I could sum this up in one sentence, but I probably won't because I am better at ranting. Anyway, today I am sitting in our weekly faculty meeting (this one was just for the 5-8 teachers), and at the end, my principal is relating a story of how he had "made a mistake" that got his butt seriously chewed out. Ok, fine. Right? Then he made this comment: "Should we have to hold their little hands? (Remember--JUNIOR HIGH KIDS, not kindergarteners or even 3rd or 4th graders--kids going to high school next year. Kids who drink, have sex, smoke, do WAY harder drugs than I was even imagining in COLLEGE.) No, we shouldn't. But get used to it folks. We're in the hand-holding business."
Umm...WHAT?? Yeah, last I checked, I didn't sign up to be someone's glorified babysitter. I didn't work my butt off to get through school so I could pass kids through the system when they don't do SQUAT!! I guess I mistakenly thought I am in the business of education and teaching our children to be independent thinkers. How are they ever going to become independent thinkers if we are coddling them and GIVING them extra credit and accepting late work (from MONTHS ago, no less)? Anyway, there have been at least a million different examples of garbage like this happening this year. And I can't do anything about it. I am going to have to stand up for myself on the thing that happened today, because ethically, I just don't feel like it is right, and I REFUSE to put my morality on the line for some punk kid who has been sitting on his lazy butt all year, and now that we are less than three weeks from the end of the school year, and it looks like he might fail 8th grade, his mommy is jumping in and getting special favors for him. Sorry, I will do a lot of things for my students, but sacrificing my integrity is not one of them. I will stay after. I will give them their missing work a thousand times. I will accept late work from the first day of the quarter on the last day of the quarter. I will exempt them from a quiz if they were gone and we didn't get it made up in a timely manner. I will help any way I can. But I will NOT hand over my morality. I will NOT put MY integrity on the line just because some kid is finally MAYBE (not counting on it--since we are in the handholding business) going to have to face the consequences of his actions.
Today was a really awful day. It started off badly and it ended badly. Another teacher ripped me apart in front of the whole staff. I had to deal with this late work thing. I had a kid freak out on me in class. Overall...not cool. And then to top it off, my money transfer of Cam's check didn't come through, so my bank account is overdrawn. And it's Levi's birthday tomorrow, and I didn't have a chance to do ANYTHING for his birthday yet. Not even buy a little cake or anything. Part of me wants to hold off celebrating at all until next week, since Cameron will be here, and part of me says that's not his birthday, we need to do it now. Anyway, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Scratch that. Tomorrow WILL be a better day, if for no other reason than that I already expect the majority of my students to act like idiots, and the ones that don't, are always good. My only concern is that I am going to have to tell my boss that I am not going to do things his way regarding that one specific student. I just can't do it. It's going to be really hard to do since my lack of words to the principal about it today probably made it seem like I was ok with things and that I agreed with him, but really...I am not a spontaneous person. I need to think about things. And after thinking about this (and talking to my husband and brother), I really think I am making the right decision. I don't even really feel bad about it, since the kid will probably have his grades altered anyway. But if they get altered, it will not be by me.
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