ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Reader beware!!! The title today reflects the content of this blog and so mainly it is for my benefit. My occupation is as follows.........I cast pearls of wisdom before swine for very little money. No one wants to be here, students and teachers alike. Everyone has an excuse, again, students and teachers alike. We are NOT preparing students to be productive citizens. We are not equipping them with what they need to be successful in the "real" world. Instead, we are offering them every excuse imaginable and placing "blame" on everyone under the sun for their lack of drive and ambition. Are you kidding me? They are masters at working the system. If they spent as much time working as they do with coming up with excuses for why they CAN'T, we would be a campus of Einsteins. My kids, for the most part, are good. But there is always ONE, okay, maybe TWO and they are aided by the "well meaning" people in the office who think we should try to "understand" them. I had a student a few years ago whose mom was dying of cancer. His name was Sam. He was in class every day, did his work, made good grades, AND had a job. I never knew his mom was sick. One day he told me he was going to be out for the next "couple of days" and could he get his work. I told him we would worry about it when he got back. I asked where he was going and he said "family trip." I thought that was odd but let it go. The next day there was an article on the front page of the paper about Sam and his family. How his mom was dying and how they made this special trip to New Mexico every year during the summer and since she wasn't going to be alive in the summer....they were taking the trip early. He had never said a word. He had even ASKED FOR HIS WORK!!! When he came back I told him he owed me NOTHING. The day his mom died he came to school to GET HIS WORK because he needed to "be with his dad" and he wanted "something to occupy his mind." Are you kidding me? Today, I had a student who couldn't do this major benchmark exam we are giving because "he has problems". PUH-LEEZE!!!! I have had this kid. In fact, when I held him accountable for his actions, he was "schedule changed" out of my class. Did I say he has "problems"? His biggest problem is that he is a titty baby! His home life isn't perfect but whose is? He does have some drama but who doesn't? But the "powers that be" allowed him to SIT on a bench and "collect himself" for the ENTIRE MORNING. You want to know where education is failing..........right there on that bench with that student. Are you kidding me?