I've been dealing with the Round Rock Independent School District since 1982.
I have put up with a teacher calling my daughter a liar, because she told the class about having an experience that most kids her age had not had. I have put up with notes from the teacher saying, "Chandra is doing real good." I have suffered along with my children when teachers, students and administrators have treated them unfairly. When we managed to talk Chandra into returning to school after she quit, she lasted three days, until some administrator humiliated her to the point where she quit again. Vanessa wasn't allowed to audition for a show, because the director didn't like her. Even with a recommendation from her own theater teacher.
For many kids, theater is the reason they stay in school. Too bad somebody didn't realize that about Vanessa.
The gestapo principal had left by the time Vanessa graduated. That's because she quit and tried to off herself before we talked her into going back and graduating.
Through all this, I have been nice. I have been nice, because I had one more child to get through the system. Now he has graduated, and I no longer need to be nice.
Theresa Hertel, you are a piece of excrement.
My son won a scholarship from the Sam Bass Community Theatre.
Bet you didn't know that, did you?
Guess why? Because Ms Hertel never bothered to return messages from the Sam Bass Scholarship Committee. I was asked for her contact info by the Committee Liaison, and I provided it. The Liaison person left messages with Ms Hertel, starting at the beginning of May, but never heard back from her.
The Senior Awards ceremony came and went, and Brendan and I never got an invitation. At Graduation, I read the program, which listed all the awards won by Graduating Seniors. Brendan's name was not on the list.
Why? Because Theresa Hertel dropped the ball.
I HATE that my kids have so often been stomped through the cracks in the Round Rock School System. There is something wrong with the way we educate kids.
Here's an idea.
Why don't we quit building these huge schools, where thousands of kids are packed into boxes and shuffled around from pillar to post for years, and build smaller schools, where we don't have to divide kids up into "A-L" and "M-Z" for assignment to a counsellor.
I went to a school that had 500-odd kids, from 8th through 12th grades. There were 42 in my graduating class. The administrators taught classes. If any student had a problem, the student could go to any teacher for help.
I am fed up with this system. I am fed up with seeing my children gradually lose all their innate love of learning. I am totally fed up with dealing with people who couldn't care less about any individual student.
I am done being nice.
That is just appalling, Ronni. You wonder why some people become teachers. I had major problems with a teacher at my daughters school, but that's another story.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should pay her a visit one day.
It's not just her, and I know she was overwhelmed. It's the whole system. what happened was that the Senior counsellor quit shortly before the end of the year, and, with no time to hire a new one, the other counsellors took up the slack. Theresa is actually a Freshman Counsellor, with half an alphabet full of Seniors added to a workload that was probaby sufficient to begin with.
ReplyDeleteSTILL! I feel that she shouldn't have taken on the extra if she was unable to fulfill the obligation. And I'm fed up with the system that works this way.
This is one reason homeschooling is appealing to some families. In spite of what so many people think, everyone doesn't homeschool for religious reasons. I'm just crushed for you and Brendan that he was overlooked for the awards ceremony.
ReplyDeleteI tried to teach Chandra how to read when she was four. I think I set her back about six months. I do NOT have a talent for teaching. Most people don't. I can show a person how to do something, but there is a lot more to teaching than that.
ReplyDeleteI admire the many people who manage to do a good job of home schooling. I despise the many who think they can, and try it, messing their kids up in the process.
I want small schools, with no more than a dozen students for each teacher.
I agree. Home schooling isn't a choice for everyone. But for those who want to, and are doing a good job, I'm glad they have the option. Honestly, the public school system as it stands does it's share of harm to our kids. Expecting everyone to learn at the same pace, in the same way is totally wrong. It would be a wonderful world if we COULD see smaller schools come back into vogue. Around here, everything is "consolidating" in order to qualify for more funding. Whatever.
ReplyDeleteI hope you know how much I enjoy reading about your life. I come here almost every day to see what you're up to!
Trouble is, when I actually get up to something, I don't have time to write!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoy reading here, though. I really enjoy the writing...
Unfortunately, smaller schools are no proof against ...unfortunate... experiences.
ReplyDeleteMy High School was essentially the same numbers as Ronni's -- with two science teachers. Physical Science teacher was a self-acclaimed SOB -- though you could learn a lot if you played the game (hmmm, lesson there, too), the Biological Sciences teacher was so bad I might never have taken the class for what I remember (and I got an A).
It's horribly unfortunate and unfair that one of the first lessons kids must learn is self-advocacy -- against all odds. Or the simple act of generating to a spec -- whether or not it floats your boat. It shouldn't be that way.
But, alas... the world won't toe the line to my ideas of equanimity. In fact, I think it makes snide noises behind my back. =eyebrow arch= There it goes again.
My heart aches for your and Brendan's experience, Ronni -- at the same time remembering how, in a small community, three times I was mentioned in the paper using my mother's name, not mine. [Yes, I have to laugh, but it may be cause of why I think accolades are sugar-sprinkles: really cool at first glance, but somewhat dissatisfying in the end. That, however, is MY baggage; don't extrapolate any more than that.]
What can we do?
Support our odd shaped children as we can. Teach them how to put a uniform mask (they're ACTORS, after all) to The System where necessary, show them how to weather the storms of unfairness, to know, even when there's no fanfare, they ROCK, to see the roses for the thorns -- and show, somehow, maybe by example that curiosity NEEDS to thrive, though not in the narrow channels cut by pavement groover machine of 'The System.'
On the other hand, my, frankly, often undeserving child has had teachers who still put their heart and soul into teaching, who don't give up on his SweatHog self(where's Mr. Kotter when you need him?), even while he's just a pebble on the beach -- or even an affront, apparently, in one case --to the rest.
*sigh*
I have no answers -- for every suggestion, a dozen-dozen pros, a dozen-dozen cons.... And the mother's prayer, despite it all, the key lessons of thinking and landing on your feet and joy of life despite everything arrayed against it will take root like that damned Asiatic Jasmine (or, she smiles perversely, green briar -- bite 'em back, boy).
[Right now, he's 16, and full of that dark Teenness -- so, well, I'm in the wait and hope stage.]
And when the system stinks -- though my heart BLEEDS -- I tell him it's preparation for the pointy haired boss. Yeah, that stinks, too...
Think maybe a Sam Bass board member could send a little press release postcard to the Leader? Get him mentioned in one of those call out columns...?
(at self) You keep thinkin', Butch, that's what you're good at.
Ronni: this sort of thing fills me with dread when I think of my son entering the school system. About awards ceremonies: I never saw the point to them, and once I got sick of looking at smug parents preening in the audience when their surrogates were trotted out onstage, I stopped attending them.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous made me sad --
ReplyDeleteWhy has taken pride in our children's accomplishments become "parents preening in the audience when their surrogates were trotted out onstage"?
No. Not every kid gets a medal. Not every kid gets a line item when they do get a medal. Life is unfair -- or perhaps too fair -- in that regard.
But the hard knocks are so unremitting, aren't we entitled to a little dance and rah rah when something does go right? When hard work is recognized? It's called positive reinforcement.
Fine. The reward system doesn't 'work out' for everyone, maybe not even for most. But deciding there is something wrong with those for whom the sun shines a minute, who appreciate that sunbeam... especially when we have NO clue what other storms may roil in their lives. Ouch.
Grudging other people's joy, other people's pleasure in their or their children's accomplishments -- well, it makes me sad and mystified.
When I was a kid, my good grades were dismissed as 'Teacher's Pet.' Nothing about the hard work and dedication I might have applied. Nothing about, just maybe, that my teachers *liked* me because I treated them as if they were real human beings, and rewarded their career choice with being responsive enough to LEARN something. No. Apparently they just liked me best because I was a brown noser.
What's WITH that?
Ah well.
I'm sorry people feel affronted by others' celebrations. It *does* make me sad. But when, in the interminable queue of slap-downs life usually dishes my son, he gets a moment in the spotlight, I'm gonna be the one on her feet yelling, 'Bravo!' (He'll be the one saying, "Shut UP, Mom.")
And for what it's worth, BRAVO!!! to Brendan. And his Mom. Be proud of him, Ronni. Bask in it, just that little bit. I'm sorry the moment was spoiled -- pissy for you, even -- still, try to find the moment's joy again. I hope.
For "anonymous:" I think you might feel differently when it's your child receiving the award. Those "preening parents" have worked very hard with their kids to instill the work ethic that earns awards.
ReplyDeleteThis was not some little certificate Brendan got for perfect attendance, or something. This was a scholarship that he has worked toward from before he knew what work was! It was awarded by our local Community Theater, and he received it because he has been there since he was two. We put a paintbrush in his hand then, and he never looked back. I've lost count of number of plays he has worked on up there, starting with being a baby angel in a Christmas show when he was three, to playing the Lion in "The Velveteen Rabbit" last summer. He has worked backstage with little or no recognition, and might be the only kid in the history of Sam Bass Theatre who never ran afoul of the current President of the board, a notoriously egocentric actor and director, who has yelled at every kid he ever worked with at least once.
So, I may be entitled to a bit of smugness, and Brendan is my son, not my surrogate.
I'm willing to bet that, the first time you get a letter from your child's school asking you to attend the annual awards ceremony, you will change your tune.
And, when every scholarship means the difference in your child being able to attend college and...well...not, you will want to stand up and cheer.