Tuesday, May 15, 2007

I Miss You

I'm sorry I'm not getting 'round much on the blog circuit.

Wanna hear something crazy? A couple of kids failed their TKD test on Saturday. One parent in particular is irate. She felt her son should have been passed whether he knew the material or not. She's pissed because a younger boy passed his test (for a lower belt) even though he didn't know some of his vocabulary words (though easily got the required 80%) while her own son failed because he didn't know more than 4 of his 20 4-sided hand techniques. She's told the owners that if her son doesn't pass his retest, "there will be consequences." Sadly, she does not mean for her son. What the hell?!?

She's a schoolteacher. Wouldn't you think that she would be able to put herself in the instructors' shoes and realise that you can't pass a kid who doesn't know his stuff? Especially for Bo Dan. I mean, that's a huge deal! Sadly, no. I guess she's more of the "no child left behind" sort. Like, ever. Like, even if they can't read - "aw pass 'em." Is it any wonder why the schools are in such a state?

So now she's getting really dung-headed and it sounds like she's going to have him study the old (much easier) curriculum just to make a point. In spite of the fact that he was handed the new curriculum back in August. What a "see you next Tuesday." (oh, I can't believe I said that) How does that help her kid succeed? How does that help him learn the right thing to do? How does it reinforce any of the six tenets of Tae Kwon Do? (Perseverance, Integrity, Courtesy, Self-Control, Indomitable Spirit, Humility)

So she's going to sacrifice her own kid on the altar of her pride.

Nice.

Sometimes people make me crazy.

13 comments:

egan said...

You teach right? I'm assuming this story isn't about you, but I know you can quite clever.

It's great to see you back. I know I've missed your presence.

Jacob said...

Tote! If the kid can't do it for Bo Dan, he doesn't have a snowball's chance for ever being able to do it for Bo Derek.

As for me, I'm glad to see you back because I've missed your presents.

Our jails are FULL of illiterate children who simply got old enough to be called adults. But truly, they are NOT. They just kept getting passed on to the next higher grade until dropping out in the 10th or 11th grade.

Anonymous said...

Teachers can sometimes be the absolute worst when it comes to using their heads. I don't know how many college professors with PhDs I've seen who can't read signs. And gawpo's right. Our culture consists of giving up on each other and ourselves instead of actually perservering, growing, learning. That stuff's just too hard!

armalicious said...

Yeah, this lady sounds like she's setting her kid up for something worse when he grows up. When he's 20 and he doesn't get a job, is she going to be there to threaten the company with "consequences"? I don't know much about TKD, but based on what you wrote, it looks like the only tenet that is being observed is perseverance, but in a bad way.

C said...

Egan - silly Egan. Read the whole thing. ;) Yes, I teach. Which makes it particularly hard for me to understand why another person who teaches cannot see why we can't pass her kid simply because he was present for the test. :-/ I'm teaching this boy today at after school program. I hope his mom doesn't show up. No fear there, really. His parents never come. Which is one reason why they're unable to help him at home. But he's had at least 8 months to ask any questions he's had, so that's no excuse, really.

Gawpo - I missed my presents, too. I wonder where they are? ^_^ I find this whole Pass the Buck system very sad.

Kitkat - Isn't that just crazy?! Yeah, I knew a lot of absent-minded professors. ^_^

I guess it's much easier to lower the bar and pass everyone so they all feel good. (oh hooray, an orange slice for everyone! *_*) And then they can point to their wonderful stats- OOOOh, Look! EVERYONE passed 12th grade math. Okay, yes, we had to reduce it to single digit addition and allow the use of calculators and counters, but HEY! everyone passed!! Yay for us! :-/

Amanda - Isn't that insane? It boggles my mind.

robkroese said...

Confucius say, "When six tenets fail, fall back on mommy."

ldbug said...

My mom was a teacher for many years. I can't tell you how many times she sighed to me "it's not the kids, it's the parents.."

I feel bad for that kid, what a bad influence his mother is!!

Trundling Grunt said...

She probably sees it as a rejection of herself. Parents like this make me scream as it totally fucks their kids up for real life where - yes, you can fail tests and not everyone gets a medal for showing up.
As to the see you reference, we had a swear box back in the UK (it was our second - long story) and you had to pay 10p for every swear word except "the big one beginning with 'C'" which was a full 50ps worth. You're a bad girl...

Chikken said...

Those parents make me insane! Mommy can't deal, so kid will never learn to deal...damn it.

C said...

Diesel - I'll have to remember that one.^_^

Ldbug - Isn't that terrible? Yeah, the kid is actually a pretty good kid. Not really motivated, but he does at least break a sweat and is a very sweet kid, too. So far. Sigh.

TG - Maybe that's it. Or feeling she's failed him, and not wanting to admit it to herself, and thus needing to shift the blame to the school? Argh!

Ha! I NEVER say the C word. NEVER! I don't like it. But sometimes it really does apply. nd hey, you said "fuck." I think that's 10p then. . . ^_^

Chikken - Tragic, isn't it? Blah.

egan said...

Your thought process is far too logical.

C said...

Thank you Master Yoda. ^_^

Claire said...

This seems to be an enormous problem all over the country in education. Parents who talk up a big game but don't follow through -"He's just so stubborn, what can we do?" Parents who say one thing and then do another or nothing as in "You cannot retain my son. I will teach him to read at the 3rd grade level over the summer" Grrrr... Now this poor kid at the end of 3rd grade is only reading at a 2nd grade level. Guess what, mom wants him to move on to the 4th grade. Poor fellow
Can you tell this stuff bugs the shit outa me?