What's bugging you? (2006)

[brettac1]

The complete lack of action in the best music of 2006 thread. Bummer.

[razzzorsharp]

Getting almost all yellows in my pack of Chewy Sprees. Where were the reds?

[mothershipconnection]

I'd hate to be one of the grocery checkers having to carry out that policy. Customers must surely comment/gripe/make bad jokes about it constantly.

I have a friend who worked in a chain restaurant where they literally had to card everyone who ordered a drink. She said she had carded people who were obviously in their 70's and could not sell them a drink because they didn't have ID. There was no bending the rule, and usually the manager would have to come out and look like a moron telling them it's company policy to never trust your eyes, even when the person has no hair left, false cow bone teeth, and a walker they bought over 21 years ago.

I'm totally fine with "we card anyone who could be under 30" policies. But seriously - carding the elderly? It just seems like stupid overkill and foolish business to me - old people hold grudges.

 

 

3.) Gym Class -- Speaking of my school system -- our gym class is about as useless as it gets. My kids come home with tests for "the rules of floor hockey" -- I appreciate the need to teach kids about team sports -- however, I think it more important for kids to learn about food and the way their body processes it. I suspect that a lot of kids (and adults) are fat, because they are ignorant to how to manage their bodies.

I'm currently working in what is easily the most obese district I have worked in. Parents are lazy and often meth-addicted. Seriously, these parents won't even sign documents sent home with their kids because they never open their backpacks, they also don't take the time to make sure their kids are bathed or have clean clothes.

 

Gym class is also a problem. Policies like the No Child Left Behind Act scare districts into eliminating non-academic time like recess and gym class in order to spend more time teaching to the tests. In my girlfriend's homeland she had to be able to do backflips in her PE class, yes, backflips - imagine seeing that in America. She also works in schools now and is really disturbed by how little physical activity American children get in school. Much of this is set up before they get there, however, as many kindergarteners are already rolly little piles of goo who are too lazy to play at recess and start breathing heavily and sweating when they have to walk quickly in the hallway and would rather act out scenes from cartoons than run at recess.

[hawing]

I had today off and woke up with my second cold of the season. I hope this one is over in less than six weeks. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

[pitchleague]

mothership is right on about the No Child Left Behind law, or as my wife and I like to call it, the "No Teachers With Freetime for Themselves" law. Teaching to the test is so prevalent in AZ it's not even funny. Every year when we return from holiday break in January, we are told the same speech of basically dropping science, social studies, art, etc. in the classroom and focus on the things in the test. Pathetic.

[1992casey]

Science and social studies aren't on "the test"? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/eyes.gif

[NeedMoreFans]

I'm not trying to make a political statement here (because I love this thread and don't want to see it locked), but as a want-to-be educator, No Child Left Behind bugs me.

 

I thought science was supposed to be on the test. I thought one of the things of NCLB was to increase student knowledge in science, math and reading. I thought standards were created for those subjects. The original law has no mention of social studies, English (literature), any of the arts, tech ed, phy ed or foreign language. So what places are seeing is an increase in time learning science in math, while lessening the requirements for how much time a student studies everything else. This hurts me as an aspiring social studies teacher. There are so many licensed SS teachers without jobs right now because SS is not considered that important right now.

 

I believe the law is up for renewal/revision soon, so maybe some other subjects will get added.

[pitchleague]

I agree that you can teach the "three R's" in other subjects. I do in my music classes. It may not be much, but I do touch on some things in social studies and the science of sound.

 

Schools pretty much in AZ, though, just drop the other stuff, since AZ is so low on the education totem pole. As a former student in WI (grade school and high school), I see the difference in educational values all the time. It is night and day from Wisconsin. I'm not saying that the Wisconsin School System is perfect--I'm sure they have their share of parents that don't care, do drugs, etc. like mothership talked about earlier. But it is much more prevalent down here. The state economy doesn't help. And our town is a transient town, being right on the interstate and people moving here to look for a job. Then a month later, they pull their kids out of school and move again because they can't pay the rent. If I've seen it once, I've seen it 10,000 times.

[NeedMoreFans]

Quote:

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I would think that there are plenty of opportunities to teach the 3 Rs in science and social studies.

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Yes! I'd say a majority of social studies is 'readin' and 'riting, 2 of the 3 R's. 'Rithmatic may be a bit more difficult.

 

A main reason why I like to study social studies is because I like to write. I don't write stories, but I love doing research and writing on that research, which very strongly utilizes 2 of the 3 R's. When I student taught, I really stressed writing and research, because they are very important skills to develop. I hope I helped my 90 students learn to read better.

 

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