I got suspended

I decided that in order to get a better handle on what's going on with these kids, I would spend the day at my daughter's school. I checked-in at the office... and stood quietly in line waiting for our class to be called in. When I got to where the teacher was standing, I told her that I was spending the day. I couldn't believe the horror on her face. We went on to the classroom, but the teacher ran over to the principal and told on me. When the teacher came into the classroom, I was informed that the principal was waiting out in the hall to speak with me.

I was told that I could either sit in the hall, or go home. That there was plenty of supervision for my daughter in the classroom, and that there weren't any problems in there. I beg to differ. Perhaps I should have taken the notes to school that my daughter has been passing under all that heavy supervision. I wouldn't mind so much about the notes, but she isn't that good of a student. Anyhow, I tried to reason with the principal by explaining that one of the reasons I was there is because of the stories my daughter is always telling me about what it's like here. I told her that I don't believe that the teacher "never gives the class enough time to finish their work," for example. That all of the class never gets their work done. Rather than argue with my daughter about it, I wanted to see for myself, and then there would be no reason for argument. Apparently, the principal thinks that it's enough that I know that my daughter lies. I, on the other hand think it would be better if I didn't have to just tell her all the time that I don't believe what she's saying, because no matter how much I say that, she insists she's telling the truth.

At any rate, to make a long story short, I got the boot from school, although I am welcome to stop by at recess. Probably the one time that I don't really care to be there.

Two weeks

In the two weeks leading up to Easter Sunday, one of our kids got booted out of school, again, and the sheriff had to come out to the house on three separate occassions because of something the other kid did. I don't much care to go into detail about what they did right now. I've heard over and over again that this is all just "normal kid stuff." I don't think so. I've lost count of the number of times the sheriff has visited the house. I've lost count of how many times I've had to pick our son up at school. I don't see anything normal at all about this. To make matters worse, the school doesn't support us (parents) at all. And the sheriff lectures me that I shouldn't be too hard on the kids. So, the sheriff gives my daughter a drink, and sits and sympathizes with her, then presumes to tell me that it's all my fault they had to come out. The school rewards my son for NOT throwing a tantrum, then tells me I have to deal with it when he does. And, of course, in their opinion, I'm too harsh. When I was a kid, people spanked their kids with a belt for these sorts of behavior, and the kids didn't usually do THAT again. Now, it's too harsh to yell and make them stay in their rooms. I'm glad I won't be around to see how this generation turns out.

Fifth grade math

According to my fifth grade son, his teacher says they have to use a calculator in class to do fractions. The reason being that if they don't learn how to use a calculator, they'll get left behind by the other kids that are learning to use them. My question: How long does it take to learn that to add, you push the "+" button... to multiply, you push the "X" button... I'm also wondering when they're going to be teaching him how to convert back to a fraction from a decimal answer.

Analysis?

Okay, I have a little bit of a problem with accepting the analysis of a source, in this case the AP, that states that "[consumer confidence] was the worst since the index began in 2002 and surpassed the previous low reached in February." I mean, if it's the worst ever, how can it be anything but worse than the previous worst.