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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2006-04-20

The Lessons We Teach

Yes, there was another immigration march today.

Big deal.

This is actually starting to get to be too much--they've overplayed this hand, in my estimation. The first marches were a PR fiasco because of the Mexican flags; now, we're at a point where you have to echo the Governor in asking why they never have these marches on weekends.

But there's today; we know there's plans to walk out of classes on May 1st; and does anybody really think that these kids will be in class on Cinco de Mayo? I would schedule some serious extra credit opportunities for those days, if I were in those classrooms.

But then you get this little nugget way down in the reporting:

At about 9:30 a.m., 300 to 400 students who had assembled at Viking Park — including at least four North High School teachers joining in support — started marching south on Speer Boulevard, staying on the sidewalks. [emphasis mine]

I wonder if their administrators will have the fortitude to insist on them forfeiting their salary for today's little "civics lesson"? Probably not.

But more importantly, the message has just been delivered to these students that their success, their progress in life, their way forward in America, has more to do with protest marches than it does with their own education and striving for achievement. Can these teachers possibly have any credibility in the classroom now when they try to insist on individual effort and excellence? After today, the only assignments that would be authentic would be large-group projects, which, if memory serves, usually means the one or two kids who care about their grades do a ton of work while the other 6-10 kids sit around and plan their next protest.

And the politicians continue to dither about this issue. Sounds like a referendum waiting to happen.
Posted by: Michael / 4/20/2006 01:26:00 AM

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