US Education Administration; Seriously?

**Whir** · February 6th, 2010, 09:34 PM

As a "trouble student" in junior high and high school, I've invested myself a bit in watching how educational administrators (especially in my nephew's school) conduct business. My educators, minus one or two, failed me miserably.

So as parents or just rational adults, how do you feel about the way things have been handled by administrators lately? It seems that case like this (After desk doodling and toy gun incidents, it's clear educators lack common sense) (thanks -FMA) have become a lot more prevalent in the last few years.

Even as bad as the administration was (still is) at my high school, this kind of crap blows me away. Where does this slippery slope end?

**tony_j15** · February 6th, 2010, 09:47 PM

Bad stories have a tendency of being reported while good news is sometimes ignored since it is what is expected. So perhaps it's not as bad as it seems. With that said, if I have kids, they will go to private school or be tutored.

**Whir** · February 6th, 2010, 09:58 PM

You are undoubtedly right, Tony. The thing is, where it comes to a child's education and they way they are treated while in school, the bad matters a lot more than the good. The bad can decimate a classroom or an entire school with one instance.

And I'm sure there are a lot of great educators out there -- my beef is with the administration more than the teachers.

**tony_j15** · February 6th, 2010, 10:09 PM

I concur. I'm not sure exactly how this problem should be addressed. I'd like to think a heaping dose of common sense would do the trick. Perhaps we need to change the criteria for who gets to be an administrator or change the rules so at least three individuals have to jointly agree to discipline a child.

**brandon184** · February 6th, 2010, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by Whir

As a "trouble student" in junior high and high school,

What does this mean? Did you light teacher's cars on fire in the parking lot?

**pickel** · February 6th, 2010, 10:50 PM

I went to PS 200, then to St Nicholas of Tolentine Catholic grammar school in Queens. We have spit ball fight which progressed to " Green Spilt peas" for ammo, the paper clips broken in half propelled by rubber bands off a wind up model airplane. OUCH !!! One day the Sister got hit and had all the boys go into the hall and beat the hell out us with her yard stick. Naturally, a note was sent home and , of course, we got our @$$ beat again by Father. What happened to the Good Ole Days ????

And that wasn't he ONLY time either

**Whir** · February 7th, 2010, 12:03 AM

Originally Posted by brandon184

What does this mean? Did you light teacher's cars on fire in the parking lot?

[rant]
It means that instead of addressing my problems with the curriculum (it was too far below me), they assumed I had ADHD and gave me detention every other day. They went as far as to say that eventually I would "learn my lesson" and become a "better student."

And since the school considered me a problem student, any reports of hazing I made (I was actually spit on once by a football player) were completely ignored.

Just think, if I were going through school now, I'd probably already be in juvi or prison with those administrators still in control.

Fortunately for me there were two teachers, one of whom changed my life for the better, who grasped what was really going on and helped me out. I really hope that there are more teachers like them who stride in the face of all this political BS.

Suffice it to say, I never lit anything on fire or caused any trouble of that sort. I did ragequit band class once, but then went back a month later. Does that count?
[/rant]

**Chuckiechan** · February 7th, 2010, 01:57 AM

A school district in the Sacramento area got sued for excessive expelling and discipline. Why? They were trying to compete with private schools by getting rid of the troublemakers just like private schools do.

The school districts are suppose to spot "at risk" students and intervene with whatever social services are necessary. The problem is there is no money in the budget to do an adequate job since we have such a huge administrative overhead, combined with sky high retirement liabilities. Basically, you have $120K a year administrators tripping all over themselves, and one third of the teacher's budget going to fund employee retirements.

In short, the well is rapidly running dry.

**CERuppel** · February 7th, 2010, 08:43 AM

"Trouble Student"...

About ten years after graduating high school I went back to get copies of some records. My old counselor was still there, so I went through his office for the records. On his wall was the old "Top Ten", a list of the worst students he had had to deal with. I had been demoted to third place.

Please note I had all requirements for graduation finished by the end of my junior year. I had held a 3.8+ GPA. And I had been active both in the orchestra and sports.

(My parents were disappointed in my "lousy GPA")

**Steve R Jones** · February 7th, 2010, 09:24 AM

Hey Whir - who raised you and where were they when you were in school?

On Monday, a teacher at Junior High School 190 in Queens caught 12-year-old Alexa Gonzalez doodling on her desk with a lime green magic marker. Instead of just erasing it, the school called police and the girl was walked out in handcuffs.

Seems like it would help to know how many other times she was caught destroying public/tax payer property?

If she's a good little girl and was doddling on the DESK for the first time - OK...cut her some slack....If this was the 87 times she been caught - break some of fingers

**Whir** · February 7th, 2010, 10:42 AM

I'll thank you to not imply my parents were poor parents, Steve. I don't care if you talk crap about me, but you do not go there.

My mom was constantly, _CONSTANTLY_ battling with the principle, teachers, and anyone else who stood in her way of getting fair treatment for me. She wanted to home school me, but I refused because I wanted to be in the school band.

My father installed most of the intercom systems in the upper level when they were building the new school. My German teacher actually told him that I was ADHD, violent and that I _needed_ to be on medication. I have never intentionally harmed another person or animal (outside of some insects) in my entire life and only unintentionally a handful of times and never in high school.

At 31 I do not drink more than a few times a year, do no smoke, do not do drugs, am not a bigot, do not blindly follow anyone's lead and am more intelligent still than just about anyone I've ever met (RobRich scares me though). So the next time you want to infer that I was raised poorly, you can go find a fire to fall in.

You also seem to be the kind of person that believes no student could possibly be nurtured outside the mold. If she's caught 87 times, break some fingers? If she's been caught that many times, the girl is troubled in some way and that problem should be addressed. Not with punishment (outside of the obvious for that kind of thing), but with proper analytics and guidance.