Random

Sometimes, random thoughts pop in my mind, and I must express them.

I'm watching So You Think You Can Dance. Anything that has to do with dance has my attention immediately. The added component of this show is the "reality". Well, the television reality. I watch the auditions because of the dance, the illuminating moments of success and the message that you can transcend anything if you have the right attitude. I have to commend some of these dancers. Some have such a WILL to make it, that it inspires me to get off my ass and do some crunches while watching.

Then there are the moments of infamy that they choose to air, and I am disappointed. Why is it entertaining to watch someone make a total fool of him/herself and then be humiliated on top of it? Seriously, there isn't enough therapy in the world to heal some people. There aren't enough words to describe the disgust I feel in watching the judges tear them to shreds.

I'm so frustrated sometimes. So many thoughts speed throughout my synapses, popping in and popping away.

Why do I think so much? Maybe they should make a show called So You Think You Can Think? or maybe So You Think? I would so be in there!

Work has become so frustrating. Today, one of my students who has not been doing very much in class when he has been there ( half the time), declared today that he was doing nothing because, and I quote, "This class is shit."

I sent him out. He needed to be out of my sight.

In the school where I work the motto is, you send a student out, you get called into the VP's office and grilled about all the accusations the student has made against you. That doesn't bother me because I know I am a good teacher and I do all in my power to empower my students to do the best they can do. Even if I have to drag them over the threshold of ignorance into the light of original thought.

So, I was prepared for this interview with the VP and the student. I was told that I had said to the student that he had no chance of passing. I smiled and said, "I was expecting that. What he failed to tell you was that I said, he had no chance of passing if he didn't do the work." Logical, no? You would think.

Then the VP asked me if I got his previous marks. (He had transfered half way through the semester to my class.) I said that I hadn't. I had told him it was his responsibility to tell his previous teacher that he needed his marks. The VP replied, in FRONT of the student, that it was NOT his responsibility to get the marks. "He can easily change them."

Ok. Let's break this down.

I attempted to teach the student a lesson in responsibility and accountability in asking him to get the marks. It was his choice to come to this class, because in his words "it is easier". That signalled to me someone who had no interest in getting a credit let alone learning anything, so I decided I was going to ask this of him. I was testing his resolve.

I got cut down for my efforts. My professional credibility was negated in that one moment, but I remained calm.

What the VP taught him is that he is not accountable and not reliable since he can so "easily" change the marks. Huh? Would I not then have noticed? Would I not have checked with my colleague?

Ironically, later in the discussion, said VP asked the student if he indeed went to his former teacher to ask for the marks. He hadn't. Hmm.

Whatever. I know I did the right thing and have been acting in the best interests of the student.

The VP then finds out that he has been skipping classes right left and center when I mentioned his 14 absences from my class. Good thing they keep on top of that sort of thing...

The whole exercise earned him 21 detentions. Will he learn anything from them? I have no idea. I know I learned that I can remain professional and calm in the face of insult. I learned that my intentions are well-placed, and my vision clear whereas the administrator in question is basking in her position of authority. It's hard to think clearly way up there. Lack of oxygen, I think.

I wonder. Do other people get so disrespected on a daily basis at work? Do they get put in a position where they are taken down a peg for doing their job?

I'm stumped. I thought it was an educator's job to take advantage of all the teachable moments and opportunities to help their wards to grow in independent thought and knowledge? Instead, bureaucracy is the oil that makes this educational machine run. It has made asses of us. The kind we sit on and the kind we ride.

So You Think You Can Teach? Apparently any bozo can as long as he/she follows the rules:

1. Assume the worst and get the worst.
2. Take down anyone who thinks outside the box.
3. Get it in writing.
4. Fuck it up as long as you dress it up and take it out to dinner.
5. Do not attempt to prevent damage just be really good at damage control.

Whatever. I'm disgusted again.

There is nothing worse than bad leaders. Unorganized, without a vision, without common sense, without an original thought in their heads. These people know the rules, but have never questioned them. They demand respect but do not give it. They have the compassion of a chainsaw, and the vision of a bucket of used engine oil.

I teach critical thinking, and I'm thinking the situation is critical.

So maybe wearing a ridiculous outfit and falling on your face on television is not the worst thing that can happen to a person. This too, I will transcend.