Archetypical

[glockmail]

My son got a D in his first quarter English. He's been complaining that the subject matter is useless, the teacher is a picky grader and has lots of dumb rules, and everyone's grades are generally poor because of this. I've been telling him that he's just going to have to do the work anyway so you might as well do it well, that you don't get to choose your boss, English is important even though you might not think so now, it will help expand your mind, blah, blah, blah. I joked that the guy sounds like your typical Democrat, on a power trip, and he said "yeah that, and he's gay too."

The kid next door has the same teacher. Totally unsolicited he tells me that he hates his English class. Nobody likes the guy because he's so picky and unfair. They learn the subject matter but still get bad grades. He never mentioned the gay thing.

Then my son got a zero on an assignment that he did, "because it wasn't handed in in time". He handed the paper to the teacher when it was due, but he was also supposed to download it to a website that checks for plagiarism. He said he did that the night before, but the network messed up. We emailed the teacher with this info and he basically said "tough break".

So my wife and I met with the teacher this morning. Our goal was to get the paper graded properly and to convince this guy that he needed to take a different approach with motivation.

He couldn't have been more of a caricature of a gay guy. He's a little black guy, skinny, well dressed, big feet. Limp handshake, nervous demeanor, talks with a lisp and way too fast.

Anyway my wife starts in on him with her Southern charm- real s-l-o-w Dixie Carter. She tells him that he followed his written rules to the letter, he did the work on time and technology being what it is, the website didn't get the paper. Once he found this out he resubmitted it, and there was no plagiarism.

He replied that the paper would have received a grade of 67, which was one of the top grades in the class.

Now its my turn. I told him that my son was good student. QPA of 4.5, will have 8 AP classes for college, yada yada.

He acknowledged that I was correct and would give him half of the the grade that he had earned. He should have checked the website to see if it had been downloaded and accepted, and he didn't do that.

Dixie Carter steps in again. "That's not going to motivate this kid."

My turn: "Look, the kids a scientist. I'm a practical scientist, my wife's a practical scientist. My Dad was a engineer. My wife's dad and grandfather were engineers. That's not to say that we don't think that English is important, because in my career I've used my writing skills to a distinct advantage, but we know that these techniques will be unsuccessful at motivating practical scientific people. And since his grades are higher than most of the class, lack of motivation seems to be an issue with not just him."

After Dixie stroked his ego a bit with some small talk, she brought out a copy of his written rules. There wasn't anything about the website requirement. "And, by the way, I do a lot of volunteer work with the school..."

His response was that he had written "rules specific to this assignment, and that 8 points would be deducted for blah, 8 points for blah, 8 more for blah, blah, blah..."

Dixie: "He should have checked the site and didn't. That makes him a dufus. You should be fair and deduct 8 points, not cut the grade in half.

Me: "8 dufus points sounds fair to me."

Teacher: "That makes sense. I'll deduct 8 points then..."

[HogTrash]

So what's the moral of the story?

[glockmail]

I don't think there is one, except maybe that you have to keep involved with your kid's schooling, know when to react and just how much to push.

For instance, I knew a guy in upstate NY that made an appointment with the school sex-ed teacher when his first kid was beginning his freshman year. He told her that he grills his kids every day on what they did in school, and if one of them tells him that she put a condom on a banana then she should expect to get some deer rounds through her front windows.

Perhaps that would work but the subtle approach that we used today is probably more effective.

[HogTrash]

I was very dissatisfied with the way the public schools seemed to liberalize the curriculum when my kids were still in school.

Liberal crap...gay issues-global warming-affirmative action-gun control-etc-etc

I too had my bouts with the schools and managed to somehow remain civil although it was not always easy...Liberals can be very aggravating.

[glockmail]

No doubt you have to keep your cool. Walking through the teacher's parking lot looking at bumper stickers was like a review of current events in democrat politics. But like any bad situation, it is important to find an angle where you can us it to an advantage.

When one of my kids has an issue with a teacher, one of the first things I do is tell them to look up their political affiliation. The pains in the ass are invariably registered Democrat, so I use that as a starting point to explain behavior, and how to deal with it.

Then when my kids do something to shun responsibility, I tell hem to "take responsibility for your person, because we ain't raising Democrats here".

[chloe]

No doubt you have to keep your cool. Walking through the teacher's parking lot looking at bumper stickers was like a review of current events in democrat politics. But like any bad situation, it is important to find an angle where you can us it to an advantage.

When one of my kids has an issue with a teacher, one of the first things I do is tell them to look up their political affiliation. The pains in the ass are invariably registered Democrat, so I use that as a starting point to explain behavior, and how to deal with it.

Then when my kids do something to shun responsibility, I tell hem to "take responsibility for your person, because we ain't raising Democrats here".

Glock you and your wife handle things alot better then I would. I get really angry and lose my temper and then my ex husband has to deal with it. One time my youngest kid forgot to get her planner signed all week, and the teacher said in front of the class if you can't remember to get your planner signed maybe you should tell your parents your too stupid to come to school. It was true she was lazy, but still it made me mad that she called my kid stupid in front of the class. So I went to talk to her about it and caught her in the front office, anyways we ended up arguing real loud, and it esculated and then the teacher said some jacked up words and the prinicpals secretarys jawed dropped open at the teacher, and then I stomped out and my ex husband had to deal with the aftermath LOL.

[glockmail]

Glock you and your wife handle things alot better then I would. I get really angry and lose my temper and then my ex husband has to deal with it. One time my youngest kid forgot to get her planner signed all week, and the teacher said in front of the class if you can't remember to get your planner signed maybe you should tell your parents your too stupid to come to school. It was true she was lazy, but still it made me mad that she called my kid stupid in front of the class. So I went to talk to her about it and caught her in the front office, anyways we ended up arguing real loud, and it esculated and then the teacher said some jacked up words and the prinicpals secretarys jawed dropped open at the teacher, and then I stomped out and my ex husband had to deal with the aftermath LOL.
My wife is the expert on dealing with irrational behavior. Her recipe: the louder and more irrational they speak, the quieter, slower, and more simply she speaks, and always in front of a witness. This requires them to defend their irrationality, which they can't.

[chloe]

My wife is the expert on dealing with irrational behavior. Her recipe: the louder and more irrational they speak, the quieter, slower, and more simply she speaks, and always in front of a witness. This requires them to defend their irrationality, which they can't.

I wish Mrs Glock posted here. (not that your chopped liver or anything) but she sounds really fantastic and cool.