell for D).
Oh, yeah--I found out today that D's "grandmother" died in the Spring without ever meeting the grandchild she wanted from J. Despite his lies over the years that she never wanted to see D, the awful truth (as I heard it) is that he never told her D even existed. So two people were cheated out of some extra joy. I also hear that J and F are divorcing now. Eventually, I will get to hear why, but I have my suspicions.
Finally, I hope made S very happy because I found the perfect Christmas present for him. After this last month, he needed something cool and I think this was the schitz! Enjoy, my friend!
Nutcracker is in performance now. So that means a lot of schlepping over to UNLV for performances. D is adorable in her silver princess gown, but keeping her hair curled is a booger! Also, she got about half the rehearsal time as the other girls because she is the ONLY one NOT in A or B casts and RH-N never bothered with her--but she seems to be doing pretty well for learning by watching. Petty beotches think they were clever, but OOPSIES! D has proven once again that she is more than up to the task despite them.
D wrote her contest essay for the NBT (I'll post it later). The prize is a month's paid tuition, some academy store credit, a small check and tickets to the Black and White ball next month. But I am sure she won't win... I don't spend enough money there to buy her a victory like the likely winner's parents do. In fact, most of us have private bets as to who will "win" and we all have the usual suspects names in the hat. Besides, her essay was not all full of BS about lightness and ethereal thoughts and kissing ass vicariously. It was an honest assessment of how she feels when she dances even when she is treated like crap, so you know that went over really well.
This year, her last performance is Christmas Eve, so most of Winter Break will be resting time for her--except for catching up on homework and finishing a book report. School is a nightmare for D because she cannot keep track of her papers and she ends up getting in trouble for not turning in her work--even though she does it. She is the only person I know who can lose an assignment in the five feet between her desk and the teacher's. At least, after the quarter ends, she will be put in another math class so that she might get better attention (her current math teacher has decided D will be her scapegoat this year and has made life hell for D).
Oh, yeah--I found out today that D's "grandmother" died in the Spring without ever meeting the grandchild she wanted from J. Despite his lies over the years that she never wanted to see D, the awful truth (as I heard it) is that he never told her D even existed. So two people were cheated out of some extra joy. I also hear that J and F are divorcing now. Eventually, I will get to hear why, but I have my suspicions.
Finally, I hope made S very happy because I found the perfect Christmas present for him. After this last month, he needed something cool and I think this was the schitz! Enjoy, my friend!
Saturday, May 26, 2007
"Fairness" Vs. Expediency
For the past two weeks, I have had time to ponder the use of the word "fairness" when it is obvious that the person using the word actually means they are just taking the quick way out.
This has come about because of an incident that happened to D at her school (a magnet elementary school in LV that prides itself on its "international" affiliations and a politician's wife on hand).
To lay out the background, fifth grade at her school has a sleep-away science camp at the end of the year. The entire year, the kids are psyched up by the school about this event. In fact, it is held over their head as a threat like Damocles' sword. As it is a sleep-away event, the parents had to sign a sheaf of forms that give the school permission to seek medical aid, give medicine, transport the kids in school buses and ALL the papers said it was a school function (including the packing list for the trip, which told the kids they had to pack according to the dress code).
Well, in the two weeks before the trip, my daughter started getting harassed by her teachers. Every perceived "bad look" or "disrespectful" action was turned into a big deal--the incidents were mostly where a teacher or other student accused D wrongly of doing something and she spoke up to defend herself. Apparently that is a bad thing at her school. So is standing on a ball court when calling someone out, it seems.
The Friday before the camp, I had gone to the school to warn the assistant principal that some of the kids were planning to entrap and get D into trouble somehow (the little monsters were planning it the night before IN FRONT OF ME and one of them even mouthed off to me!!!). I was promised that she would be watched and protected by this same AP. Alas! That was not the case at all.
At recess that Friday afternoon, D was invited to be the judge in a game of tetherball. When she called one of the little brats out, the girl ("A") refused to leave. She then told D that "when the ball hits [her], it would be an 'accident'". Then she spiked the freakin' ball into D's face!!! She followed that by a kick to D's leg (a real no-no to me because of D's dancing). D ran to the AP who was supposed to be looking out for her (but was hanging out with another teacher) and told her what happened. The other girl figured out she was going to get in trouble and messed up her own clothing and then accused D of hitting her, too. But she freely admitted that she hit D first, no matter what else resulted. No matter! BOTH girls were banned from the camp without the principal being consulted or the other parent having a chance to come in. Then the AP left a chickenshit voice message apologizing, but still banning both the girls "to be fair". Total BS!
I went to the school first thing Monday AM before her class was due to leave and had a confrontational meeting with the principal (nice lady-NOT!!!). She was pissed because I was making her late for a meeting and she didn't want to discuss it. Then the beotch had the nerve to say that D instigated the fight (not there was any proof there ever was anything but A attacking my kid and then lying) because she "was standing in front of A and didn't move"! WTF is that kind of logic?!?! Then she pulled out a bunch of alleged incident reports that neither D nor I had ever seen before and said that she would have kept D from going for any one of those reports.
As for the reports: one was for D supposedly being disrespectful to her GATE teacher (the one who allegedly keeps adult type magazines in his desk--when reported the response was "Oh, no! Not at our school! We don't have those kinds of teachers here!") when he accused her of doing something she wasn't doing. Another was when her keyboarding partner started messing with the controls and the music teacher told her to stop and D said it wasn't her. Piddly shit, to be sure, and not worth more than a note to me (which I never got). BUT it was already known that just one report would keep a child from going to camp and a lot of teachers used those reports to keep kids they didn't care for from attending. Yeah... Really "fair", huh? She was holding the reports "just in case" she "needed them". Again, WTF??? She as much as told me that she was going to use something, ANYTHING to keep D from going. To add to the Bitch Quotient, the idiot woman had the nerve to tell me that it really wasn't a school function anyway and she could control who got to go anyway. So what was with all the forms with the school district logos and official letterhead all over the place that they made us sign?
The favorite word tossed around at the school is "investigate". Every incident must be investigated. Investigation is usually on the level of "Who did it?" "X did." End of investigation. No independent collaboration, no checking the tapes, nothing! Or, in the case of D and A, not even that was done. My daughter had the other girl's shoe prints all over her, quite visible from across the room. When I asked if they checked the other girl for similar marks, I was laughed at and told I watched too many crime shows. When I was teaching, it was standard practice to examine EVERY kid for evidence. Apparently, there was nothing to see at the time. Later, A had a tear in her shirt and claimed D bit a hole in it. It wasn't examined closely to see if it was a tear or cut, but they took A's word for it and said D did it. No proof, no witnesses, but that didn't matter. It was easier to be "fair" to the girl who assaulted my child by taking her word for it that my daughter bit her shirt than to be 100% certain. Expediency over fairness!
And what about the alleged "knock down-drag out"? With teachers and the AP on the playground, wouldn't you think that someone might have noticed that there were children fighting? Especially if there was clothing-rending and yelling? Not a single adult saw any altercation! And, of course, the surveillance cameras are not trained on the playground as it would mean they would be liable if there were a tape. My daughter had to go get the AP, crying all the way, when she got hit. But D was alleged to have been capable of tearing a shirt at the same time. PULEEEZE!
What I really take umbrage with is the portrayal of D as "a danger to others". I was told that to my face. My child had only one other referral in the four years the school has been open for fighting and that was when she was being choked by a bigger girl and she bit the girl to get free. Unfortunately, the girl was the daughter of a favorite substitute teacher and they wanted to keep the momma happy, so D got in trouble.
Part of the issue is that D has a 504 plan for her ADHD and PBPD (another parent I know is going through the same issues, so it isn't just D, BTW). The school, priding itself on its "elite" status, really doesn't like to deal with 504s and IEPs or anything that doesn't exude perfection. They don't like to deal with the paperwork or the special accommodations or 1:1 instruction, so they pick on the kids. It is far easier to single out the 504 kids as "troublemakers" and punish them constantly for anything they can, hoping the parents will pull the kids and the school wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. That's why the principal went to mandatory uniforms--she hated keeping track of the regular dress code.
Sadly, D didn't get to go to the camp at all (even though I gather Mr. H--the region supervisor--had told the principal to let the girls go and punish them some other way). D spent three days in a class with a sub doing worksheets and having the other kids alternately making fun of her or blaming her for getting A "in trouble" even though A attacked D to begin with! The other kids also spread the story around that A was minding her own business and D just walked up and hit her for no reason. The same little monsters who have been picking on her all year have been given carte blanch to make the last few days miserable for D and the administration of the school are being "fair" by allowing it to go on because my child is ALWAYS wrong, no matter what. I have tried to get her to go to an adult when she has a problem. It doesn't help when her teacher (more on her later) tells her to stop being such a tattletale.
A note about the other girl: I was told what an angel she was and how she NEVER got in trouble. Uh-huh! This girl has beaten up just about every kid in Safekey. Still on school grounds and contracted by the school district, right? So it is still a school thing, however obliquely, as far as I am concerned. Yet, despite the fact that Safekey went to the school when D tossed a pencil box at me and I yelled at her, I was told that Safekey had nothing to do with the school and visa versa, so A's fights there meant nothing. But D gets referrals? Like I said...
I didn't get the money for camp fees back, either.
This has come about because of an incident that happened to D at her school (a magnet elementary school in LV that prides itself on its "international" affiliations and a politician's wife on hand).
To lay out the background, fifth grade at her school has a sleep-away science camp at the end of the year. The entire year, the kids are psyched up by the school about this event. In fact, it is held over their head as a threat like Damocles' sword. As it is a sleep-away event, the parents had to sign a sheaf of forms that give the school permission to seek medical aid, give medicine, transport the kids in school buses and ALL the papers said it was a school function (including the packing list for the trip, which told the kids they had to pack according to the dress code).
Well, in the two weeks before the trip, my daughter started getting harassed by her teachers. Every perceived "bad look" or "disrespectful" action was turned into a big deal--the incidents were mostly where a teacher or other student accused D wrongly of doing something and she spoke up to defend herself. Apparently that is a bad thing at her school. So is standing on a ball court when calling someone out, it seems.
The Friday before the camp, I had gone to the school to warn the assistant principal that some of the kids were planning to entrap and get D into trouble somehow (the little monsters were planning it the night before IN FRONT OF ME and one of them even mouthed off to me!!!). I was promised that she would be watched and protected by this same AP. Alas! That was not the case at all.
At recess that Friday afternoon, D was invited to be the judge in a game of tetherball. When she called one of the little brats out, the girl ("A") refused to leave. She then told D that "when the ball hits [her], it would be an 'accident'". Then she spiked the freakin' ball into D's face!!! She followed that by a kick to D's leg (a real no-no to me because of D's dancing). D ran to the AP who was supposed to be looking out for her (but was hanging out with another teacher) and told her what happened. The other girl figured out she was going to get in trouble and messed up her own clothing and then accused D of hitting her, too. But she freely admitted that she hit D first, no matter what else resulted. No matter! BOTH girls were banned from the camp without the principal being consulted or the other parent having a chance to come in. Then the AP left a chickenshit voice message apologizing, but still banning both the girls "to be fair". Total BS!
I went to the school first thing Monday AM before her class was due to leave and had a confrontational meeting with the principal (nice lady-NOT!!!). She was pissed because I was making her late for a meeting and she didn't want to discuss it. Then the beotch had the nerve to say that D instigated the fight (not there was any proof there ever was anything but A attacking my kid and then lying) because she "was standing in front of A and didn't move"! WTF is that kind of logic?!?! Then she pulled out a bunch of alleged incident reports that neither D nor I had ever seen before and said that she would have kept D from going for any one of those reports.
As for the reports: one was for D supposedly being disrespectful to her GATE teacher (the one who allegedly keeps adult type magazines in his desk--when reported the response was "Oh, no! Not at our school! We don't have those kinds of teachers here!") when he accused her of doing something she wasn't doing. Another was when her keyboarding partner started messing with the controls and the music teacher told her to stop and D said it wasn't her. Piddly shit, to be sure, and not worth more than a note to me (which I never got). BUT it was already known that just one report would keep a child from going to camp and a lot of teachers used those reports to keep kids they didn't care for from attending. Yeah... Really "fair", huh? She was holding the reports "just in case" she "needed them". Again, WTF??? She as much as told me that she was going to use something, ANYTHING to keep D from going. To add to the Bitch Quotient, the idiot woman had the nerve to tell me that it really wasn't a school function anyway and she could control who got to go anyway. So what was with all the forms with the school district logos and official letterhead all over the place that they made us sign?
The favorite word tossed around at the school is "investigate". Every incident must be investigated. Investigation is usually on the level of "Who did it?" "X did." End of investigation. No independent collaboration, no checking the tapes, nothing! Or, in the case of D and A, not even that was done. My daughter had the other girl's shoe prints all over her, quite visible from across the room. When I asked if they checked the other girl for similar marks, I was laughed at and told I watched too many crime shows. When I was teaching, it was standard practice to examine EVERY kid for evidence. Apparently, there was nothing to see at the time. Later, A had a tear in her shirt and claimed D bit a hole in it. It wasn't examined closely to see if it was a tear or cut, but they took A's word for it and said D did it. No proof, no witnesses, but that didn't matter. It was easier to be "fair" to the girl who assaulted my child by taking her word for it that my daughter bit her shirt than to be 100% certain. Expediency over fairness!
And what about the alleged "knock down-drag out"? With teachers and the AP on the playground, wouldn't you think that someone might have noticed that there were children fighting? Especially if there was clothing-rending and yelling? Not a single adult saw any altercation! And, of course, the surveillance cameras are not trained on the playground as it would mean they would be liable if there were a tape. My daughter had to go get the AP, crying all the way, when she got hit. But D was alleged to have been capable of tearing a shirt at the same time. PULEEEZE!
What I really take umbrage with is the portrayal of D as "a danger to others". I was told that to my face. My child had only one other referral in the four years the school has been open for fighting and that was when she was being choked by a bigger girl and she bit the girl to get free. Unfortunately, the girl was the daughter of a favorite substitute teacher and they wanted to keep the momma happy, so D got in trouble.
Part of the issue is that D has a 504 plan for her ADHD and PBPD (another parent I know is going through the same issues, so it isn't just D, BTW). The school, priding itself on its "elite" status, really doesn't like to deal with 504s and IEPs or anything that doesn't exude perfection. They don't like to deal with the paperwork or the special accommodations or 1:1 instruction, so they pick on the kids. It is far easier to single out the 504 kids as "troublemakers" and punish them constantly for anything they can, hoping the parents will pull the kids and the school wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. That's why the principal went to mandatory uniforms--she hated keeping track of the regular dress code.
Sadly, D didn't get to go to the camp at all (even though I gather Mr. H--the region supervisor--had told the principal to let the girls go and punish them some other way). D spent three days in a class with a sub doing worksheets and having the other kids alternately making fun of her or blaming her for getting A "in trouble" even though A attacked D to begin with! The other kids also spread the story around that A was minding her own business and D just walked up and hit her for no reason. The same little monsters who have been picking on her all year have been given carte blanch to make the last few days miserable for D and the administration of the school are being "fair" by allowing it to go on because my child is ALWAYS wrong, no matter what. I have tried to get her to go to an adult when she has a problem. It doesn't help when her teacher (more on her later) tells her to stop being such a tattletale.
A note about the other girl: I was told what an angel she was and how she NEVER got in trouble. Uh-huh! This girl has beaten up just about every kid in Safekey. Still on school grounds and contracted by the school district, right? So it is still a school thing, however obliquely, as far as I am concerned. Yet, despite the fact that Safekey went to the school when D tossed a pencil box at me and I yelled at her, I was told that Safekey had nothing to do with the school and visa versa, so A's fights there meant nothing. But D gets referrals? Like I said...
I didn't get the money for camp fees back, either.
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