2-21-13 Morning Thread

Good morning, campers....this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby. There's not much news today, but here you go:

WHY CALIFORNIA IS GOING BROKE: Last year, 572 San Francisco city workers made more than the Governor of California.

DALLAS TEACHER SAYS WRITE ABOUT ANYTHING YOU WANT: Unless you write about something she don't personally like. In that case, you'll fail.

Chapin Teacher Suspended for Stomping on American Flag

An Honors English teacher in Lexington/Richland District 5 apparently threw an American flag on the floor of the classroom of students and stomped on it. Wait, what?

"He drew a couple of symbols, like one of them was a cross, and he said, 'What does this represent,' and everybody said, 'Christianity,'" said Copeland.

"Then he proceeds to take down the American flag, and said, 'This is a symbol, but it's only a piece of cloth. It doesn't mean anything,' and then he throws it down on the floor and then stomps on it, repeatedly."

First of all, what is going on in Honors English these days? Aren't they supposed to be struggling through The Canterbury Tales; The Great Gatsby; Absalom, Absalom!; and other...you know...books? What book did this relate to?

Also, I don't think you can say "this is a symbol" and they say "it doesn't mean anything". That's actually the whole point of a symbol. Symbols represent things. They mean things. Stomping on the American flag means something. It's perfectly within your rights to do so, but when you stomp on a flag, you're expressing yourself. The act means something because the symbol means something. I guess this knuckle-head, wannabe-teacher wanted to express himself. He did. Now he's suspended.

When I was in school, we used to say the pledge of allegiance in the morning. Do they still do that?

Chicago Teachers on Strike

[UPDATE] This post has generated a fair amount of comments, and a good deal of discussion. That's good, but it is not my intention to simply anger people. Constructive and civil dialogue is what I am after. In that vein, after consideration, my original post painted teachers with too broad of a brush.

I don't think teachers are dumb. Additionally, the vast majority of them work hard. My main point was reserved solely for the teachers who are currently on strike, and they are a minuscule fraction of the total number of teachers in the country. Also, just because something is easy to do doesn't necessarily make it easy to teach. Just because someone can add 2 + 2 doesn't mean that they can teach it to a room full of kids. I know plenty of guys who are great shooters, but they can't teach new shooters very well.

There is also a huge difference between the teachers' union and teachers. I failed to make that distinction.

A commenter made the point that teachers have to deal with unruly students too much, and consequently, cannot actually teach. Therefore, the teachers believe the proposed standardized test score benchmarks are unfairly high. I don't know what to say to that other than the best teachers I had were the ones who demanded the most. Isn't that kind of the opposite of what lowering the benchmarks is?

Seriously, Canada? You're Fired.

I mean, I know that y'all go a little crazy after being snowed in for a few days, but there's no excuse for this:

Police arrested a Kitchener, Ont., father outside his daughter's school because the four-year-old drew a picture of him holding a gun. 

Jessie Sansone told the Record newspaper that he was in shock when he was arrested Wednesday and taken to a police station for questioning over the drawing. He was also strip-searched. 

"This is completely insane. My daughter drew a gun on a piece of paper at school," he said.

Wait, what?  The actual police got involved because of a drawing of a gun? The teacher who called the police should be fired. Not a reprimand, not leave. Fired. The police who detained this guy should be fired. Not demoted, not placed on probation. Fired.

You're fired.

SC Teacher Reprimanded for Receiving Foot Rubs From Students

Apparently, a Batesburg-Leesville teacher has been getting foot rubs from some of her students. Some people are saying this is serious, and some people are saying it is harmless. My opinion can be be summarized as follows: [Caution, mature language.]