(no subject)
I subscribe to a listserv for vocational teachers in Arkansas, and although the information on the listserv is frequently useless, it can be entertaining at times. There was some drama that would be worthy of LJDrama.org not too long ago when someone made a post suggesting that people spellcheck their postings. It turned into World War III.
This one is just funny. Names have been changed to protect the innocent:
> First, please refrain from crude comments back to me if you do not
> like him, but I was able to go to Butterfield Junior High in Van
> Buren on Tuesday to see the President. It was awesome. The
> principal is a graduate of Mountainburg and he got to go on stage with the
> President to introduce him. Democrat or Republican, this is the President of
> the United States!!!
>
> He talked about No Child Left Behind. Being ACSIP chairperson, I had
> heard a lot of this, but he emphasized the importance of
> teachers finding ways to improve and to help the students. The
> new curriculum, Computer Applications I, II, III, came to mind. I
> believe this is a new and innovative approach to teaching our
> classes. I could go on and on, but I won't. I'm still excited about
> getting to see him in person and he did have some really good
> things to say.
>
> Again, I would appreciate crude comments kept to yourself. Many
> I work with have shot me down for going by saying crude things.
>
> Thanks
> Misty
I think that speaks volumes when someone makes a post of this nature that is going to be read by education professionals, and she must try and head off flames at the pass. But this reply that came from someone else:
>This is not crude, but I just can't hold back. We are piloting IT
>Essentials next year and on my way to training in North Dakota we saw
>Fabio in the airport. It was exciting but nothing about No Child Left
>Behind. I don't know if he even talks.
>
>Paula
Chances are that you guys might not find this as funny as I do, but I was laughing my ass off at the reply.
Ironically, I think that Fabio would probably make a better educational policy than Dubya....
>I have to say I was highly amused yesterday and today when I began to
>receive email about my response to Misty's "Excitment" email regarding the
>President. Some deemed my response as anti-GW, un-Republican, un-American,
>anti-education. If you read very carefully again you will see that I wrote
>that I unfortunately only saw "Fabio" (long-haired guy, on cover of
>romance novels, butter commercials, etc) in the airport and he did not
>mention No Child Act, nor was I sure he could speak. It was a joke,
>something light to end the year. I did NOT see GW nor was I trying to
>"disrespect the office of the President", as a couple of people wrote.
>Fabio might be offended, although I seriously doubt so. Lighten up, laugh
>and have a great rest of the year!! home stretch, you know..
>
>Paula
I think that this suggests one of the myriad ways that we are losing kids in the classrooms. Kids like to have fun and feel as though their teachers like them and can relate to them, but we sure do seem to have a lot of teachers out there that could make diamonds if you shoved a lump of coal up their ass. I thought that it was amusing that someone would think to mention seeing Fabio in response to someone else seeing dubya....
This reminded me of a joke that shellianne sent to me a while back about No Child Left behind…if you understand this rather uninspired piece of legislation, this will be really funny, and even if you don’t it will at least give a little flavor of what we have to deal with….I put it behind a cut out of mercy to your friends list.
My dentist is great! He sends me reminders so I don't forget checkups. He uses the latest techniques based on research. He never hurts me, and I've got all my teeth, so when I ran into him the other day, I was eager to see if he'd heard about the new state program. I knew he'd think it was great.
"Did you hear about the new state program to measure effectiveness of dentists with their young patients?" I said.
"No," he said. He didn't seem too thrilled. "How will they do that?"
"It's quite simple," I said. "They will just count the number of cavities each patient has at age 10, 14, and 18 and average that to determine a dentist's rating. Dentists will be rated as Excellent, Good, Average, Below average, and Unsatisfactory. That way parents will know which are the best dentists. It will also encourage the less effective dentists to get better," I said. "Poor dentists who don't improve could lose their licenses to practice."
"That's terrible," he said.
"What? That's not a good attitude," I said. "Don't you think we should try to improve children's dental health in this state?"
"Sure I do," he said, "but that's not a fair way to determine who is practicing good dentistry."
"Why not?" I said. "It makes perfect sense to me."
"Well, it's so obvious," he said. "Don't you see that dentists don't all work with the same clientele; so much depends on things we can't control? For example," he said, "I work in a rural area with a high percentage of patients from deprived homes, while some of my colleagues work in upper middle class neighborhoods. Many of the parents I work with don't bring their children to see me until there is some kind of problem and I don't get to do much preventive work. Also," he said, "many of the parents I serve let their kids eat way too much candy from an early age, unlike more educated parents who understand the relationship between sugar and decay. To top it all off," he added, "so many of my clients have well water which is untreated and has no fluoride in it. Do you have any idea how much difference early use of fluoride can make?"
"It sounds like you're making excuses," I said. I couldn't believe my dentist would be so defensive. He does a great job.
I am not!" he said. "My best patients are as good as anyone's,my work is as good as anyone's, but my average cavity count is going to be higher than a lot of other dentists because I chose to work whereI am needed most."
"Don't' get touchy," I said.
"Touchy?" he said. His face had turned red and from the way he was clenching and unclenching his jaws, I was afraid he was going to damage his teeth. "Try furious. In a system like this, I will end up being rated average, below average, or worse. My more educated patients who see these ratings may believe this so-called rating actually is a measure of my ability and proficiency as a dentist. They may leave me, and I'll be left with only the neediest patients. And my cavity average score will get even worse. On top of that, how will I attract good dental hygienists and other excellent dentists to my practice if it is labeled below average?"
"I think you are overreacting," I said. "'Complaining, excuse making and
stonewalling won't improve dental health'...I am quoting from a leading member of the DOC," I noted.
"What's the DOC?" he asked.
"It's the Dental Oversight Committee," I said, "a group made up of mostly laypersons to make sure dentistry in this state gets improved."
"Spare me," he said, "I can't believe this. Reasonable people won't buy
it," he said hopefully.
The program sounded reasonable to me, so I asked, "How else would you
measure good dentistry?"
"Come watch me work," he said. "Observe my processes."
"That's too complicated and time consuming," I said. "Cavities are the bottom line, and you can't argue with the bottom line. It's an absolute
measure."
"That's what I'm afraid my parents and prospective patients will think.
This can't be happening," he said despairingly.
"Now, now," I said, "don't despair. The state will help you some."
"How?" he said.
"If you're rated poorly, they'll send a dentist who is rated excellent to help straighten you out," I said brightly.
"You mean," he said, "they'll send a dentist with a wealthy clientele to show me how to work on severe juvenile dental problems with which I have probably had much more experience? Big help."
"There you go again," I said. "You aren't acting professionallyat all."
"You don't get it," he said. "Doing this would be like grading schools and teachers on an average score on a test of children's progress without regard to influences outside the school, the home, the community served and stuff like that. Why would they do something so unfair to dentists? No one would ever think of doing that to schools."
I just shook my head sadly, but he had brightened
"I'm going to write my representatives and senator," he said. "I'll use
the school analogy- surely they will see the point."
He walked off with that look of hope mixed with fear and suppressed
anger that I see in the mirror so often lately.