Great Thoughts to End the Year

This is the text of an email I received from a colleague last week. No comment is needed.

“After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said: 'Let me see if I've got this right.

'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning. 'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.

'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.

'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams.

'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.

'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.

'You want me to do all this and then you tell me. . . I CAN'T PRAY?”


Happy New Year everyone!

Merry Christmas

Christmas Break Begins!

Semester exam week ended with no make-up exams needing to be scheduled. All 128 of my students were present. The list of students restricted from taking exams because of unpaid tuition contained only 31 names at the beginning of the week; and by Thursday all names had been removed.

My students did reasonably well; especially the AP Chemistry students, considering how long and difficult their exam is. The average in my AP Chemistry class was 85% with only 3 failures out of 39 students. Honors chemistry achieved an average of 86% with only 4 failures out of 89 students. The honors chemistry exam was 100 multiple choice questions; about 30 of which required a calculation. I credit the new study guides I produced for each section with helping to prepare the students.

The faculty Christmas luncheon on Wednesday was quite nice. Each year the service that runs the cafeteria operation donates a “high class” meal for the school’s use. In the past this special meal was used to reward donors; but this year the sisters decided to use it for the faculty. I had prime rib, lasagna, green beans, and roasted potatoes.

My Christmas shopping is finished, my exams are graded and recorded, and I am looking forward to two weeks of rest. I have taken off next week from tutoring, scheduling only one day the week after for a few students. I plan to rest, sleep late, get some exercise at the health club, and generally spend time with the family. I will need to work on next semesters schedule and lesson plans, but that should only take a day at home in my office. As I wrote in the last post, it is an extremely needed rest.

One of the topics for discussion at my luncheon table was Christmas gifts from students. Everyone agreed that high school students typically do not give gifts to their teachers at Christmas, and I would have to say that they never have, in my experience at least. I got several cards, 3 bags of candy, some cookies, cologne, and gift certificates to Panera Bread and Starbucks. The largest gift from a student was a $50 gift card. Several of the nuns at our table remarked that in their grade school teaching days, every student gave a gift at Christmas. My uncle, who taught grade school for many years, told me that he used to get enough cologne every year to last the rest of his life.
My tutoring students were remarkably generous. One family gave me $250 and another $30. Two girls who I tutored last year sent gifts in the mail; one, a pair of statuettes for my bookshelf, and another sent a gift certificate.
Christmas gifts from students’ are never expected, but for most teachers, even a small gift from a student means something special.

At this Christmas I am thankful for my relatively good health—it would be excellent if I could get my blood sugar under better control every day. Two of our teachers are in the hospital; one just had surgery and is resting comfortably. I spoke to her this morning and she is groggy, but feeling better, hoping to be released today. The other has been hospitalized for a week. He received a kidney and pancreas transplant several years ago, and still has many nagging health problems related to his condition. Another man will be undergoing surgery for prostate cancer after the break and will miss 6-8 weeks. His replacement is a former student. Another woman in the English department just had double knee surgery. She is due back at the beginning of the next semester after being out for about 5 weeks. One of the assistant principals had some heart related problems and, while back at work, is not feeling 100% just yet. Health related issues are a major concern for me and my family. I am always looking to find ways to improve my condition and feel better. To be perfectly honest I have been feeling tired lately—probably related to the number of hours I work each week. I know that better lifestyle choices would probably help and I am committed to working toward them. I will also admit that that bag of chocolate covered pretzels a student gave me looks tempting—but I plan to go the health club instead.

Food For the Poor

Reports from the weather station on the top of the building display on an electronic board outside the chemistry lab. It is 2° outside with a wind chill of -16. The rooms are warm; the heat being turned on in all wings as of our return from Thanksgiving break.

Today is the pick-up for the annual Christmas food drive for the poor. Each homeroom is assigned a family to provide for. The families are referred to the school by a local charity, “Respond Now”. The family my homeroom has been assigned has a mother, 8 and 9 year old girls, a 17 year old girl, and a 9 month old baby. My wife pointed out that the baby probably belongs to the 17 year old; something that, while probably true, I would not have figured out myself.

My homeroom is cooperating well with the project—mostly because I offered 5 points extra credit for donating $10 to buy food and gifts, and bringing in some cans of food. This is an AP Chemistry class who are so conscious of grades that they would crawl naked over broken glass for 2 points. I did not have the same cooperation last year when my homeroom was a regular chemistry class. The average students cannot be bribed by extra credit to cooperate with any project—they don’t care that much about grades.

I have heard that a substantial number of teachers in the building were having significant problems getting the students to do anything. In the past the teachers would spend their own money to provide for the families; fearing the embarrassment that would come from having nothing on pick-up day. I was one of these, but have decided not to do the work myself anymore. At the beginning of the drive I decided that I would not shop for food, gifts, or donate my own money.

All of my 27 students donated $10 and all but 4 brought in food items from home. If they had done nothing I would have made them bring the empty boxes down to the collection and experience the embarrassment of their lack of concern and effort first hand.

Three of them volunteered to shop for the gifts. I gave them $20 for each family member from the money I had collected, some suggestions for what to purchase, and sent them off to shop. Each did an exemplary job, even adding money of their own if they thought something extra was needed. Two girls volunteered to do the food shopping, one picked up non-perishable items Tuesday after school, and another bought perishables last evening. I checked in at the drop off point this morning at 7:10 and she had already turned her items in. We have 4 boxes of gifts and 11 boxes of food—plus the perishables being stored in the cafeteria until the family gets here. An alumnus donated turkeys for all the families, as he has done for the past 25 years. These families are destitute and don’t qualify for public aid until the beginning of the year. These donations are everything they will have for the 2-3 weeks around Christmas.

Our students, with a few exceptions, are relatively well-to-do, making their callous indifference all the more disturbing. My friend in the Theology Department spoke to me about one young man who, when asked why he had not donated any money, said that he needed it to buy a video game. When she tried to shame him by asking whether the video game was more important than food for a desperately poor family on Christmas he replied, “I really need that game.” For those who think that this indifference to the needy is a recent phenomenon, I can tell you that it has always been this way. The only thing new now is the inability of the teachers to afford to cover for them. At dinner last night my daughter told me it was just as bad when she was in high school almost 10 years ago. She helped organize her homeroom’s food drive and explained to me that the more money the student had, the more cheap and uncaring they were. It is my hope that there is an especially unpleasant place in hell for these, mean, ungrateful children.

Post Thanksgiving Reflections

Thanksgiving dinner with the family went exceptionally well. Everyone had a great time, the food was outstanding, and the conversation was satisfying. Thanksgiving break is winding down and I am spending Sunday afternoon finishing up my semester exam for AP Chemistry. After I finish posting, I plan to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things we need. My wife worked last night and has to go in again tonight. I promised to make dinner for her to take. Pasta and meat balls is on my list; being already sick of turkey leftovers.
Normally, on a Sunday afternoon in November, any red-blooded American male is in front of the TV watching football. Unfortunately I am a Bears fan and I would rather beat myself over the head with a hammer than waste my afternoon watching them suck again. I guess I am not really that much a fan of football, just a fan of the Bears. Other games don’t interest me—and now, neither do the Bears. I have become one of the growing segment of fans who wish they would lose every game they have left this year. After that, if the ownership still doesn’t fire everyone in management, we hope they lose every game next year as well.
My rejection of football is caused by my general disillusionment with professional sports. As I have written before, the Cubs have ruined enough summers for me that I no longer watch—even when they make the playoffs. The Bulls give me no compelling reason to watch them either, and I have never been a hockey fan to speak of. I guess you could say that, unless my team is reasonable good, I find them uninteresting to watch. Being from Chicago, and not being a Sox fan, I have little to look forward to.
The local paper today had another article about the Rich Township High School District. I wrote about the shocking news that they were playing fast and loose with the rules for mandatory testing of Juniors; making it appear their standardized test scores were improving. The article told of how the scandal has caused significant problems within the communities served—to the point that one feeder K-8 district wants to open its own high school. At a faculty lunch recently I asked a colleague who used to teach in that district what he thought about the testing revelations; he indicated that he agreed with what the district had done. Probing further, I found that he was unaware that most of the students “exempted” from the mandatory testing were never tested, skipping form sophomore directly into senior year. He didn’t agree with that.
Tomorrow school resumes with fifteen class days till Christmas break; four of those semester exam days. I will not be going in tomorrow; having scheduled a technology conference to attend that day. My Honors Chemistry students will get their Semester Exam Review, while my AP Chemistry students will get Assignment #10 to work on. With both semester exams finished, I am not as rushed as many of my colleagues.
My wife and I have planned to have my department over for a Christmas party on the 11th. I emailed everyone yesterday to let them know of the date. Already someone has replied back that he can’t come. I asked that everyone be able to let me know by our next department meeting on the 7th.

Happy Thanksgiving

Once a month I schedule a voluntary A.P. Chemistry review session for Sunday morning. Today was our November meeting and 32 of my 39 A.P. students showed up to do chemistry problems with me for 90 minutes. While the sessions are voluntary, I do give 5 points extra credit for showing up—15 points if you come to both each quarter. I stopped and picked up 100 Dunkin Donuts Munchkins before arriving at school; all of which were eaten by the students in the first 20 minutes of the review. At the review sessions we go over questions from old AP exams. The idea has worked out well for the past 6 years, and I think it has improved the chances of my students on the exam. Today we worked gas phase equilibrium problems from old exams. Several years ago I attended a workshop where we were all given a CD with sets of AP test questions organized by topic. I have found these files invaluable as a source of actual AP problems to review.
After the students left I made student copies of several things I need for class next week; two work sheets, an exam for Wednesday, and the Semester I Exam review. I am going to be at a technology conference Monday after Thanksgiving and my students will be given copies of the semester exam review to begin working on; three weeks before exams begin. To make the review I had to write the exam first. Since we got a new text book this year I needed to write a new semester exam and review. Both tasks were finished last week. Wednesday, both the Honors Chemistry and AP Chemistry students have an exam; the idea being that they can take the Thanksgiving break off from Chemistry.
My wife and I host Thanksgiving dinner for the family; a total of 19 people this year—though it can be as many as 25 some years. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays—possibly because I associate it with family. My family does Holidays together whenever possible. My wife and I do Thanksgiving, my brother Christmas Eve, and my youngest sister Easter. Christmas day is usually spent at my cousins with my mother’s side of the family, about 30 strong, but this year they will be in Memphis with in-laws so my other sister is having everyone. Sometimes someone is missing because of out of town in-laws, but that won’t be the case this Thanksgiving. The only one missing will be my nephew who lives on the east coast and is spending the holiday with cousins in New York; though he will be home for Christmas.
Except for children, my family has never been one that spends extensively on gifts at Christmas. We always spend time together but we have stopped exchanging gifts. I know this may be unpatriotic, but gifts have never been the focus of our holiday festivities. I will buy for my wife and daughter, and for my younger nieces and nephews, but that is the extent of our holiday shopping. Our money will go for lavish holiday meals we share together as we continue to resist the commercialization of our holiday season. Because we do not focus on shopping, our holidays are more relaxed and pleasant—unless you enjoy shopping in crowds.
In terms of my job, semester exams are given before Christmas break so the two weeks off are a real break from school. At this point in the school year I find myself counting down the days till my time off begins.

Give Me a Break.....Please!

Except for the usually large number of parents requesting to meet, parent-teacher conferences went without anything special happening. I am finally caught up with my grading and have updated my online schedule, uploaded files to my page for students to download, and caught up on paperwork left sitting for weeks.
There are eight class days till Thanksgiving vacation and I have scheduled exams for the Wednesday before in each class. I will be taking Monday the 30th off to go to a technology conference and have planned ahead for class assignments. Needless to say, I am looking forward to some time off to relax—Christmas vacation and the end of the semester are only a month away!
During step-up-day last week many 7th graders from local grade schools visited during the class day. While this activity had a disruptive effect on my teaching, I know it is vital to our recruitment efforts. The first Sunday in December we will have an ‘Open House” for 8th graders from 10:00 to 2:00. It is vital that we get grade school students to visit and see the facilities. Teachers are expected to be present for at least two hours that day. At the Department meeting this week my staff already began complaining about having to be her for it. They don’t seem to understand how important it is to market the school to the community; they only think about how it will interfere with their off time, some even argue that they should get a day off for showing up. Thankfully I have several teachers who are dedicated to our mission and will be here for all four hours greeting, meeting, and talking with prospective students. Most of the bitching that comes from teachers about activities like this is because they feel underappreciated and over worked.
I am underappreciated and over worked; what else is new? I also have better things to do than spend all day Sunday in my classroom making happy talk with grade school students and organizing a “dog and pony show” for their entertainment. I also understand that the continued success of my school and my future employment depends on my cooperation in such matters—so I do this enthusiastically and remember I am fortunate to work at a school that is worth the money parents spend on tuition. It would be much harder to sell another school with much less to offer.

Necessity, the Mother of Invention

I am recovering nicely from my injuries, even though my side still hurts. I can’t sleep while laying down in any position for more than an hour or two before the pain wakes me up. I spend most of the night in a recliner in the bedroom.
This is the week of parent/teacher conferences and I have twenty two scheduled as of last Friday. I should schedule a few more next week, but that is only a fraction of the 137 students I teach. As usual most of my appointments are with the parents of excellent students. They only want to meet so I can tell them how wonderful their kids are. The few problem students I have—mostly low grades—have not bothered to schedule a meeting. This is the way it always goes. Right now my appointments are scheduled Thursday between 12:30 and 7:30 pm at 10 minute intervals with a three hour gap between 3:00 and 6:00. Thankfully we have Friday off.
In what must have been a shocking newspaper story—at least to everyone not involved in education—the Chicago Tribune exposed the practice of falsifying test scores in public schools to avoid looking bad. The article, Case of the Missing Juniors, (Nov. 1, 2009), appeared on the front page and outlines how Rich East High School in suburban Chicago managed to make it look like their mandated state test scores had increased by more than 30% in one year. The naive people at the state board of education assumed the administration and staff of the school had discovered some new and highly effective way of educating students and wanted the district to run in-service for other schools. It was then discovered that the school had accomplished this incredible feat by simply redefining what a junior was, eliminating their lowest 40% (academically) from being tested. While the administration at Rich East High School got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, the Tribune reported that across the state about 20% of the sophomore class disappeared from 2007 to 2008. These “missing juniors” reappeared again as seniors after another year; and yes you guessed it, seniors are not officially tested.
Maybe schools should pre-test students and redefine a junior as only those who already score high enough to pass the state tests. This would result in a 100% success rate, and prove just how effective our public schools are, and how effectively our tax dollars are being spent.

Happy Halloween!

I am recovering from a pretty bad fall I took Wednesday morning. My face made hard contact with my garage door and driveway when I tripped. A trip to the emergency room ruled out any broken ribs or nose, though my side still hurts. My glasses were pushed into my face, cutting the bridge of my nose causing a lot of bleeding. I suppose I will still be hurting from my wounds for a while still. I missed two days of school this week because of the injury, returning Friday to try to get my classes back on tract. It is the first time since my arm surgery in 1998 that I have missed two days of school in a row for illness.
While my injuries have been the focus of my life for the last three days, they are not my reason for writing this day. Earlier this week I was looking through my “Science Teacher” magazine and came upon a piece about teacher recruitment. The piece contended that too many teachers quit the profession, resulting in the district/school having to recruit replacements at considerable expense. The author cited a study that estimated the cost of replacing a new teacher at more than $20,000. Imagine that, your History teacher decides to resign at the end of the year, and it costs the school district $20,000+ to replace him or her! The article stated that the costs were related to administrative expenses.
Let’s assume that a school district has an opening for a teacher and they decide to interview 10 applicants. The principal and department chairman each spend 2 hours with each applicant and the superintendent an hour with each. When a candidate is decided upon someone in the central office has to fill out the paperwork required to add the teacher to the payroll, insurance,—this requires a full 8 hour day to complete. That is a total of 68 hours of time spent in the endeavor. If the cost was $20,000 each person involved must earn on average $294/ hour; in other words, each one involved must make a little more than $600,000 a year. Later in the article the author says it is imperative that the federal government come up with huge sums of cash to help school districts cover these costs. At this point it should be apparent to even the most dimwitted reader that the numbers are B.S. and are made up in an attempt to make a case for the federal government handing over more money for schools.
I have been involved in the hiring process for my department for more than 20 years and before I will believe their cost projections I would like to see a review of the books by an independent auditor.
When educators, in an attempt to get more funding, resort to fabricated numbers and costs to support their requests we all lose, and the public becomes less likely to support legitimate requests for increased spending.

One of the Keys to Success

As the second quarter begins things are running smoothly for my classes. In Honors Chemistry I am a bit ahead of last year, mostly because the new edition of the text book has moved some first semester topics to the second semester. I need to save at least five days this quarter in order to make time for the old material later. I plan to do this by not showing the movies I usually schedule. The movies are for entertainment only and give me a day to chill in quiet while they watch. I have also decided not to schedule any review days—again, these were just days for me to do work in class while they worked in quiet. My schedule this year is such that I have time during the day to get things done outside of class time.
We had a teacher in the past in Science who also coached. He used to assign his students desk work almost every day while he typed and did “coaching” preparation. The administration never seemed to care; he was a very successful coach and only taught lower level students. Yes, I am being cynical.
I got an email from a parent, concerned that his daughter was only getting a “C” in AP Chemistry. He wasn’t blaming me; he was just concerned because she was an “A” student last year. I explained to him that AP Chemistry required exceptional problem solving skills that could not be predicted by grades in Honors Chemistry. Many students, I told him, required more time to acquire those skills. As a result they lagged behind the others. He wanted to know how she could improve her skills and I responded that only practice over time would help.
This girl is a god student, but does nothing beyond the minimum work assigned. I don’t tell students this but it is true—if you do just the assigned work in a difficult and/or challenging class you should expect to get a “C”, nothing more.
When I took calculus in college the teacher assigned 15-20 problems for homework each week. Besides those problems, I would do every problem at the end of each chapter. I got an “A” in calculus. Most students would laugh at you if you if you suggested that they do every problem at the end of each chapter just for practice; but practice does make perfect. A former student of mine in AP Chemistry is an excellent example. She would do every problem at the end of each chapter for practice—I know this because she would come after school and ask about any she was confused by. This normally took 45 minutes the day before the test. She got an “A+” in AP Chemistry, was the valedictorian of her high school graduating class, and attended Notre Dame. She is now a math teacher, and when she was student teaching, she came to see me on one of her days off. She made the trip of over 100 miles because she noticed that many of her students were having trouble and I might be able to help her figure out what to do with them. To this day she is the most focused and hard working student I have ever taught.
In contrast, I have students currently who got a chemical formula wrong on the last quiz because they were too lazy to use the ion list I provided. They would rather guess than turn the page over and look for what they needed!
I do have one young lady who shows promise though. She came to see me before the AP Chemistry quiz Friday for help. I had assigned two practice problems from a work sheet but she had done all 10 and wanted the answers to the other 8 to make sure she had done them correctly. First quarter she earned an “A+.”

Report Card Time

Friday was the end of the quarter and I stayed after school that day until I finished my grades. Many teachers take all their papers home and spend the weekend grading. It is ironic that many of the teachers who are the least tolerant of students with late work are the worst procrastinators on the staff. A former department member was so lazy that he would never do his grades until the assistant principal came to him asking for them. Why do anything until they make you!
My students’ grades were pretty good, mostly because the students did so well on the quarter exam. While nobody got a perfect score, the average was more than 85% and only one student out of 92 failed. The one failing grade was an Asian student who has underachieved all quarter. I contacted the mother at mid-quarter and suggested that he drop down to regular chemistry. She declined to move him saying that his problem was that he is lazy—she was correct. He did improve for a short time then failed the last two tests of the quarter, dropping his grade to a D+. I have decided not to force him to move; why should I reward a lazy boy with easier work? His punishment will be to stay in Honors and either start to work or get a D or F. Earning a D in a class is actually much worse than earning an F. An F can be removed from the transcript when you re-take the class—a D never goes away.
In my last post I mentioned the young man with the “test problem” and his father’s arrogant email. I forwarded the father’s message to the boys’ guidance counselor and the registrar who were mad as hell. They both called the father to set him straight. He still has not been moved because the boy has not yet turned in the paperwork with his parent’s signature. H told the registrar that he lost it and told me that his mother threw it away. I filled out a second set of forms and sent him home with them Thursday. In the meantime he got a D on the quarter exam and ended up with a D+ for the quarter.
After being properly chastised by the counselor and registrar the father has not bothered me again about the schedule change. Both reported to me that they thought the father was an ass and took an immediate dislike to him. Neither will OK the schedule change the boy wants now—he will not be able to pick his new teacher.

With the First quarter winding down to its last few days, we enjoy a well needed three day weekend because of Columbus Day. Even though we have four official days of school this week there are only three days of actual teaching. Wednesday is “standardized testing day” as it is in many schools in our area. The students will come to school in the morning as usual but, instead of classes standardized tests will be administered to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors—seniors have the day off. The freshmen take the EXPLORE test, sophomores the PLAN test, and juniors the PSAT. The EXPLORE and PLAN exams are given only to collect data—they are used to set a baseline for the students that their scores on the ACT later in junior year will be compared to. The PSAT exam is extremely important; determining national merit scholars and commended students. The exams will be over by 11:15 and everyone will be sent home early.
My quarter in Honors Chemistry is winding down with about 200 points earned this week—out of almost 1100 points total. There is a homework assignment due Thursday along with the Chapter 5 “QUEST” (half way between a quiz and a test). Friday the students take the 1st quarter exam; a comprehensive test over the first 5 chapters. They received a study guide for this exam October 5th and are allowed to make a “cheat sheet” on a 4 x 6 index card to use. The test contains 50 questions taken from their other 4 exams this quarter.
As I mentioned in the last post, the young man who was caught taking his test and answer sheet from the room on the first exam asked to be moved down into regular chemistry. His request was made on September 30th and I filled out the paperwork and handed it to his guidance counselor 4th period the next day. After a week he still had not been moved. Since it is unusual for the change to take so long I mentioned it to the guidance counselor last week. She told me that the paperwork had been completed, except for the parent signature which the young man was to get and return—but had not yet. That same day the young man came to see me after class requesting my help. Apparently he did not like the choice of teacher for his new chemistry class and wanted me to help him get assigned to a particular female teacher. I told him that I did not have the authority to choose his other teacher—that being the job of his guidance counselor and the registrar. I suggested he make his request to one of them. Another week goes by and he is still on my list. This impasse lead to the email I received below from his father on Friday:
“Why are you playing a game with my son in getting out of your class! This is now going onto the 4th week! I want him out of your class immediately and placed into Chem A with Mrs. […]. I am done with both your and [… ] shananagans! Get this done today if possible.”
Apparently the little rascal has convinced his father that I am the one holding up the transfer; the truth being I can’t wait until he is out of my class. Apparently he refused to turn in the paperwork unless he gets what he wants; and, not being as easily manipulated as his parents, the counselor won’t allow it. My entire reply to him was:
“I filled out the paper work and turned it in September 30th--the same day […] made the request. I don't make the actual schedule change--this is done by his guidance counselor and Mrs. […] the registrar.”
I forwarded his message with my response to the counselor and registrar in case they get contacted by the father. I don’t know how this will all turn out, but the counselor and registrar will rip the dad a new asshole if he gets in their face—neither having much patients with obnoxious parents and manipulating children. In any case, it is too late to complete the transfer before the end of the quarter this Friday. The young man will have to complete the homework, take the chapter 5 quest, and the quarter exam. If he fails those he will probably fail for the quarter, if he does well he could end up with a “C.” My wish for all students like this young man is not retribution or satisfaction if they fail (there is no satisfaction in failing a student), but rather justice for their actions. I don't blame the father; he appears to be a good dad who cares about his child. Maybe he is a little weak when dealing with the boy--but what parent isn't from time to time (me included). On the other hand, the boy is manipulative, dishonest, and scheming--maybe someday he will be a politician.

Thoughts on a Cool Fall Day

As we move into October the weather has turned decidedly cooler. Last weekend my wife and I went to Iowa for my 35th college reunion. My graduating class was approximately 250, about 25 of whom showed up for the reunion. It was a really nice time.
I always enjoy seeing my old friends from college. When in school, we were a wild and spirited bunch. Now we are bordering on old and lack the ability to party like we used to. The all class party on the first evening went from 9:00 to about 11:00. After the party,some of the group meet in the lounge of the hotel where we were staying for a drink. My wife and I were back in our room by midnight!
The one college buddy I want to talk about is Denny. Denny and I were the only ones of our group to be in Education and on Saturday morning we had a chance to share breakfast and talk. After graduation, Denny went to work for a Catholic school, and, after about 10 years, moved to a public junior high and has been there ever since. He teaches Geography and coaches girls volleyball. When he first moved to his public school it serviced a working class white population. As with many city districts, the student population has undergone change and now his building services a significant number of minority students. He acknowledged that things are more difficult now but still exhibits the same enthusiasm that I remember the so well. He is especially proud of many of his former charges who, while not the best students when they were in school, have been successful in life. Many of them attribute their success, in part, to his approach to learning. I imagine the students see him as tough, but likable. I admire his success with difficult students. As he mentioned at breakfast, he knows how to be mean, and then be nice, getting the most out of his pupils.
I hope I can maintain the kind of enthusiasm that Denny exhibits so naturally. We will see at the next reunion in 2014.
As an update to “Why Difficult Courses Have Requirements” (September 2nd 2009) the AP Chemistry student I mentioned who is unqualified for class because of having taken Chemistry in summer school has decided to drop. Guidance allowed him to retake Honors Chemistry and he was placed in my 2nd period class. As I said he is a bright young man who lacked the background to succeed. He has an A- now and seems to be much happier.
The young man who I wrote about in “Cheaters (Should) Never Prosper” (September 19th, 2009) has also decided to drop Honors Chemistry. With a zero on the second exam, along with F’s on the other two, he has dug himself a hole he can’t climb out of. He will be moved to a regular Chemistry class with another teacher. The young man told his guidance counselor that the problem was me—he just can’t learn from me. She knows its bullshit, but we both approved the move; he is now someone else’s problem. On the last exam the class average was 91; his grade was 73. Apparently he can’t learn from a teacher if he has to pay attention to master the material. His learning style is to never pay attention, take notes, or do homework on time; then blame the teacher and ask for a schedule change when he fails.
I also picked up a student from regular Chemistry. She is a Chinese exchange student who complained that the regular level was too easy. On the first exam she got an A and is working out well—unlike so many other exchange students I have dealt with in the past she speaks excellent English.

Why Difficult Courses Have Requirements

“A vision, without the ability to execute, is probably a hallucination.” – Stephen M. Chase

One problem I deal with every summer is the numerous requests from students and parents for changes in science placement for the next school year. In the past, I generally denied most requests for moving students up to honors because I feel it is generally a bad idea. I still think it is a bad idea, but recently I have begun allowing the move, after voicing my concerns of course. My new policy is---move if you want, but accept the consequences of your bad decision. Two requests to move students into advanced placement chemistry are examples.

At the end of last semester I was informed that we were enrolling a transfer student from England for the next year. She was going to be a junior and wanted to take AP Chemistry; having finished the European equivalent of first year chemistry. My experience with exchange students has been that what European countries call chemistry is mostly a general science course that does not prepare students with enough background to succeed in AP. When the request came in I didn’t argue with the parent, just said OK and sent out a copy of my “summer homework” assignment consisting of 106 questions reviewing Honors Chemistry. I told the parent that a test would be given the second day of class covering the assignment and it would be the first grade of the quarter. The directions in the assignment clearly state that the student is expected to understand the material in the assignment on the first day of class, the material would not be re-taught. The parent and student saw what was expected and she dropped down to Honors Chemistry—where she should have been placed in the beginning.

The second student appears not to have been so smart about it. He took chemistry this summer at another school. Any reasonable person should realize that you can’t learn 38 weeks of chemistry in 6 weeks, and that the summer course could not be sufficient preparation for AP. I expressed my concerns but allowed it because the parents insisted. I sent out the same summer homework sheets, but the student did not drop. He showed up the first day of school with only half the work done. He just finished his test and got a 59%; the average grade being about 80%. His first grade will be an F and, since I am not going to re-teach the material he missed, may fail every test after. At some point he will either drop the class because he is failing or his parents will have to hire a tutor to help him catch up. Since he is on tuition assistance and probably can’t afford to hire a tutor the outcome will not be pretty. I have already decided not to say “I told you so!” when it happens. In real life, people learn from their mistakes, but smart people learn from others mistakes; and possibly in the future I will get more support and cooperation from guidance and the administration before things break bad. This is a very nice young man from what I can see from my dealings with him. He is polite, respectful, and hard working. All admirable qualities, but none of which translate into a solid background in chemistry.

One of the most regrettable things we tell a student is that they can do anything they want if they work hard enough. Of course this is a lie. No matter how hard I work I will never be an Olympic sprinter.

Welcome Back!

Classes have started for the 2009-2010 school year and the most common question I hear from colleagues or former students when I see them again is, “How was your summer?” My answer is always the same….”Not long enough!”
I have been very lazy about writing anything this summer for the bog; which doesn’t mean that nothing has happened, just that nothing has moved me to get off the chase lounge on my new deck and work. That being said, there were two issues that I needed to address this summer; the new Chemistry text books and student requests concerning placement.
The Chemistry text books we used for the last nine years were a mess and long overdue for replacement. At the end of last year, the department decided on a replacement—the new edition of the book we currently use. The money available from the state of Illinois was enough purchase 349 student books; unfortunately there are 414 Chemistry students registered. The feared drop of 200+ in school enrollment never materialized; there being 3 more students enrolled in Chemistry compared to last year, and, depending on who you talk to, either 15 more students enrolled in school or about 20 less. Either way, enrollment has firmed up and we appear to be on solid ground for the time being.
The school needed to purchase approximately 70 additional books to cover the shortage. We decided to pay for them through the department budget and charge each student an extra $10 on their lab book for the next two years to cover the cost. I contacted the publisher’s rep who sold us the original 349 to get a price for the additional books. She emailed me a proposal for $119/copy, about $10 more than they charged for the state. When I called the order in the customer service rep refused to honor the proposal price, insisting that the books could be sold for no less than $159 each. I emailed the rep and informed her of the problem; telling her that we decided to cancel the order and use the old books for another year because of the cost.
Within two days I got calls from three different people, including the rep, horrified that we would cancel the order which totaled more than $45,000. The rep explained that it was her fault for not sending a copy of the proposal to customer service before I called. I would have gladly paid the $119 that was first agreed to as well as paying for the teacher’s materials—though I did not tell the rep this. After some negotiations, we agreed on a price of $105/book + six free sets of teacher materials worth approximately $300 each. The fortunate mix-up by the publisher saved the school almost $7000.
Next Post: Students placement requests.

No Experience Necessary

Several weeks ago, on my way to run errands, I was listening to a local sports-talk radio station. The topic for the morning was the alleged grade scandal surrounding Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose. According to sources, Rose’s school records were falsified by someone working for the Chicago Public Schools. Both local newspapers broke stories that someone had changed a D to a C, apparently so his transcript would qualify under NCAA rules for a Division I school. The article also alleges that three classmates of Rose and seven soccer players from another CPS were helped, some when F’s they had received were changed to A’s. It is also reported that someone took the SAT test for Rose so he could qualify.
A misguided caller to the sports-talk show commented that the individuals involved should be given “Teacher of the Year” awards for looking out for his “best interests” just as he (the caller) would hope someone would do for his kids. I hope, if the caller ever has a major health problem that his physician wasn’t admitted to medical school because someone—looking out for his best interests—“doctored” his school records. Some people are just dumb as hair. It is general stupidity like this that has allowed the Chicago Public School system to evolve into nothing more than a pathetic joke being played on the citizens of that city. Take these other examples into consideration.
A friend of mine, who is a teacher in the CPS system, lost his position a year ago teaching high school Chemistry. According to his contract, he is allowed to “substitute” for a full year at full pay. The central office sends him out to a different school every week to “help out”, which usually means sitting around in the teacher’s lounge and reading all day. He is bored by this, so he volunteers to do different things. One school requested that he be sent back for an additional week in order to finish helping the library do inventory. During this past “unemployed” year he attended all the available “job fairs” held by the central office, looking for a full time position. According to him, hundreds of people show up to these fairs, many displaced teachers just like himself. Recruiters from attending schools all claim to have positions available and take his resume. They all promise to call him within a week to set up an interview but he never gets a call back. If he does get an interview it usually goes well. He is an experienced teacher with an “excellent” rating from his former supervisors. The person giving the interview promises to get back to him next week about the position but never calls (or returns his calls).
The last job fair he attended allowed the displaced teachers (like himself) to enter an hour before new teachers so they could have first crack at the open positions. He claims that all of the early birds appeared to be over 40. When the doors opened for the new people, there were so many that it took 15 minutes for all of them to enter the facility. He said they all were young kids who looked like they were just out of school. It has been more than a week now and none of the promised calls to set up an interview have come.
He lost his last teaching position when the school was “reorganized.” He was replaced by a first year teacher who lasted 3 months before quitting. It was reported in the news last week that the many Chicago Public Schools "lose" 25% of their teachers every year; all of whom have to be replaced. With more than 15 years experience he is just too expensive, at least when there are so many “cheap” new people available to hire. It must not be in the “best interest” of the students to have experienced teachers when their transcripts can be altered to make it look like they passed.

Summer Begins!

I am now into my third week of summer vacation and, except for the rainy weather, all is well. I have been unable to keep my promise of riding my bike for exercise every day because the weather has either been too wet, too cold, or both. The only summer project I have been able to tackle is dividing and replanting hostas around the house. I was also able to put together a book shelve for my wife and plant flowers in pots in front. Today is very nice and warm outside, but I have been waiting for the guys to come and clean my gutters. As I write this they are here and making quite a racket.
Even though I have been unable to spend much time outside, I have been busy with work. The first week we were off I spent three days at school taking care of chemistry books. Five hundred old text books needed to be inventoried, boxed, and moved to storage. The state purchased new books for us to use next year but requires us to keep the old books for five years; just in case any other school wants 10 year old books to use. The new books arrived and I had to unpack them, number and stamp each one, then move them to summer storage in my classroom. When I arrived last Friday to move them I found that maintenance had started cleaning our wing of the building and my room was off limits due to floor waxing.
Next, I began editing the lab book for next year. We switched over our computers to Office 2007 recently and all my old Office 2003 files have to be converted. I have been working 6-8 hours a day for the last three days doing this. Office 2007 offers some new tools that I am using to bring the text up-to-date. As of this morning, I have all the exercises and Labs finished and am working on the tables and charts that are included. Since I have made significant changes to some of the exercises I will need to do significant editing to the answers. This step may take more time than the editing did originally.
I have also had to deal with several department problems that arose after school ended. Books foe the summer school class in Chemistry had to be set aside, summer school starting yesterday. I do not teach summer school, but need to get things organized for the teacher who is. Summer school in Chemistry is restricted to those who failed in the regular school year; this year there are 13 such students. Another young man wanted to take Chemistry, for the first time, at his local public high school during their summer session instead of next year with us. School policy does not allow this without special permission. I have been emailing the boy’s mother and principal almost daily, trying to negotiate the situation. What we finally agreed to do is allow him to take the summer school course at the public high school; but he needs to turn in to me all his written lab reports for my approval and take our final exam in Chemistry and earn a passing grade on it. I emailed him a copy of the study guide and arranged for him to take the final after he finishes summer school. Another request for an incoming freshman to take Chemistry was dealt with. Normally, students take Chemistry sophomore year; requirements being completion of Biology and Algebra I. The student in question took Biology in 8th grade in our zero-hour program. She had requested to take Chemistry without completing Algebra I first, but being concurrently enrolled in it. After talking with my principal, we decided to allow it and see how it works out. If it does, we will probably allow others to do it in the future.
I was hoping to get out for a bike ride today, but that depends on how long it takes them to finish cleaning the gutters. I am stuck here until they get paid and leave. My wife is working overtime at the hospital tonight and I promised to cook dinner for her to take. She is a nurse and works the 7pm to 7am shift. Maybe I can get a short ride in while the chicken cooks in the oven.

The Greatest Management Principle in the World

The things that get rewarded get done. -- Michael LeBoeuf

At the beginning of the 4th quarter over 200 students were held from classes because they were behind in their tuition payments. As I wrote then, the administration had taken a hard line against the deadbeat parents who refused to pay the school until we forced them to. Everyone was worried that the same thing would happen at final exam time, creating chaos and a wealth of bad publicity for the school. The list of students who were behind in tuition and would be held from exams totaled 36 when emailed to the staff over the weekend. That list had shrunk to 8 by the end of the first day of exams, and 2 by the morning of the second exam day. Apparently, bad economy notwithstanding, parents got the message. The small list of students left represents those who really are in need, and the school can handle them as compassionately as possible. Of my 142 students only one is on the list.

A few weeks ago students received their tentative class schedules for next year. Most teachers viewed this as an indication of enrollment expectations for 2009-2010. Of my 24 homeroom students only one did not receive a schedule, meaning that 96% had registered and paid their fees. It still appears that we may lose 100 or more students over the summer, but not the 400-500 predicted by the most pessimistic a few months ago.

After reading my last post (Every blade of grass…) my friend in the Theology Department emailed me with a much more negative assessment of her students. Her assessment of the situation is that our student population is becoming more and more lazy and uninterested in working. In other words, we are no longer attracting the best and brightest. While I see her point I would tend to disagree.
Compared to the students I taught 30 years ago my present group is far more intelligent and much better prepared than ever before. The difference is not in their ability, but rather their work ethic. I am not trying to suggest that they are lazy, only motivated differently. If it is really true that what gets rewarded gets done, then what the modern student views as “reward” has changed.
Twenty years ago it would not be unusual for me to fail 7 or 8 students each semester, as well as give another 10-12 D’s. This semester I will fail only one student (unless she studies and passes the final) and have only three students who are in danger of getting D’s. On the other hand, A’s are much more difficult to earn. Twenty years ago, if you received a B in honors chemistry you probably were a slacker; not so now.
Others grumble about the shrinking number of honors and AP students. In reality the numbers are not shrinking in every department. Just look at the significant number of students advanced in math compared to 10 years ago. The first year I taught AP Chemistry I had 15 students; next year’s group numbers 40. When I first began teaching Chemistry 25 years ago there were fewer than 50 honors students; next year there are close to 80, and that is with much more stringent requirements than before. The work the honors chemistry students do now is much more intense and in depth than it was 20 years ago. Some of the students that my colleagues wish we still had could never hope to handle the material today’s student masters with ease.
In the past, hard work was rewarded with good grades. Good grades could be achieved by memorization and practice. Presently, much more that just hard work is necessary to get the grades that motivated so effectively before. Is it any surprise that evidence of hard work is so difficult to find in the modern student?

I’m Back!

It has been over a month since I last posted anything to this page. After a spring break I hoped to return to school with all of my work completed and lots of time on my hands. Unfortunately this was not the case. This is the first day in the last 4 weeks that there is not a pile of papers to grade or assignments to generate. My AP chemistry students are taking their “big” exam this morning, and my Honors Chemistry students are taking their chapter 16 test. My homework folder is empty, at least until it gets filled with Chapter 16 exams, and I have decided to write again while I watch them work.

It has been a very trying last few weeks for the AP teachers in my building. The school has allowed so many interruptions in the normal schedule that reviewing for the exams has been a trial for everyone. Since Monday May 4th I have seen my AP Chemistry class exactly three times. Days were wiped out for; the Graduation mass, Career day, English Calculus and US History AP exams, and Junior/Senior skip day. To make up for some of these interruptions I held Sunday morning review sessions from 10-noon the last three weekends. Some of my colleagues lament that their students are so far behind that they can’t possibly do well on the exam. I would concur; the constant interruptions have been a disaster. I have had to speed through much of the last three chapters in Honors Chemistry just to cover the minimum required work for the final exam.

The photo with this post is of the family of ducks that have taken up residence in the courtyard by the greenhouse. The courtyard is completely enclosed so the two foxes that reside on the property can’t enjoy them for dinner. The mother hatched 11 baby ducklings. If she is lucky one or two will survive the occasional attacks by crows and hawks that frequent the property. As I told the students, the world is a restaurant and everything is on the menu.

Last week the administration offered contracts for next year. Since I wrote that everyone was coming back we lost one of our Physics teachers who was offered a full time position at UIC. He will be missed. The principal and I are in the process of interviewing his replacement. We have two prospects for the position, one has already talked to us and the other will be scheduled next week. The teacher Biology teacher we hired last year has proven to be an excellent addition to the department.

This weekend my wife and I travel to St. Louis to see our daughter graduate from college. We are both excited and very proud of her.

Bite Me!

Last month I wrote about our “tuition problems” at school. As you may remember, 300 or our 1500+ student body were behind in their tuition payments. The administration decided to hold students from class at the beginning of the 4th quarter if they were not up to date. The chaos that ensued made national news when a freshmen parent called a local TV station and report what we were doing. The parent thought that if she could get the media to focus on us as the problem, we would allow her child to stay out of shame for what we had done. Apparently, in her mind, not paying your bill is the problem of the business that was owed the money, not the dead-beat parent who hadn't paid. My sister told me that relatives of her husband(alumni)called all the way from Florida when they saw the report on their local TV. The media was all over us for about 24 hours; our financial problems were characterized as resulting from the general economic problems of the country. Even the mayor of Chicago, Richie Daley, used us to make a point when he criticized the Chicago police union for wanting to picket city hall; reminding them that the economy was so bad that people couldn’t even pay their private school tuition. Publicly he as much as told them they should be happy to have a job. The whole thing became a circus that was blown wildly out of proportion by the media, who are well known for such foolishness (especially on a slow news day).
Apparently though, we were not the only victims of the irresponsible quest for ratings. Later that week I was shocked to hear that a Boston prep school had a vampire in the building. It appears that a group of students, in an attempt to harass a young girl who didn’t “fit in”, started a rumor that she was a vampire. The prank broke bad when the police arrived at the school for some unrelated purpose and the students who started the rumor began saying that they were there to arrest the ”vampire.” Things got out of hand when frightened students reported what happened (or what they thought had happened) to their parents. At this point the principle, in one of the most misguided actions an administrator ever took, sent an email out to parents to assure them that there was no vampire at school and they and their children had nothing to worry about. The local media got hold of the email and all hell broke loose; the story making national news the next day. It should be no surprise why our country is going to hell so fast these days; with a media so retarded that they would even consider reporting such a pile of crap. I apologize to any retarded people who are offended at being compared to the media.
Thank God today is the last day of school before spring break.

Batter Up!

Today is opening day for the 2009 major league baseball season, and my Cubs are in Houston for a game tonight. The White Sox have already postponed their opening day game with Kansas City until tomorrow; US Cellular field being covered in a blanket of snow.
In my last post I mentioned my high school Physics teacher who I saw for the first time in 25 years a few weekends ago. The good sister is, and always was, a diehard Cub fan. In the spring, when the season was just beginning, class would stop every afternoon at 1:20 if the Cubs were playing. We would be given a work sheet and watch the game in her classroom. She had a 10 inch black and white TV, and if the game was away we listened on the radio. This was not wasted time, as she would plan our work around the baseball schedule. Teaching took place when there was no game, or the Cubs were out of town and playing at night; seat work was planned for game day. The year I had Physics was just after the Cubs collapse of 1969. Even though they had disappointed her so, she would still watch every day.
I was a Cub fan myself long before I took Physics. When I was very young, my mother would watch the Cubs on TV while she did the ironing. When she was a young woman during WWII, my mother worked in downtown Chicago. Occasionally, her boss would take all the office girls to a Cubs game as a moral boost and she became a Cubs fan as a result. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Cubs have ruined every one of my summers for the last 50 years. I have given up any hope of seeing them in a World Series before I die.
This year’s team is touted as a powerhouse who is sure to win the division and contend for the title. What a pile of crap! The only thing the 2009 Cubs are sure to do is ruin another summer for me. They are as soft as the over-ripe tomatoes will be in my garden in August. I still watch, but not as much as I used to. My friend in the Theology Department is a Cubs fan as well. We both agree that we will not ever get excited about another Cubs season again until they are playing in the 4th game of the World Series. The last two years she watched every minute of the playoffs. Mercifully, the pain was brief. I on the other hand, I refused to waste my time watching them lose and found more rewarding ways to spend my time.

April is the Cruelest Month

When I look outside my office window on this 5th of April, I am reminded of the Animal Planet program I watched last month about the polar bear. Apparently, according to the “global warming” crowd, the habitat of the polar bear is being devastated by warming in the arctic. Soon there will be no year-round ice in the arctic; then what will the poor polar bear do? I think they will migrate here.
Last weekend my wife and I went with a group of teachers and alumni from my school to the sister’s mother-house. The trip had been planned for months as a 50th anniversary activity and was attended by about 25 people. My main reason for going was to see my high school physics teacher who is retired and living at the mother-house. I haven’t seen her since she was transferred to another school almost 25 years ago. I can’t express how happy I am to find that she is well at 92 years old. She was the one who inspired me to take up science in college and eventually become a teacher. She is still the best teacher I ever had and sharp as ever; looking like she could go into the classroom again. She could teach the hell out of physics.
The weather that weekend was frigid for this time of the year. The first day was characterized by a steady, cold rain that interfered with every activity we had planned. On the morning of the second day we woke to a snow storm. A week later the snow storm outside my office window is raging on. The Sox have already canceled their home opener tomorrow because of the weather. The Animal Planet program told us that polar bears were migrating further south every year to find food. When they finally get here they will feel right at home.
On a sad note, the nun who is in charge of the tuition office at our school had a stroke last week. She is a kind soul who treated parents and students with respect. It is commonly believed by the faculty that the stressful circus that revolved around our “tuition problems” of last month contributed to the onset of her health issues.
Enrollment for next year seems to be leveling out about where most of us thought it would be. About 100 present students have not yet registered for next year (according to guidance) and a little over 400 of the 500 incoming freshmen have paid their registration fee and chosen classes for next year. Baring any new economic disaster, we should be within 200 students of our head-count this year; an acceptable enrollment level considering the troubled economy. The really good news is that, if we lose any students, it will be because of the economy and not because of dissatisfaction with our product.
We were notified this week that there will be no reductions in staff next year, except through attrition, and there will be a 3% pay raise. The pay raise is smaller than we usually receive, but in this economy everyone is grateful to have a stable job to look forward to.

Underachieving by Design

The initial day of registration for the class of 2012 was a week ago, and the 501 8th graders we accepted were invited to school so they could register for classes next year. According to the administration, the turnout was better than expected, considering the economic situation most families presently find themselves in.

I wrote about freshmen registration last year ( Freshmen Registration Day, March 9th, 2008) and this year was very similar. I spoke that day with about 15 families who thought that their child’s entrance exam scores were not consistent with their success in grade school. Of these, I moved 3 students up in placement on the basis of information the parents provided (grade school report cards, recommendation letters from teachers, etc.). I felt comfortable that these students could handle the higher level work based on the information I saw. Another seven or eight I talked into starting out in the lower level we recommended, at least until we had a chance to evaluate their work early next year. Three were placed on a list for our Honors Biology teacher to evaluate, not feeling that I could make a decision one way or the other myself. She will call their grade school, speak to the parents, and make a decision based on her gut feeling. I suspect that, eventually, all three will be moved up.

All my discussions with parents were civil and productive, except for one mother. Her son has scored terribly on the entrance exam, his composite score below the 25th percentile (6th percentile in math and verbal ability). He was accepted conditionally, placed in all lower level classes, and required to attend a summer remedial program in both math and reading. She was beside herself with anger yelling at me (as if I had anything to do with her son’s poor score). “How could this be valid?” she argued, “He has straight A’s in grade school!” “How many other students with straight A’s are required to be in a remedial summer class?” she shrieked. I confessed I did not know, even though every student I spoke to that day had a grade school report card with straight A’s. I was afraid if I told her that she would reach across the table and attempt to strangle me on the spot.

I spoke to four students from the same school, all below average on the exam, who all argued that they should be moved up into Honors Biology because their science teacher (same woman for all) said they were the best science student in the school. This is why we don’t place students based on grade school report cards and teacher recommendations only.

She demanded that I place him in honors biology, which I refused to do. I argued that in the summer session the teachers would re-evaluate him and recommend a new placement if appropriate. She was not satisfied, threatening to go over my head to the principal if necessary.

I related this story to my friend in the Math Department who I know teaches the summer remedial program. He informed me that either his school has inappropriately low expectations for an “A” or the boy purposefully tried to fail the exam. He related to me that every summer they encounter students who were conditionally accepted who confess that they tried to fail the exam. They wanted to go to the public school with their friends, but their parents insist on sending them to us, so they tried to get rejected. They leave whole blocks of questions unanswered, or purposely enter answers randomly in an attempt to score so low they will be rejected. The more I think about it, the more I think this is the case with this boy. His mother fought for him to be placed in Honors, and he just sat there and said nothing. He must have been hoping that I would refuse to move him up; his mother intimating that if I didn’t, she would send him to the public school that already said he could be in their honors program.

On the other hand, he might be a very bright student who just had a bad day.

Hard Times

In January we tested 612 prospective students for our incoming freshmen class. The administration was very worried that the current recession would significantly reduce the number of applicants, but we held our own, attracting only a few percent less than last year. Other schools in the archdiocese were not as blessed. Of the students who took the exam, 501 scored high enough to be admitted and were sent letters of acceptance. The hard economic times we face will surely cause a drop in enrollment, but times are tough everywhere and we are still holding our own so to speak. Several other local private schools are in much worse shape; being on the brink of closing even before our economic crisis.

An unknown number of our current students will probably have to drop out because of financial problems, the worst case predictions say that we could lose 200-300 of our 1500+ enrollment. Many parents will make significant sacrifices in other areas to keep their children here; those students we lose will leave reluctantly, wishing they could stay.
It is everyone’s hope that when the economy recovers, so will our enrollment. A private education of the quality we offer is an investment in a child’s future, not just a luxury for the affluent.

The administration had already decided not to replace any teachers/staff that decided to leave at the end of the year, preferring to cut their positions and redistribute their students/duties. Unfortunately, the employment consultation forms that everyone filled out in January indicated that no one is planning on leaving. There will be very little turnover in teaching positions through the area, teachers at most schools trying to hold on to the positions they have for now. Our teaching contract defines a full-time teacher as someone with five classes, and a supervision period. Many of the staff teach a sixth class for extra money, but the principal has already decided to stop this for the time being so as few people as possible have to be let go.

Tomorrow is the beginning of 4th quarter and some parents have decided to transfer their kids now, being unable to cover the tuition costs for the rest of the year. I am losing one boy whom I wrote about last month. He is failing all of his classes and the parents have decided to cut their loses and save the $2000 still due for the rest of the year. He will be going to his local public school. I spoke to him on his last day (Friday) and he told me about the new school he will be attending. They wear a uniform because of gang problems, carry their books around in a “clear” back-pac so all its contents are visible, and have to go through a metal detector each day. I told him I was sorry to see him go and reminded him that his parents would have kept him here if he had only studied—he is very bright and capable of straight A’s if he worked. He just shrugged, indicating that he really didn’t care one way or the other, even commenting that he may be back next year if he doesn’t like it. I spoke with his guidance counselor last week when I heard about the transfer. She has been working with him all year, trying to get him motivated, but found nothing that worked. Being a minority student, we could have gotten him a full ride to college if he only put out the effort. He is easily the brightest student in my 5th period class. I am hoping that he sees the error of his ways and turns into the student he can be.

Odds-and-Ends on a Winter's Day

My friend in the Theology Department felt compelled to reply to my post on Evolution vs. Intelligent Design. She wrote . . .

“In your article you address science vs. religion....evolution vs. intelligent design. I am confronted in the religion classroom every day by students who refuse to listen to anything other than what they have been taught in their bible-based churches. When I teach theology I teach from a pastoral position, not a doctrinal position. (Pastoral theology focuses on the logical, rational, personal, sociological and psychological reasons behind the doctrinal teaching.) And yet kids abandon all reason when it comes to religion, preferring, of course, to refer to bizarre understandings and beliefs because that makes religion mysterious rather than practical. Their thinking goes something like..."If God and religion is too mysterious to understand, then how can God expect me to follow it? God can't hold me accountable for things I don't understand."

If religion was taught to everyone from the pastoral position, then people would understand the Creation Story as a way for particular culture in a particular time to define itself, define the unknown, and define how the people in that culture should relate to one another. Instead, bible-based churches make the Creation Story a science lesson. Obviously, it can't be, because it disintegrates when held up to scientific scrutiny. Can we change the science of evolution? No. But we can learn to understand the Creation Story as a cultural foundational myth. My frustration with my teaching is that the more and more students we get from non-Catholic, non-churched families, the more resistance we face in the classroom. It gets incredibly stultifying after the numbers of bb kids increases, and the number of kinds from Catholic homes who received GOOD primary education shrinks to near nothing.”

Her point is well taken. In an effort to combat the lack of understanding created by the bible-based teaching many of our students get from their church, our priest on staff has recently made an appearance in biology classes to explain the Catholic churches view on the Theory of Evolution. I have been told that some of the Catholic students are surprised that there is no conflict between Catholic doctrine and Science.

On an unrelated note, the failing girl whose mother was so contentious (see A Tale of Two Parents, February 11th.) missed all of last week. No blocked driveway this time, just mono. The mother, who had not contacted me once this year before mid-quarter, emailed me twice last week asking for homework. One of the boys whose parents I had not heard back from is apparently leaving school at the end of the year. His mother got back to me 10 days after I contacted her to let me know that he was failing most of his classes, and she told me they were no longer willing to spend the $8000+’year to send him to a private school. At his local public school he can fail for free. This is a real tragedy for the boy, who is extraordinarily bright and could be in line for a scholarship to college if he would only turn in homework and work up to his ability.

The Origin of Stupidity

I belong to a Google group called IACT. The other day I received an email with a post someone made on the message board. It read. . .

“Although I appreciate very much Darwin's contribution to science, it’s hard for me to get past his racists views. I have met good science teachers who harbor some of these
views, due in part to their almost cult like following of strict Darwinian Theory. Some of what Darwin said in his second book would be considered hate speech today, and he
would be portrayed as a monster. I've heard good arguments that his belief in the superior Caucasian race helped in bringing about the Holocaust. I'm not saying I agree with that, I just think its important for us to take a serious look at all of his contributions before we elevate him to the status of Newton. That's just my opinion.”

The post, in response to several other posts concerning the celebration of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday, was a pathetic attempt to attack the teaching of evolution in schools. The author went out of his way to make it look like he was thoughtful and reasonable, and make the “good science teachers” he referred to look like “cult” members for believing in evolution. He never says here whether he believes in evolution or not, but I will bet you he is a religious conservative who thinks that belief in evolution is equivalent to being an atheist.

I usually don’t respond to such ignorance, but I was “inspired” by his attempt to trash evolutionary theory and posted the following on the message board. . .


In response to Ryan; I had thought that the issue of teaching intelligent design had been settled once and for all when the court ruled on the case against the Dover school system. The court ruled that intelligent design was religion and could not be taught in the public schools. Unfortunately for all of us (science teachers) the ID proponents have changed their tact and are now accusing Darwin of being a racist, hoping to garner support for their ultimate goal—taking evolution out of the school system. Apparently if they can’t get ID in they will settle for getting Darwin out because, in their mind, believing in evolution is incompatible with believing in God. I am a Catholic, and have taught in a Catholic school for more than 30 years. I believe in intelligent design and evolution. Evolution is God’s intelligent design, but even I (in a religious school) don’t mention ID in class. It is Religion not Science, and as such has no place in a science classroom. Yes, like Ryan, I have noticed that some of my colleagues are racist. That is because they are ignorant not because they believe evolution. There is nothing in the modern theory of evolution that would support a racist view, or suggest that there is no God. The anti-evolutionists are simply ignorant people who don’t understand science, evolution, or religion. Rather than trashing Darwin and evolutionary theory they should look inward and try to figure out why they lack faith. (posted 2/13/09)

Our Theology Department Chairperson has had to respond to complaints by parents and students that the theory of evolution is anti-religious and should not be taught in our school. She has stated that the Bible is not a science book or a history text, but a guide to how God wants us to live our lives. Catholics have never had a problem with the theory of evolution, mostly because we do not interpret the Bible literally. I don’t know where the whole idea that belief in evolution and belief in a God became incompatible, but it comes from an ignorance of both science and religion. Many people who ignorantly spew this nonsense believe it because they were told they have to by their pastor or preacher.

A favorite response to my suggestion that they don’t understand either the theory of evolution or their religion is something like . . . “You mean you believe that we came from chimpanzees?” To which I respond (while looking at them like they were retarded) “Of course not—what would make you think something so stupid?” They usually get angry at this point; and exclaim. . . “That’s what the theory of evolution says—we came from chimps.” The theory of evolution does not say that we came from chimps, but that chimps and man evolved from a common ancestor; something completely different. I challenge them to show me where in the text of the theory it says that, which makes them look like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming Mac truck, exposing their ignorance. I would like to give them the finger at this point, but the sisters that run my school would probably not approve. Instead I tell them that if they can show me in the text of the theory where it says either that God does not exist, or man came from chimps, I will work to get the theory out of our curriculum. I even offer to lend them my copy of Darwin’s book “Origin of Species” so they can show me, but that would require reading which is incompatible with true ignorance, so none of them take me up on it.

Maybe I’m wrong and some of them did evolve from chimps.

A Tale of Two Parents

The ultimate success of a student is often times influenced by the attitude of a parent more than the skill of the teacher.

Last week was mid-quarter, a time during the year when teachers are supposed to contact parents if their student is doing poorly. A review of my grade book revealed six students who had a D or F at the time, and their parents needed to be notified. The notification process is entirely unnecessary because parents can check student grades daily online in each of their classes. Our administration is afraid that a “neglectful” parent will fail to check grades regularly. If this happens, and the student ends up failing, they are afraid that the parent will complain. “If I only knew she was doing poorly I could have done something!”, and “Why didn’t the teacher let me know?”

My answer to that question would be that the teacher did let you know; when the grades were posted online you were informed what they were. It is not the teacher’s fault that you didn’t look online any more than it would be if the teacher called you about the grade and you didn’t listen. Unfortunately administrators don’t know how to talk to parents, so parents and students become incompetent and helpless, with all responsibility falling on the teacher.

Anyway, I contacted all six parents by email concerning their student’s grade. One message was returned as undeliverable; a subsequent phone call resulted in no answer and no transfer to voice mail. Three of the messages were delivered, but I got no response. Of those three, two responded when contacted last quarter, but now are apparently giving up on trying to effect any change in their student. The other two replied.

One was a father who apparently grounded his daughter. I had indicated in the message that she was failing because of missing work. She appeared at my desk the next morning and sheepishly handed in the missing work, apologizing for her irresponsibility. The father’s email told me that she was coming to see me and I was to email him again if she failed to show. I graded the missing work, deducting an appropriate penalty for being late, and her grade improved from F to D+ as a result. The father assured me that he would keep a constant tab on her from now on and promised that she would not be so irresponsible again.

The other was a mother who returned my email and asked me to call her on the phone. We spoke that evening and the conversation did not go well from the start. She was contentious, argumentative, and accusatory. She argued that none of her daughter’s scholastic difficulties were her fault—by “her” she meant both herself and her daughter.
The mother told me that the girl’s grade problems were because of two days of school she missed last week because of the snow. Apparently the city snow plow buried the front of her driveway when cleaning the street, making it impossible for her or the daughter to leave home for two days. I tried to respond with compassion and understanding; even though I was sure that the pile of bullshit I was being handed was much higher than the pile of snow at the bottom of her driveway.

The first girl is in honors chemistry, has a GPA of 3.7 and has never been a problem before. The second is in regular chemistry, has a GPA of 1.80, and is absent at least once a week. Hopefully my story explain why.