Steel toed diatribe

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

It's hammer time.

In what follows, I refer mostly and largely to those in administration who create the policies which the Boards of Education adopt. BoEs do very little policy development, relying instead on staff who are veteran teachers who got kicked up the food chain out of the classroom into an office.

The Peter Principle immediately comes to mind.

Can I get a witness?

Having covered School Boards in 4 states, about twice that number of county-school systems and well over 100 School Board members, I can say with that much authority that most School Board members have little to no idea of what policies are vital to the education of students. They rubber stamp what the administration wants.

Hairdos over substance and getting what you asked for is not necessarily what you wanted.

Dlsclaimer outta the way-

A new study links student achievement to class attendance.


Well, duh, many of you are thinking. If you ain't in class, you ain't going to learn a whole lot.

If the truth be told...

The new study shows a SHARP correlation between even a few absences and student achievement.

Again, not a huge surprise there, but some surprise at how dramatic this is.


"McGibboney says graduation rates drop 26 percent for ninth graders with more than five absences. "

Veteran educators will say "HA! I knew it!"

I ask the veteran educators (especially those in administration) - If you knew this why do you insist on suspending students for infractions of the rules and sending them home?

If a student being in the classroom is so strongly linked to student success, why do you send them out of the classroom?

Why are you insisting students become failures?

Not really. I'm be sarcastic.

Let the mumbling, red faces, toe scrubbing and blame passing commence and run rampant over those hallowed halls of education.

Awww. Tell ya what. Just because I'm that kind of guy, I'm going to kick someone while they are down on account of their own idiocy.

How does suspending a student encourage them to learn?

What lesson is taught by kicking a student out of school for a few days?

Dese boots is made for kickin'

Hurting yet? Lemme aim for some vital organs with my steel-toed diatribe.

Consider the academic achievement level of students who are suspended. How many honor roll kids are given the boot? How many marginal kids are tossed out?

Which student is better capable of catching up a day or two of missed work?

Which student is most likely to be involuntarily invited to leave the classroom for a day or two?

Aaight. Here's a hand up, no joy buzzer included. It's to those people who deserve it, the few, the far between and the ones worthy of my respect.

And I do mean it. Really.

Teachers have to be momma and daddy, parole officer, counselor, brother, sister, coach and a whole lotta other roles these days. Somewhere in there, the teacher has to be a role model and a teacher too. No, it ain't easy. Yes, I tremendously appreciate the work you do.

Now, move your feet. Fast. My sledgehammer is coming down on the posers in the crowd. Don't want any collateral damage.

Why, considering all the roles you must play and the tremendous burden on you and the ethics you have AND the student you take action against, why do you tell the student MOST in need of your services that he is not welcome in your room?

Teachers know the consequences of sending a kid out of the room, including suspension.

Teachers also know what they are getting into when they step into the classroom each day, so if you plan to complain very much, bring some good sharp cheddar-colby-jack so I can have some cheese with that whine.

Well? Do ya?

Hand up time again. I also admit, right here, sometimes a student just needs to be removed from a teacher's classroom. I support the right of teachers to remove a student from their room.

There is no contradiction, because somewhere, a teacher has to step up and say "I will take this child in my classroom." It's what teachers do. It's what their ethics require. if you ain't willing to that kind of person, you have no business in the classroom from my perspective.

Turn the other cheek. I'm gonna gently pat it. I promise.

At the same time, students must accept responsibility for their actions. Hold the kids accountable, absolutely, but do not reward them for bad behavior with a three day vacation. Instead look at ways to keep them in school, but make it uncomfortable so that they'd prefer to be in a regular classroom and behave. Sending them home, especially teenagers, doesn't do that.

It's time to stop suspending students and start teaching them. Administrators and government need to get out of the way and let teachers do their job. We also need to fire, with extreme prejudice, the vast legions of idiots who pose as teachers.