FWIW, I got a kick-ass education in the public schools. And with very few exceptions, my teachers were smart, caring, and crazy hard-working.

just think you have to really WANT to be a teacher to stay in the profession now. Weekends off? Ha. Vacations? Lots of take-home work or continuing education or professional development.

See, I don't know if it's the district he taught in or what, but this was par for the course for teachers in Dad's school district. So I always boggled at the idea of teaching-to-have-the-summer-off.

I'm just so sick of parents going "over my head" if they don't like the grade their son/daughter is getting.

Which is legit, totally.

Unfortunately, the article in question was glommed onto by the Neocon set when it first came out (it made waves in Blogworld), so my reaction to it involves a sudden knee jerk and raising of hackles.

For which I offer apologies.

I just want to teach and to let kids enjoy their learning.

Yes this!

talk freshmen off cliffs because their parents are going to "kill them" because of their B+.

I have to fight myself not to be "that parent". I want the best for the kids but I have to keep reminding myself that as long as they have done the best they can, then the grade shouldn't matter. If they don't try and get a bad grade? Then that's their problem and they have to deal with the consequences which will be unpleasant to say the least.

I had to be talked down after I failed my first exam. Oh, there was crying and there was hysterics. My parents were the sort of parents who asked "But do they give A+?" when I came home with an A.

However, it was always my fault. Sometimes too much--Mrs. Seung in grade 6 hated me with a passion and marked me down on spelling tests for not putting a loop in my k. My parents never listened to my complaints, and I didn't complain for that long in the end. Going to a teacher? How's that going to fix how bright I am?

Because that's what they cared about -- less about what the transcript said and more about how I met the teacher's expectations. Them changing a grade would have been cheating. Me pleading for a teacher to change my grade, man, that'd have been worse than just getting a bad grade.

I don't understand the parents that are all about shifting the culpability.

Happy Birthday, Jilli! My bet is you'll love the aftereffects of the surgery just as much as my cousin does. We looks at her with squinty eyes sometimes when she rubs it in, yes we does.

If little Bratleigh gets a pass on dealing with the stress of life because of his delicate specialness, I see no reason why I should have to slog it out. Please excuse me from everything I dislike and praise me for my slackerly underachieving ways. Cause I'm all sensitive and stuff.

t pedantic wife

250 years ago, it was the waltz making women wanting to get freaky and men wanting to shoot up their pedagouges and fellow students with blunderbusses.

The morals police freakout over the waltz was a little less than 200 years ago, at least in England. I want to say it was introduced right around 1814 or 1815.

t /pedantic wife

Unless Annabel turns out to be a super-prodigy who gets her PhD in physics at 9, she's going into Seattle Schools.

Or unless her mama somehow manages to write some kind of cult hit best seller in the next few years.

Annabel came running to meet me again today, sans "ma" or "mama." Her teachers say she's very, very adventurous (which I interpret as code for "we have to save her neck on the playground on a regular basis"), and also observant and a quick learner.

Or unless her mama somehow manages to write some kind of cult hit best seller in the next few years.

Or you guys find a perfect house just north of 145th, and wind up in Shoreline Schools.

The nephew's education in Seattle School District seems to be going just fine, so I figure there's no real need to move to the 'burbs for her sake. I'll be more concerned if we're still down in the south end of the city when Lillian hits school age and for some reason have to put her in one of the local to us schools, though, as they haven't improved much since Dad was student teaching a half mile from here.

Plei, you don't need to apologize. I was rantypants girl.

Also, Plei:

See, I don't know if it's the district he taught in or what, but this was par for the course for teachers in Dad's school district. So I always boggled at the idea of teaching-to-have-the-summer-off.

Oh, absolutely, for my parents too. Good teachers have always worked their asses off. And yes, grading and professional development etc. always took up a lot of their "free" time--I meant more that it was easier for the not-good teachers to get away with NOT doing those things than it is now.

Also, I do think that the day-to-day paperwork (and especially the advent of email) has added a lot to the load.

Have I mentioned that teachers also like carrots?

Hands Kristin a bag of carrots.

Happy Birthday, Jilli! Enjoy the good drugs while you can!

I still remember my 5th grade teacher. His enthusiasm was so fun to watch, I ended up having a small crush on him. I don't think I really had any teachers that were into teaching for the long summers off, but I think I had more than a few who were just plain burnt out. The younger ones were always the most fun, they hadn't gotten cynical yet.