[EinNYC]

Yes, I suppose the illegal alien spawn pushes U.S. citizen through-and-through kids out of the nest. As a biology teacher, I am certainly aware of the ol' "let's substitute OUR young for the legitimate young of this bird and push their babies out of the nest" trick of cowbirds and cuckoos. It really irks me to see so many students fail to rise and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I guess if we had the Mexican or whatever pledge over the PA system, they'd be out of their seats in a jif. I also wince every time a students starts off a narrative with, "In MY country..." Where the hell do you think you are now, kid? This country which pays for your housing, food, education and medical care isn't YOUR country?

I see the appalling lack of resources in schools every day. Xerox paper is often so scarce that teachers have to buy their own or pay for copying outside of school. School libraries are either closed for lack of funds for a librarian or have sparse collections of patched up books. Kids in classes whose teachers were the slightest bit tardy in submitting their requests for textbooks often get the 10 year old dog-eared textbooks left in some dusty corner of a bookroom. Way too many lab activities are "paper labs" instead of a chance to manipulate lab equipment and experience phenomena that physically happen in the lab (like a change in color or something that fizzes). But...nowadays, most classrooms have SmartBoards and/or laptops for the kids. The former things I mentioned are so much more important than these last things, yet are now stretched to the limit.

While there are many worthy online activities for students which would justify the laptops, I also constantly see kids opening multiple windows on the computers during class. They are filling their MP3 devices from the laptops, looking at movies, watching clips of sports events, and admiring pages of high-dollar sneakers (?!) when they are supposed to be answering questions on various academic websites. Your tax dollars at work.

[Elsie]

It really irks me to see so many students fail to rise and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Why isn't it a REQUIREMENT?

[Elsie]

...a REQUIREMENT?

Are there THAT many JW's in your classes??

[Elsie]

The former things I mentioned are so much more important than these last things, yet are now stretched to the limit.

The folks who are making the decisions to BUY the new toys are the same ones who did NOT enjoy using the old equipment!

[Elsie]

They are filling their MP3 devices from the laptops, looking at movies, watching clips of sports events, and admiring pages of high-dollar sneakers (?!)

Why are these URL's not blocked out?

Surely there exists a program that could suck out ALL the websites visited in a day, chug thru them at night, and the next morning present a list of those to a HUMAN who could then put the bad ones on a permanent lockout list.

[Elsie]

I also wince every time a students starts off a narrative with, "In MY country..."

Quit wincing and Take Control!

Remind them, gently, that THIS is the country you are now living in; enjoying the fruits of the land.