My Daughter, the Blogger-exposed teacher for mistreating her to the whole cyberworld

FrontPageMagazine.com | February 25, 2004 | Catherine Seipp

[Redbob]

"What is the appropriate gift for a 14-year-old girl's "day of Instalanche"?"

A large, square-ended, flat-bottomed shovel comes to mind.

[Redbob]

"So much for Macbeth, Grapes of Wrath, etc.,etc.."

PC is not that new a phenom: when I was going to school in Oklahoma, "Grapes of Wrath" was banned in the public schools!

Of course, that was around the time Okie self-esteem was so low that billboards alongside the road would say things like "Oklahoma is OK!"

[Oberon]

In the sixth grade, I had a male "Social Studies" teacher who was apparently also a bodybuilder. I remember him asking the class one day what languages had contributed heavily to English.

"German" and "Latin," came the replies. I put my hand up.

"French," I offered.

"No, that's wrong," he said. "French didn't really add anything to English."

Although I did not know why, precisely, in the sixth grade, I knew I was right. In later years I would think back on that episode and think "Gee, Mr. Latsha, ever heard of 1066? Battle of Hastings? Any of this a-ringin' a bell?!?"

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[GigaDittos]

Yeah, well Captain Planet is a teacher's best friend. Captain Planet teaches kids to worry endlessly about Mother Earth and how we're poluting it. He teaches kids to conduct little environmental project for the good of the world community.

[Ditto]

And when I was in high school in the early 1960s, we were stuck with the likes of Silas Marner... which set in me a prejudice against female novelists that took years to shake.

Ugh! Deadly dull for a teenage boy. I hated every word of it.

[CatoRenasci]

Ah, yes. In 6th grade, class was so boring that I read the Encyclopaedia Britannica under my desk instead of paying attention. Much more interesting. Of course, I aced all the tests and had the answer whenever called upon.

The teacher hated me and was most unpleasant. He was a poster child for the ills of tenure described by Max Rafferty in Suffer Little Children! In fact, reading that book under my desk in class got me sent to the principal's office! LOL!! He pulled a few too many impermissable stunts with me and a couple of other kids (including one he didn't realize had an uncle on the Board of Education), and ended up with the choice of being fired or teaching the retarded. He finished his 30 years faithfully (??) putting in his time in a special education classroom. I always felt those poor kids, who wouldn't know the difference, deserved better.

[CatoRenasci]

I'm sure this is heresy, but, for the most part, I am not a fan of the 19th century English novel. Oh, I like some Scott and some Hardy, but I can't stand George Elliot or Dickens. Disraeli was a mediocre novelist and Trollope generally bores me after an hour or so. I much prefer American novelists like Twain and Cooper, Germans like Goethe, Fontane and Mann, or even Froggie Proust!

[Ditto]

I much prefer American novelists like Twain and Cooper, Germans like Goethe, Fontane and Mann, or even Froggie Proust!

I agree. The 19th Century Brits were tedious. American were vivid.

[Jotmo]

If recycling was such a good idea why don't companies mine old trash dumps for valuable materials to recycle?

Holy cow. That is the best statement on recycling I've ever heard. I'll use it myself the next time I get into a discussion on the subject.

Excellent!

[Oberon]

The 19th Century Brits were tedious.

You need to try on a little Kipling, sir, if you haven't lately. A few hours of Kim or Captains Courageous can really help.

[Ditto]

You need to try on a little Kipling, sir.

Have you ever Kippled? ;~))

[Pan_Yans Wife]

ping

[Hatteras]

bump for later...

[7thson]

In school suspension. I hear that these days and always laugh. We called that Study Hall. We did not have in school suspension. We had detention hall, which is even more time in school. Then there was real time suspension - don't come back unless/until you bring a parent. Then - when it started to get serious - there was permanent suspension. "7thson, you're seventeen. We don't have to keep you here."

[7thson]

I wish that I had the English text that I read back in high school. There was one story - a sci-fi story - where there was a planet full of blacks. What happened was that when space travel was possible, all the blacks left earth and created a utopian society on a distant planet. Now, the last surviving whites were coming to their planet because they destroyed Earth and were begging forgiveness to come live on that planet. The leaders of the black planet were debating whether they should let this happen. I kid you not - this was a story in the text! Even back then, I knew that was full of it.

[7thson]

I believe it was the ninth grade, in History. The teachers name was Mrs. Layman. You always remember the names of the good ones. Anyway, one day some skank of a girl was misbehaving and Mrs. Layman instructed her to straighten up. The skank said the classroom was like communism. Mrs. Layman became furios. She verbally lit into that skank for about 15-20 minutes, explaining the differences between communism and a Constitutional Republic. Made a lasting impression on me. I liked history up to that time but really took a great interest in the subject after that. Especally American History!

[7thson]

Wnen I was in the 4th grade in Blandesburg Elementry, there was a male teacher who looked like Charles Atlas - at least he did to this little 4th grader. I remember one rainy day while we stood in the cafeterria, waiting for school to start. One of the school punks - many existed in that school - was mouthing off. This teacher grabbed him by the shirt front and snatched his arse up in the air, quick. Curled the punk right up to his face and had a "man-to-man."

[Thinkin' Gal]

I had an A+ and the comment, "Does not pay attention." I tried to convince my parents why the contradiction. :)

Ahhh, memories.

Those were the good old days, when grades were based on actual results (test scores), rather than being weighed down by subjective interpretations of what constitututes class participation. I never volunteered answers in classroom discussions, and when called upon, usually responded with a vegetative, "I don't know". What kid wants to be tagged as a know-it-all, except the obnoxious Bill Clinton types.

Too many teachers are like the camp counselors in Addams Family Values. Kids who don't tow the party line risk being sent to the Harmony Hut until they are thoroughly brainwashed and smiling vacuously.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I suppose that tales of students humiliated by teachers for dissenting from the prevailing groupthink always touch a chord.

"When we grew up and went to school, there were certain teachers who would hurt the children any way they could.
By pouring their derision on anything we did. Exposing every weakness however carefully hidden by the kid."

"You can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat!
How can you you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat!"

"You! Yes, you behind the drapes, kid! Stand still laddie!"