Get Schooled

By V for Vendetta

April 14, 2008 9:16 AM | Link to this

BOLLOCKS.

Results are that matter, and any student feeding you a line about a computer or a printer “breaking” is doing just that — feeding you a line. Here is the reality of the situation:

In this wonderful electronic age, there are more ways than ever to ensure your work makes it to the classroom on time. Aside from a paper copy printed out at home, a student can bring a flash drive or a disk and print it off at school, or he/she can email it to their school account and print it off when they get to school. (Most middle and high schools have personalized student logins. Some elementary schools do as well.) Hence, NO EXCUSES.

Inevitably there are students who claim their computer is broken, or they don’t have a computer. Fine. No problem. Because the school has computers and lots of them. I tell them that if it requires them to stay after or show up early, then they are expected to do so. Again, NO EXCUSES.

I don’t want to hear about trouble at home because, frankly, I don’t care. That’s a problem for the counselors and admins to work out. (Imagine that, they’d actually have to … gulp … DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE.) All I care about are results. Your college professor isn’t going to give a rat’s butt why your paper is late, or why you claim it’s late, he’s just going to fail you. I’m tired of excuses, and my kids know that they’ll get no sympathy from me.

By Wiseman

April 14, 2008 9:22 AM | Link to this

Teachers, principals and school board members all say many students struggle in school because of off-campus problems. They cite problems of violence, family crises, financial difficulties, health issues. We as adults should listen to students and make sound decisions on allowing or not more time to complete the assignments; as adult, we know things happen,(live happens). Teachers, principals should know what students are really trying and those who are lying. Remember the education of the student is the ulimate results; however, included in that education is responsiblities.

By JustMe

April 14, 2008 11:22 AM | Link to this

This is not a fair blog, at all….

An individual (student, teacher, etc.) is responsible for their own lives - that is true. If you give an individual an assignment, they need to manage their life such that they can complete that assignment.

As a high school teacher, I give assignments days in advance. I do this to give students the luxury of managing their life issues and also to complete the assignment before the due date. But, the due date is final and there are no excuses for missing it. Even if there is some weird, odd thing that may happen (a death in the family), that is an excused absence and therefore the deadline is extended.

When an entity such as a company or a school misses dates or targets, it is very different. For a company, what if the employee takes their vacation when something is due? For a school, how can they control what parents decide for their students? A parent may suddenly make a decision to take their kids on a two week vacation right before the CRCT, so those students miss any valuable review - and fail. That would be the fault of the school?

Again, this blog issue makes no sense to me…. apples and oranges.

By catlady

April 14, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this

If it happens ONCE, it is an explanation. If it happens twice, it is an excuse. You get the benefit of the doubt once.

I require that the parents write a note with the explanation. I save the notes. Then, if there is any question about a failing grade, I have the notes right there.

By jim d

April 14, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this

Oh Horsefeathers!!

I can’t even count the times students have been to my house to do a project on my computer. They can always find somewhere to get their work done if they really have any type of drive to do it.

No way to fault either educators or parents on this one. The kids are responsible to do their work—PERIOD! Sounds like a lot of excuses to me. I can quaranty you that those same kids are spending endless hours playing video games.

By Future Counselor

April 14, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this

I’ll use myself as an example here from when I was in high school (which was not terribly long ago): My computer broke down on me the night before it was due. I was NOT about to fail, so I went to the attic and took down my parents’ old word processor and finished on that. When I turned it in, I told the teacher what happened and said that if he needed me to re-do it on Word that I would. He didn’t make me re-type. He said he was glad that I had it in me to FINISH.

Two things to take from that:

To how many cases does number two apply to, I don’t know. However, I can educatedly guess that most falls under one.

By high school teacher

April 14, 2008 1:21 PM | Link to this

Our students don’t have personal email accounts set up through the school, and we can’t access any bellsouth or yahoo accounts at school - they are all blocked from the network. Some students will email their papers from home or put their work on a flash drive if they don’t have access to a printer, but then I discover that they have used Microsoft Works, which I can’t open (we only have Word at school).

HOWEVER, I do not require papers to be typed - if your printer runs out of ink, start writing the old fashioned way.

What is the most frustrating, however, is our administration that says that we must accept late work and that we must allow all students the opportunity to make up all assignments. If I have a student who wants to turn in a paper a month after it is due, I have to accept it. We are not in the business of teaching citizenship or work ethics; we are simply teaching the standards.

The futute scares me.

Forgive me for being a little jaded today; I don’t like the direction education is heading, but I’ve invested 14 years in this gig, and don’t know what else I would do, so I’m just riding the storm, praying for the winds of change. If nothing else, maybe we’ll consider homeschooling.

By Old School

April 14, 2008 1:25 PM | Link to this

Do I need to trot out my old saw about “kid truth?” You know, the “truth” as a kid NEEDS it to be and not necessarily as it actually is. There may be a shred of truth in the excuse the kid is giving but frankly, I’d sooner believe they “work better under pressure” and therefore put off doing the work until the last minute. That way, if a crisis arises, they can develop plausible excuses and buy themselves more time.

In the real world where I like to live, a deadline is a deadline. I’d much rather get the task out of the way and move on to the next adventure. I instilled this in my own children and now as adults, they are solidly employed by folks who know beyond a shadow of a doubt that both are dependable and produce quality work.

Too many kids today are comfortable knowing that they can 1. talk/whine their way out of a task or at least buy more time; 2. depend on mom/dad to talk/whine yadda-yadda-yadda; 3. get the administration (read: coaching staff) to come to their rescue.

Of course this applies to most all children but your own…

…right?

By Public School Parent

April 14, 2008 1:30 PM | Link to this

I must respond to the educators’ comments about computerized assignments. I object to many of the homework requirements middle school teachers are imposing on students. My children have received numerous, complex, multi-part assignments this year which required the purchase of very, very expensive computer software, flash drives, thumb drives, sophisticated printers, etc. While we have computers at home, we frequently have connectivity problems even though we have changed service providers. We have black and white printers only at home so the CONSTANT requirement to turn in assignments printed in color requires expensive trips to Kinkos. And yes, both parents work full time. Every thumb drive purchased for my children has been immediately stolen at school. One teacher required that assignments be burned to CDs yet the school does not own a CD burner and neither do many parents. The school has a limited number of computers and the students have even more limited time to use them in the computer lab. There is insufficient time and not enough staff to train 35 students how to use some of the programs. As a parent I am appalled at the total waste of time spent on “projects” and so little time spent on teaching the core content. Moreover, I have seen very little benefit from preparing endless Power Point presentations which consist largely of cutting and pasting from the internet. Most important, this is a public school system and I do not understand how teachers can require students to own and operate expensive computers. Yes, this is the computer age, but many families do not have the money or the sophistication to comply with these asssignments.

By Tony

April 14, 2008 1:52 PM | Link to this

Assignments are due when stated unless appropriate arrangements are made in advance. There are related questions within this topic, too. Such as the one about whether all assignments are valid and worthwhile. Perhaps that can be debated another day.

Last week I attended a national conference and one of our speakers was Liz Murray (Homeless to Harvard). One of her points was about what not to do as teachers - take pity on outside factors. In her personal story she cited events that added to the crippling effects of her situation. These events boiled down to teachers excusing her lack of performance based on pity for her circumstances. She goes on to say that it was the teachers who held her accountable who made the difference in her life!

My work with kids says that she is exactly right. As educators we need to understand how extenuating factors can affect kids, but we need to be prepared to give them the boost they need rather than excuses. Simply demanding the work from kids without some form of support doesn’t cut it either.

Teachers do need to carefully evaluate the homework component. Homework for homework sake does no good. I have heard all the stories about the need to teach responsibility (and a host of other reasons) as a basis for homework, but as educator everything we assign for kids to complete should directly link to the learning outcomes we expect.

Public School Parent has valid points regarding the assignments shared in that post. Teachers should not expect such luxuries when it is not supported within the school.

By high school teacher

April 14, 2008 2:13 PM | Link to this

Public School Parent: requiring endless Powerpoints does nothing but make the teacher sound like a good/hard teacher. I agree with you 100%. There is too much time wasted on meaningless projects that do not help the students to learn, nor do they even show mastery of knowledge. But, man, all of those posters and book jackets make the room look pretty.

By Stacey

April 14, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this

I think there are some legitimate “explanation” situations and a LOT of “excuses”. As several teachers have piped in, most assignments are issued far enough in advance that if the student doesn’t procrastinate, he will have time to adjust to (most) unforseen occurances. Granted, there may be the occasional “Murphy’s Law” circumstances but those are few and far between. Even when teachers weren’t forced to accept late work, every one I ever encountered made allowances for unavoidable situations such as death in the family or severe illness. Sometimes it would come with a penalty (such as an automatic drop in letter grade) but the work was still accepted.

I think a lot of it would have to rely on the teacher’s judgement of the student. Does this student usually turn in his assignments promptly, neatly and correctly or does he always need an extention? Is it obvious that he spent hours researching and preparing past projects or is it obvious that he copied info verbatim from the textbook while riding to school that morning? Those are things I think I would consider when trying to decipher excuses and explanations.

By JustMe

April 14, 2008 2:45 PM | Link to this

PublicSchoolParent: LOL. Often, I hear exactly the opposite complaint from parents - there isn’t enough technology in our education. Is this a no-win situation?

My nephews and nieces both know how to burn cds. They learned to do this even before the iPod came out. They burned their cds of music. Now, they know how to swap music files for their iPods.

Don’t let the children fool you. Today’s youth know a lot more than you give them credit for.

Also, most all computers built since 2005 come with cd burners. It would have to be a very bare-bone computer to NOT have this feature.

By Teacher, Too

April 14, 2008 3:02 PM | Link to this

Yes, there are too many powerpoint assignments and such, but remember, we have to have meaningful, real-world assignments, no worksheets. So, many teachers have determined that a powerpoint is “real-world”. It goes back to the conversation we had about hands-on teaching. If we (teachers) give too many pencil and paper assignments, it’s not engaging and we are criticized for it.

I do give multi-part projects, but I think my projects are worthwhile learning activities. I engage them in research, writing, and technology- and they are interested and motivated. Students are journaling as they work on their project, and the feedback is highly favorable. If the project topic is relevant, and students are engaged, then I don’t think it’s fluff or time wasted.

On excuses: I put in my project handout that students are expected to turn in long-term projects when they are due. Unless there is a death in the family or serious injury/illness, students are to have their work at school on time. I go into great detail that a slight cough or a paper cut is not a serious illness. Notes from parents that say that the printer ran out of ink doesn’t cut it either. I drop the grade by 10- 30 points, depending on how late the assignment is, and explain that the student did not have to print; he/she could hand write the work.

By catlady

April 14, 2008 3:08 PM | Link to this

I obviously don’t live where public school parent does because none of our teachers requires anything remotely like what she says. Is it that different in other parts of the state? Is her student pulling her leg? (I have seen this before, that students tell their parents they MUST have this or that for school, which is not true) If some schools do have requirements like this, where are they?

By high school teacher

April 14, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this

Justme, believe it or not, we don’t have CD burners on school computers. I was slightly amazed when I transferred to this system three years ago - I had been technologically spoiled at my previous school!

By JustMe

April 14, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

This powerpoint argument is a pet peeve of mine.

PowerPoint is simply a software package. It is a tool that can be used to present information. It can be used well, or not well at all. People should not fault powerpoint, but rather how it is used.

Yes, there is the “death by powerpoint” which means that the presenter simply reads slide after slide of text. IMHO, this is not a good thing.

But, there are great powerpoint presentations. These are usually slides of info (pictures or text or graphs) that are on the screen while the presenter discusses additional material. A good powerpoint presentation can be informative, educational, and entertaining.

Powerpoint, in and of itself, is not a bad thing!

As a teacher, I do make use of powerpoint from time to time. I use it to show photos, and also to emphasize certain things of importance.

I never assign powerpoint “projects” to students. This doesn’t make sense to me. The ones that I have seen have been copyright violations of stolen material from the internet. And, students should get credit for that?

By jim d

April 14, 2008 4:08 PM | Link to this

JM,

HEY WE NEARLY AGREE!!

I have no problems with power point presntations, but agree they should not just be read from the slide. ie: the kid is preparing one now for forensics class and if they read from the slide—-they fail, Their oral presentation must compliment the power point. Does this provide a learning expierence? I feel it may in that it provides the students with practical knowledge of how a power point presentation should be made. What I find amusing is that every power point presentation I’ve ever seen at a BOE meeting has been simply reading from the slide. ;-)

By Jeff

April 14, 2008 4:23 PM | Link to this

Public School Parent:

Former teacher here, current IT Professional. (Just to give you a brief summary of my qualifications, in case you didn’t know, since I’m about to use both areas of expertise.)

1) ‘Thumb’ drives: Dirt cheap now. Latest info I had - from my FIL who currently works at Circuit City and is an outright hardware guru - had something like 2GB for $10. A 32 MB thumb drive should be sufficient for any task a MS/HS teacher would assign. (It has enough space to hold the equivalent of roughly 5 4minute songs.) ALL plug directly into USB ports, meaning that they can be used on virtually ANY machine built within the past decade or so. (And if your computer is more than 5 yrs old - DEF if it is over 10 - you should probably replace it anyway.)

Color printer: The actual printer itself can be had decently cheap. ($50-100) Granted, the cartridges are rather outrageous. Bigger issue here is to teach your kid wise use of graphics. IE don’t print a full page of black.

CD burners: AS has been said, nearly any computer made within the past 3 yrs or so has had the technology built in. Which gives you about 2 yrs in my computer shelf-life mentioned earlier. In that case, external writers are decently cheap (roughly the same price as, maybe slightly cheaper than, the printer). However, and this is an important note: MOST computers built within the past 5 years do NOT have a 3.5” (floppy) drive, meaning you MUST either download, grab from CD, or grab from thumb drive ANY file you want to put on your machine.

PPT (PowerPoint): Most of what kids do in this area in school is trash, and from what I have seen, most of what teachers put together is little better. Meaning that they are not getting PROPER instruction on how to use this fairly common business tool. So I agree that every teacher doing them is more than likely FAR too many. (Why not have a TAPP teacher who actually WORKED in a business-oriented field teach kids how to use this?)

“Expensive” computers: Actually, LAPTOPS suitable for home use (for balancing the checkbook, basic web browsing, and school assisngments) can be had these days for about $500, and I should know, since I JUST bought my wife one less than a month ago. Desktops (what I would recommend for a family that doesn’t currently have a computer in the home) can be had that are even more powerful for even less money. Just don’t get the flat screen monitor if you’re worried about the money. They’re not really cost effective yet - but they DO look nice! In this day and age, there really is not a SINGLE reason why there should not be a computer in the home of every student - though I would HIGHLY encourage every parent out there to know every key that kid touches and who he is communicating with.

By catlady

April 14, 2008 5:25 PM | Link to this

Back to topic: one of my colleagues began to require the note from the parent explaining WHY when work was not done and saw the number of undone assignments FALL OFF DRASTICALLY. Something about having to write the note (which he accepted with no question asked as long as it was truly written by the parent) curbed a lot of the abuses. And, if the kids writes the note, the teacher can pull the notes out at conference and show the parent what he, the parent, supposedly wrote. Sort of shoots a hole in the “my kid never lies” theory. But there have been lots of very funny notes….

By Sigh

April 14, 2008 6:34 PM | Link to this

I must admit, one or more of these responses made me realize something about my son (age 14).

The things that keep him from completing his schoolwork such as lack of ink, lack of paper, too much work, family distraction, etc are just excuses. Plain and simple. Short of a major medical or natural disaster that breaks him personally (not family, just him), he will find ways to do anything he wants.

If he wants to buy a game, or wants me to run an errand, or wants to visit a friend - he will part the sea, create elaborate schemes, and one way or another find a way to make it happen.

But, ink only printing blue? Homework comes to a screech. Now, if only I could figure out what to do about his scatterbrain mind and procrastination.

By sigh

April 14, 2008 6:50 PM | Link to this

Um, please don’t encourage your kids or students to use powerpoint. In my IT world, nobody uses powerpoint. If a presenter absolutely needed to use it (such a sales conference), then so be it. Powerpoint is so quick and easy to learn though! Why waste time with the students on that product. It’s like teaching all the kids how to inject insulin, even though only 5% will need that skill.

The few times we see a .ppt cross our paths, nobody reads that document. If it was important, the presenter would have used pdf, doc, or xls. These days, thankfully, they’re using pdf. That’s great because it doesn’t require the reader to load huge bloaty software. So, please teachers, I beg of you, quit the powerpoint crap. Let the students learn Unix, Linux, .pdf, html, networking, etc. There are sooooo many things to learn that don’t involve powerpoint.

Cringefully, Avid Powerpoint Hater

By catlady

April 14, 2008 9:06 PM | Link to this

How important are the reasons when what we care about are results?

Let me point out one other thing: One of the “results”, or lack of it, is what the kid learns long term. Responsibility or excuses. What do you want the child to learn?

A good teacher, like a good boss, gives an opportunity to prepare on most things, especially long term projects, and THEN EXPECTS THE STUDENT (EMPLOYEE) to produce.

By Lee

April 14, 2008 9:37 PM | Link to this

A few years ago, a popular bumper sticker proclaimed “SH1T HAPPENS.” I would expand on that and say it seems to happen more often when computers are involved.

Computers crash, hard drives go out, flash drives fail, you name it, it can happen.

It can happen to the good students as well. That’s why I cringe when I read the “No Excuses” posts.

But hey, they do the same thing in the corporate world. Instead of dealing with the problem employee, management hands down some inane across the board rule that eventually gets tossed when they finally realize it hurts productivity.

Deal with the problem!

You have an employee who is abusing the sick leave policy, deal with it. You have a student who cronically turns work in late, deal with it.

Is it really too much to ask for a little common sense and good judgement?

Oh wait, I think I know the answer to that one….

By V for Vendetta

April 14, 2008 9:52 PM | Link to this

Lee, normally we agree, but I stand by my NO EXCUSES policy because of the myriad alternate avenues the kids have to get their work to me. There really is NO EXCUSE. I even have a program on my computer at school that will convert their document to Word if it’s been done on WP, or Word with Vista (which has trouble making friends with Word on XP if not saved properly).

You’re right, a family tragedy, illness, car accident, etc. warrants some common sense. Other than that … NO EXCUSES.

By Future Counselor

April 14, 2008 10:15 PM | Link to this

This is slightly off-topic, but I must make peace on the ppt issue. I’ll tell you where that abuse is coming from: college classes. Most of my classes up to recently relied on PPT. It’s easy to download off the professor’s site, which in turn makes it easier to skip class or just not pay attention. I took a class with an “old school” professor and wow! I quickly realized what a crutch PPT was. I can remember about 90% what I learned in this class by having to ACTIVELY write notes, ACTIVELY question in class, and ACTIVELY give a presentation. I’ve been kicking presentation butt ever since. Projects using PPT are useless unless you teach students that PPTs are to complement not replace personal knowledge. Students need to able to answer questions and respond to comments when giving presentations instead of reading off of PPTs. BTW,the technology restraint thing is an EXCUSE. If the school doesn’t offer the technology, the teacher can’t expect that the students can necessarily finish it. THAT is a case of bad assignment. If your school does offer the technology, then it’s fair game.

By Lee

April 14, 2008 10:26 PM | Link to this

V, I guess I’ve been bit too many times by the technology bug to make a zero tolerance rule. That’s why I say you’ve got to judge each case by it’s merit.

I just don’t think it serves any purpose to give a straight A student who never turns in a late assignment a zero because his hard drive crashed the previous night while he was working on a term paper. (Which actually happened to my oldest when she was in college. Luckily, she had a couple of days before the assignment was due to get a new hard drive installed and the old files recovered. I would not have wanted to get that phone call if it happened the night before… )

By SET

April 15, 2008 1:23 AM | Link to this

I see people getting fired from their jobs because of similar performance failures. A messy personal life keeps them from working. No one worries about it anymore. If they can’t do the work they shouldn’t have taken the job, there’s someone else waiting for their job anyway.

The party is really over when the kids turn 18 and have to perform to real world expectations.

By Jeff

April 15, 2008 5:31 AM | Link to this

sigh:

I have a weekly ‘code review’ meeting where I use PPT to discuss the things I worked on that week. MOST companies I have friends at or had friends that previously worked there have used ppt at some level. But you ARE correct in saying that learning the basics takes all of 5 seconds. Creating GOOD ppt’s takes a little longer though. (BTW: My boss’ rule is black print on white background, with screenshots where appropriate.)

Lee:

Your computer crashes the night before, you’ve actually got SEVERAL options. Not the least of which is call up a family member or friend and ask if you can borrow theirs to finish the assignment. It is all about PRIORITIES. And if a good education is TRULY a priority in the house, the parent will ALSO adopt a ‘NO EXCUSES’ policy.

When thinking about excuses, I always go back to two movies: ‘Stand and Deliver’ and ‘Remember the Titans’.

The scene from ‘Remember the Titans’ is when Boone is chewing out Yoast for undermining him with Petey in the previous weekend’s game. “The world don’t give a dam about how sensitive these kids are, especially the young black kids. You ain’t doin’ these kids a favor by patronizing them. You crippling them; You crippling them for life.”

From Stand and Deliver, it is this quote: “There will be no free rides, no excuses. You already have two strikes against you: your name and your complexion. Because of those two strikes, there are some people in this world who will assume that you know less than you do. Math is the great equalizer… When you go for a job, the person giving you that job will not want to hear your problems; ergo, neither do I. You’re going to work harder here than you’ve ever worked anywhere else. And the only thing I ask from you is ganas. Desire.”

By jim d

April 15, 2008 7:51 AM | Link to this

Totally off topic

A school after my own heart ;-)

By Teacher, Too

April 15, 2008 8:07 AM | Link to this

I require very little to be typed. I insist that students create a hand-written rough draft. So, if the computer crashes, students have a rough draft to fall back on; they don’t have to “recreate” anything- they have their draft and notes.

I really believe that we rely too much on technology. I realize the importance and usefulness of it, but sometimes pen and paper work just as well, and they don’t crash!

By jim d

April 15, 2008 8:20 AM | Link to this

Too,

You bring up another pet peeve. The fact that schools no longer teach penmanship. I’ve been told time and again, by teachers, that kids don’t need to write legibly in this technological age. My response has always been hogwash! It’s not bad enough that they tell parents this but this is conveyed to young students as well, making the job of teaching them at home that much tougher, cause “teacher says I won’t need these skills” This is infurating as a parent trying to impress upon a student the need to be able to write legibly in the real world.

By V for Vendetta

April 15, 2008 8:41 AM | Link to this

Lee, true enough, but it’s not a black and white issue with me. The essays are docked ten points off the maximum for each day late. A student who has a “lapse” can still get a good grade. This is why I feel my rule is fair.

Usually, the good kids who have an “oops” moment turn their papers in the next day and all is well. The losers forget, exceed ten days, and get a big fat zero. It works pretty well, and I’ve never had a complaint thus far (knock on wood).

By WFC

April 15, 2008 8:42 AM | Link to this

The current “project mania” in high school is largely the product of one fact: current teachers are not sufficiently educated in their subject matter. Projects eat time and make teaching easier while covering up knowledge deficiencies on the part of the teacher.

I limited myself to assigning one group project per semester with a clearly defined product as a result. The group nature of the project negated many of the excuses. Most of the time, I taught. Of course, I had the luxury of actually knowing my subject.

By high school teacher

April 15, 2008 9:13 AM | Link to this

The current “project mania” in high school is largely the product of one fact: current teachers are not sufficiently educated in their subject matter.

Actually, it’s largely the product of this beast called differentiation, standards based classrooms, and Learning Focused Schools. I wish that I could teach my subject matter, but high school English teachers can’t teach literature any more; they’re really not part of the standards. I just show them how to find the similes in the literature. Reading a book for the sake of reading a book doesn’t happen, at least where I am anyway.

By WFC

April 15, 2008 9:27 AM | Link to this

The “beast” you credit, HST, was created to mask subject matter deficiencies which go all the way to the top. Bob Burke, Fulton’s Assoc. Super for Curriculum & Instruction knows so little about either that it’s pathetic.

By high school teacher

April 15, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this

I respectfully disagree with you, WFC. While Bob Burke may know nothing (I have no idea who he is since I know nothing about Fulton County), it’s irrelevant to the current methods of Standards Based Instruction. I blame the pedagogies of Marzano and Max Thompson.

By V for Vendetta

April 15, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this

WFC, I don’t think that’s the case at all. As high school teacher said, the main reason for the recent project mania is the pressure to provide diverse and differentiated methods of instruction to increasingly lazy and indifferent students. It really has very little to do with the younger teachers level of education or knowledge of their particular subjects.

I do agree that certain people in charge, people on BOEs and the like, are inept at best and would better serve their respective school systems if they would politely step down. However, to make a generic statement as you did seems rather ignorant, and callous towards your fellow professionals.

By Lee

April 16, 2008 12:24 AM | Link to this

V, taking points off for late work seems more palatable (and reasonable) than a zero tolerance, no excuses policy.

Jeff, I’ve had an entire department go idle because a server went down. A modern office does EVERYTHING on computers nowadays. What am I supposed to do, reprimand my employees because they didn’t get their work done on that day? Sometimes, even with the best laid plans, we have those “Aw 5hit” moments.