.... is a good thing for kids?In the corporate world stress may be looked at as a beneficial (I don't agree). But stressed workers doesn't have an emotional impact on widgets. But our widgets walk and talk - and are little or even if big, still not fully mature. Think they're not affected by the national mania for turning schools into mini-corporations?
Middle school blogger Have A Gneiss Day writes:
Administration is barely holding it together. Most of the staff is living on the edge (except for the ones that are either too new or too arrogant to care). What bothers me most is our stress is slowly but surely finding its way to the kiddies.
And NYC Pubic School Blue wrote:
chronic teacher fatigue?
CTF? I doubt the AMA recognizes such a condition, but if they did - I suspect I'm suffering from it.
Perhaps it's just the ELA prep that's getting to me. The simulation exams, the "incorporation" of testing skills in all subjects, the "pumping them up for the exam" hype ... it's all a bit much. The kids are trying their best; that I have to admit. But even they begin to become tired and need an outlet. Unfortunately, that seems to be exactly at the time of my class. So today's chatty class got the consequence for not completing their work. A 30 minute lunch detention. 30 minutes of agony for me. But once you say you're going to do issue a consequence, you have to follow through. Even if that means a loss of one's own lunch.
I'm slipping further and further behind in the curriculum due to this damn test. I can't wait for it to be over.
Here's an idea for all the gaggle of Whitney Tilson-like ed reformers. Let's do stress tests on kids and rate schools A-F based on the lowest (or highest in BloomKleindom) scores.
