Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Decisions

Smart people don't become administrators. Administrators are people who make decisions without thinking because they won't have to deal with the fallout. Administrators decide things like: on the last day before Christmas, there will be a one hour assembly which kids will have to endure by sitting still and listening. A lot.
They decide things like: on the Wednesday before Christmas we will give a bunch of ten year olds a 52 question district exam in math which will require them to take all day to finish it, most of them breaking into tears by the end because they are so tired and confused.
Administrators decide things like: there will be a choir field trip the day after the math exam which means that none of the kids who didn't finish will be able to do so unless the do it on the day of the party.
Administrators decide things like: Texas students will no longer be allowed to have anything in which the first ingredient is sugar or to have pizza parties. The administrators suggested pasta with marinara sauce as a healthy alternative for the winter [not Christmas] party: http://www.agr.state.tx.us/foodnutrition/ Obviously, these people have never seen children eat pasta over carpet.
Administrators decide things like: there will no longer be any grades for elementary school children. Which means they lose any accountability that they ever had and will go to middle school without even a concept of an average.
Administrators decide things like: all districts don't really need a spelling program. Kids will learn to spell naturally through osmosis and vast amounts of reading. Memorization doesn't meet the learning needs of all students. Some are auditory learners and requiring memorization wouldn't be fair to them. Some are kinesthetic learners and should be allowed to explore spelling through physical means. It wouldn't be fair to them either. We might damage their self-esteem! Horrors. Then they would grow up to become administrators who must have some control over other people due to their self-esteem problem. Vicious cycle, I tell you.

4 comments:

Eddie said...

This entry sickens me. I still can't get over the fact that people want to raise kids to be pansies.

Meredith said...

Have they developed a suggested curriculum for teaching kinesthetic learners how to spell? If so, I'd really love to see them demonstrate it. :)

Pigs said...

yeah, actually, it involves making letters with your fingers in shaving cream on a desk. not kidding.

Editor in Chief said...

Speling not impotent.