Education: April 2007 Archive Page

"So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone?, then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did." Umm, yeah, what to wright about?? I'm leaving to join the Marines and I really don't give a F... about my academics....

My current English teacher is a control freak intent on setting a gap between herself and her students like a 63 year old white male fortune 500 company CEO, and a illegal immigrant. If CG was a private catholic school, I could understand, but wtf is her problem. And baking brownies and rice crispies does not make up for it, way to try and justify yourself as a good teacher while underhandedly looking for complements on your cooking. No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting. --Allen Lee --Allen Lee's essay (Sun-Times)

This is an excerpt from the essay that got a high schooler arrested for disorderly conduct.

And the consequences:

Because of pending criminal charges stemming from his essay, Lee's recruiter told him Friday evening that the Marine Corps has discharged him from his contract, said Sgt. Luis R. Agostini, spokesman for the Marine Corps Recruiting Station Chicago. -- Chicago Sun-Times

Here's a fascinating glimpse into the way this particular high-school student represents his understanding of English class:

"In creative writing, you're told to exaggerate,'' said Lee. "It was supposed to be just junk. . . ."

Blogging this one for future reference...

Told to express emotion for a creative-writing class, high-school senior Allen Lee penned an essay so disturbing to his teacher, school administrators and police that he was charged with disorderly conduct, officials said Wednesday.

Lee, 18, a straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School in Cary, Ill., was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with the misdemeanor for an essay that police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location.--Jeff Long and Carolyn Starks --Illinois police arrest teen after teacher "disturbed" by essay (Seattle Times)

Each day I walk into my own classroom. Each day I stand before students who have book bags that I would never dare look into, believing that ignorance is bliss. I don't want to know who's packing and who's dealing. A stupid sentiment, I'm sure. But am I really any safer knowing what they carry? Or will it only make me more paranoid? Everyday at work, we teachers know exactly what we walk into. Last week a former student was shot by police after a brief foot chase. Had he not pulled his gun, they probably wouldn't have fired. Incidentally, he's considered a "person of interest" in his stepfather's murder. Two weeks ago a seventeen-year-old girl died from an apparent overdose. The woman whose baby was found under the bed... yep, had connections here. Each term, at least one student will have to drop out due to incarceration. Students who go m.i.a. are common.

We walk into that and we teach and we try so damn hard to pull those who want to learn up to where they want to be but don't quite have the coping skills to do on their own. We pester and cajole, bribe and bargain. Let me help you. Come to class. If you at least try, I can show you where you're right and where we can work to improve. --Miki Louch --Columbine Revisited (Simple sentences sprinkled with hopes of complexity)

I just came from an evening class where we went a half hour over because every student went a few minutes over their presentation time, and the discussions were productive and thought-provoking. I'd like to think that it's possible to make a difference, and tonight's class and Miki's blog entry both support that belief.

I was going to stay at the office and work late in order to catch up, but pfft. I'm going home to my family.

The researchers gave the example of a secondary school in an unnamed northern city, which dropped the Holocaust as a subject for GCSE coursework.

The report said teachers feared confronting 'anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils'.

It added: "In another department, the Holocaust was taught despite anti-Semitic sentiment among some pupils.

"But the same department deliberately avoided teaching the Crusades at Key Stage 3 (11- to 14-year-olds) because their balanced treatment of the topic would have challenged what was taught in some local mosques."

A third school found itself 'strongly challenged by some Christian parents for their treatment of the Arab-Israeli conflict-and the history of the state of Israel that did not accord with the teachings of their denomination'. --Laura Clark --Teachers drop the Holocaust to avoid offending Muslims (Daily Mail)

This article (about the UK) gives just enough details to be enraging, but not enough details to invite public action.