I've only been awake for a not even an hour because of the stupid storm last night. It's so ridiculous, I'm 25 years old and still hate thunderstorms. It's not the rain or the lightning that bother me, but the thunder how pathetic, I know. So here I am not even having been awake for an hour trying to decide what to make of my day and I have no want to do anything. I need to be studying for the GRE. I need to be cleaning and doing laundry. I need to exercising so I don't look like a fat blob anymore. I need to be doing all sorts of stuff, but I have no want or no motivation to do any of it. It's so weird, but I think that without school I don't have the motivation to do anything, hopefully though I'll find the motivation. Oh by the way, allergies SUCK. Just had a 5 minute sneezing fit.
Ever wonder what it would be like to be an animal. As I'm sitting here writing this I'm watching my dog named Chill lying on the couch sleeping and a squirrel outside my front door foraging for food. They both it seem like lying around doing nothing is okay, I wish I could feel that way. I really love watching squirrels because even with a brain as small as theirs they are so smart. It's amazing the way nature tells them to do things. I know weird ramblings. Thinking that way about squirrels and lots of other animals comes from the fact that I took Comparative Psychology a couple semesters ago which is supposed to be using animal behavior to predict human behavior but instead we just learned biology about animals, so as useless as I think that class was now I have a deeper understanding of animals.
I'm really glad that I entitled this blog ramblings because it means that I can sit here and talk about absolutely nothing without any consequences.
So apparently there is an alumni meeting coming up at my high school to talk about ways to save the school. I graduated from a school that you can associate with being an "intercity" school and they have had the lowest test scores for the last decade. Yes, including when I was there, hard to believe, huh? :) But anyway, at this meeting my fellow alumnus (anyone from the first graduating class in 1959 to the graduating class of 2010) are going to be working with the principal to set up motivational assemblies and mentor time for next year using the successful graduates as the speakers and mentors. I think that this is a good idea, living in a city teenagers get mixed up about what is really important in their lives and so sometimes they need help getting back on the right track. The problem I have is I don't think that any of us that have graduated within the last decade have any business being up there talking about success because none of us have had the time to become successful, I mean I'm just now getting my life on the right track. Another problem I have is everyone thinking that the low test scores are just because the students don't want to learn. I'm sorry, I think a lot of the blame lies on the teachers and the rest of the faculty. I went there and a lot of the teachers that were there when I was there are still there today and they don't want to be. I didn't get the education I deserve and it wasn't because I didn't want to learn it's because no one gave it to me. Yes, I graduated as one of the top of my class with a 3.97 gpa but that's only because the classes were a joke. I didn't have to study, hell, I didn't even have to try. Not even in my AP classes, now that is really sad. So while trying to motivate the kids is a good idea, it isn't going to solve the problem.
Well, now that you're bored to tears I'll stop rambling so maybe I can get motivated to get something done. Until the next time...
I'm making a list, and checking it twice, of things we need to get a move on doing. I can be pretty motivating once I have list set up. I'm coming over and we are seriously going to "get 'er done."
ReplyDeleteI had to be hick for a moment. lol
OH!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you mostly about Grant as well. But I think there are varying ways one can be successful and having a high-powered degree or corporate job are not the only items on that list. Success is as much personal perspective as anything else. I also don't think there is anything the Alumni can really do.
Did you see the story a few months ago about the school on the east coast? No amount of picketing,letters, or walk outs could stop the decision of the city council. The fact that, like Grant, it had been a severely low performing school for over a decade was what prompted the reform. It was, however, the teachers that got the ultimate blow in that case. They were fired and rehired with conditional contracts expressly tied to their teaching performance. Some were not invited back.
I think something like that should be tried. You and I both know that the majority of the teachers there could care less about how much you actually learn and have been that way for years. They've gotten to the point that they are so burned out that you wonder why they don't find a new place to go or another vocation? They obviously aren't happy.
You can't approach teaching as "just another job" or you end up with a generation of students with a severe gap in much needed knowledge. How would you feel if your physician acted the same way?
The whole ordeal is frustrating because it has been this way for years and now the school board is finally getting hammered about the schools that are like this.