How about let kids do their social stuff until they are ready to do something else?
> On May 1, 2022, at 3:46 PM, Prof David West <[email protected]> wrote: > > Just completed two weeks as a substitute teacher in a high-school business > classes that are offered as advanced placement with the possibility of > earning college credit. > > All of the students did no work, spent every minute of class on cell phones. > About 40% added talking, walking about the room, mock fighting, and at one > point throwing empty and partly filled plastic water bottles at each other. > Also a few couples engaged in PDA that approached the 'get a room' level. > > I had no authority, and any and every attempt at imposing any kind of > discipline, reminding them of work not done, tests not taken, was met with > arguments and belligerence. An assistant principle came to the room, once, > and admonished the students and informed them that only five or six students, > out of 40, were going to pass the class. They ignored her, and talked over > her scolding. [Essentially all of them will be given passing grades for the > class.] > > Students have had 1-2 years of distance learning where more than 70% did > little or no work, a little over half did not attend at all. They have > learned that no matter how little they do or learn, they will be promoted > anyway. > > The school system is in the fourth year of a "restorative justice" policy > that prevents any kind of sanctions or punishments for misbehavior—except for > bringing a gun on campus which will get you expelled. Teachers are limited to > appealing to the student's better instincts. Students have learned this > lesson as well, "no consequences for bad behavior." > > Not sure how typical my classes were—I may have been lucky enough to get an > outlier. But the campus has armed school police and other security staff > wandering the halls constantly, and we had 2-3 "tardy lockouts" every day > were students were not allowed into class late. Statistics for the Clark > County School District suggest that my experience is neither typical nor > atypical, with a slight edge towards the typical. > > I perused the textbook for the class. In terms of breadth of content and > difficulty of content, I would peg it at 7th or 8th grade level, not juniors > and seniors and certainly not for college credit. > > The thought of these students 'taking over' in 20 years makes me root for AI > and the Singularity. > > just moaning and whining > davew > > -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
