Today the vice principal told me that she had spoken to one of my most difficult student’s mother about his behavior and the woman straight up admitted that she’s been calling him stupid and worthless since he was 2 YEARS OLD. Well no fucking wonder he acts out bitch what the hell? Now I just want to love on the poor kid.
Why I never mock or even bring attention to mispronunciation in a conversation, and will snap down anyone who tries to
Besides poverty, for many peoplevEnglish is a second (or third+) language and has weird rules too.
Most of the time, even when words are mispronounced, they’re still understandable if you make an effort. Just be patient and don’t look down on people who mispronounce!
when getting 6 hours of sleep is a “really good night’s sleep” because you spend so much time at school, then doing homework, and (god forbid) any hobbies/extracurriculars
when the only “counselors” available to you have little or no psychological knowledge and will contact your parents and tell them you were there
when school lunch tastes, looks, and smells like cardboard, and is often unavailable to lower income students, but we are reprimanded for not eating healthily enough
when kids can not eat lunch for every single day of the year and not a single adult will ask them why
when anxiety is interpreted as “nervousness” and depression is interpreted as “laziness” and any sort of disorder or disability, mental or physical, is utterly ignored or ridiculed
when you have to fake sick on multiple days throughout the year because school takes so much out of you that on some days you cannot tolerate it
when you are forced to be around people who are toxic to your mental/emotional health, and if you ask to switch to a different class because of those people you’ll be told to “just ignore them”
when students are forced to participate in activities they are not comfortable doing such as presentations in front of the class in which failure to comply results in a zero
when teachers assign an hour (sometimes more, especially for advanced/AP classes) of homework for you to complete and most of it is nothing but “busy work” (work that serves no purpose other than to take up time)
when tests can count for 85% of your overall grade so no matter how much effort you put into that class, a bad test or poor test taking skills can result in bad/failing grades
when you miss school due to illness and have to complete 3+ days worth of work and turn it in the next day or in 2 days and if you don’t complete/turn it in the teachers act like “well you shouldnt have gotten sick then”
when sports teams get new equipment practically every year and the music/art/drama/etc departments are literally using costumes/instruments/supplies from 10+ years ago and can barely afford to purchase music or supplies or pay for repairs
when a teacher can give a bad test that everyone fails and its our fault
when a teacher can put up notes but not actually teach at all and blame us for failing
when teachers are forced to base their entire class around a certain curriculum but the standardized test is completely different
when a standardized test determines your value
when a student is struggling and no matter what theyre struggling with, its their fault, they should just work harder
when pretty much any student in high school will tell you that they do not like school
when a student’s hopes and passions are discouraged as being impractical and if ur not good at math/science ur basically told that youll never have a decent job and treated like hopeless, pointless waste of space
when teachers/staff can discriminate based off of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, WHATEVER, and reporting it will only put u into a worse situation
when school dress codes are ridiculously unfair towards girls and lower girls’ self esteem and teaches girls that her body is something to be ashamed of
when sex ed classes was nothing but teaching us statistics about STDs and that “abstinence is 100% effective”
when without a scholarship college is nearly impossible to afford
when we’re expected to know what we want to do for the rest of our lives and where we want to go to college by the time we’re 16
when students are so stressed that they turn to drugs just to keep their heads above water
when students are taking their own lives and nobody notices or cares
so hey who else was taught as a kid that “”””wanting attention”””” in any way was wrong and shameful and has grown up unable ask for help or support even in great distress/suffering
Parent: why do you never come to me for help
(two days later)
Me: I need help with something
Parent: CAN’T YOU SEE I’M BUSY WHY CAN’T YOU DO ANYTHING BY YOURSELF GOD YOU’RE SO-
Me: never mind
And don’t forget the You Can Tell Me Anything (Except Things I Don’t Want to Hear)™.
Bonus round of You Can Tell Me Anything (But If I Don’t Like It You’re In Big Trouble Even If You’re Asking For Help)
I’m Always Here For You! (Until You Upset Me In Any Way)™.
One time in elementary school I was trying to get the attention of one of the recess officers (whose sole job is to watch and pay attention to the children) as she was talking to a teacher (another person whose job it is to watch us) and both proceeded to yell at me because it was rude to interrupt them.
So as the asshole I was I said. “Ok” and walked back to the kid who had dislocated his shoulder at the swing set walked him to the nurses and told them exactly why my third grader ass was the one that walked him to the nurses and not an adult
Now I don’t like trusting people to help with shit I can do well on my own.
This. I have never understood why parents and teachers don’t just sit and listen to kids. My co-teacher is on maternity leave and my guest teachers treat the kids like they’re basically dolls. They watch them, sure, but hearing what they have to say? Teaching them there’s two sides to every story? Teaching that actions have long term consequences? Pffft nope, too much hassle. Forget about it just go play.
Like. That’s. That’s your job. You get paid to teach these kids not only math and science and art but also kindness and generosity and honesty and respect. If I don’t respect the kids I know they will call me out on it because I have taught them that respect is earned AND it’s a 2-way street. Just like they understand that I don’t write notes home or have a serious conversation with them just because I’m out to get them, but because they have shown me or their friends a sort of disrespect that they know is not acceptable.
I remember thinking “whatever, I do what the teachers say because they’re the adult I guess” when I was in school.
The greatest compliment that I have ever received was that they listen to me because they have seen that I am kind and respectful and they want to be that way, too.
See: my stepmom and telling her I’m dating a trans woman.
adults are always talking about how “kids will do anything to get out of school” and okay, first of all that’s not true, but I think we really need to ask why that idea holds so much sway.
children’s brains are hard-wired to take in new information and acquire new skills. consider, for a moment, just how thoroughly our society had to fuck up the concept of education for it to be a normal thing to assume kids are universally desperate to avoid learning.
Kids are desperate to avoid the stress of dealing with insurmountable piles of homework, abusive faculty, bullies their own age, and shitty cafeteria food on only five hours of sleep.
yeah it’s almost like most modern american education isn’t about teaching actually useful shit but to get good test scores, and how it repeatedly stamps down on anyone slightly odd and also actively worsens the learning environments for people with learning disabilities, and how they always cut things like recess and PE, then have the gall to wonder why children struggle in classes where they’re working for periods of time adults have a difficult time with, with almost no breaks
ifesbob 