Petty school rant/whine/complaint

[Colleen27]

Wow, that is taking micromanaging to a whole new level! I absolutely HATED when my kids' schools would get on these kind of kicks - a teacher or, worse, the principal discovers some new-and-improved organizational system and the kids have to adopt it whether or not what they were doing was working for them. With my oldest, the adjustment period was inevitably accompanied by a spike in not-turned-in work and all round disorganization as he worked to get used to the new system... which, as often as not, would be replaced with something "better" the following year.

My aunt was a second grade teacher (she retired at the end of this past school year after 40+yrs) and her 2nd graders had iPads. I believe it was 4th grade when the iPads would go home with the kids rather than being stored at the school.

I'm all for electronic communication but I thought that was a bit early for that kind.

I do think most of the paper stuff is bygone era if nothing else than waste and cost concerns and time spent. Obviously iPads, laptops, etc cost $$$ but printing on a gran scale probably does too and I'm assuming the school district can just buy the electronic license for a textbook and be done rather than worry about replacing more and more. And when things get updated from edition to edition it's probably easier to do that. Plus I feel more parents want quicker and easier access to things pertaining to their students.

That doesn't mean I think it's always a good thing for e-textbooks. If it's as you describe that's not exactly an encompassing learning material.

Our school starts with Chromebooks in 1st grade and I'm not really fond of the change. I don't think e-textbooks are equivalent to their print counterparts, even when the content is identical, nor do I think typing notes and assignments has the same memory-value as writing by hand (and there is research supporting both positions, though it is far from settled science). And I think that effect is particularly strong with younger kids. But schools are constantly short of funds and devices + ebooks are often cheaper than hard-copy textbooks and printed consumables, and as you said, parents want virtually real-time access to their students' information, so there's a lot of pressure to look to technology as a silver-bullet solution.

 

[luvsJack]

I know this very well, I work in student services at a large university. I hear it all the time form students complaining. Heck, I even ask my students if they checked their portal/blackboard/etc to locate xyz? When I worked as an academic advisor I was showing students how to navigate their portals daily, as well as fielding questions on where to find resources. You'd think that new student registration/orientation would cover that or at least a website with sufficient information...

I'm fine with e-books and the like when they are good resources, but what our middle schooler and high schooler have is not. They are incomplete and often incorrect. There have been multiple assignments that I have assisted my kids on where I sent the teacher an email with snapshots showing incorrect information given in the text as well as assignment. Plus as a parent trying to log into 4 different accounts in two different districts is a real pill. Especially since the log in information changes annually, and trying to get a hold of it is not as easy as it should be. I've come to appreciate the multiple Remind texts that I receive weekly

Lol. Our orientation goes over the portal in detail and yet they still come to me and say “I can’t access it” or “I can’t find it” so we go to the student computer in student services and go over it again. I don’t think they retain information from orientation. I have said so many times they need to let those of us that actually work with students set up the portal and add a way to get help easily.

I can see where your situation would be frustrating. I remember having a science teacher that gave the wrong information and my dad would send him corrections daily and that was with actual books. The whole point of e books is supposed to be constantly updated and corrected information. Sounds like your school systems aren’t using the best supplier of ebooks. I feel for you.

 

[VandVsmama]

I don't understand the need to email the teachers and the principal? Why would the principal need an email with the information about how your daughter specifically will be organizing her schoolwork?
Seems like your daughter is old enough to speak up to her teachers if they question her and you could get involved from there if it became an issue that merited it.

Because the notice from the school said that parents should contact the administration if one had concerns and the student needed a different organization system than the mandated one.

 

[VandVsmama]

And this isn't just for like 4 or 5 binders. There are a total of 8 subjects. 8 binders now to potentially haul back & forth to/from home if you end up the unlucky one with HW in each subject on a particular day. Granted, some of the classes aren't held every day...their schedules vary a little bit because of that.

There's an upcoming "coffee talk" that the school administration is having next month (they do it every month - an open thing for an hour with parents). I'm going to go to it because I'm curious what their logic is with all of it.

 

[aprilgail]

When my daughter was in school they requested blue, red, orange, yellow and green binders for each different class- well could not find any yellow ones so I gave up and we bought all white ones that were on sale and wrote on each one "Blue" "orange" etc LOL- never heard a word from the teachers about it.

 

[VandVsmama]

When my daughter was in school they requested blue, red, orange, yellow and green binders for each different class- well could not find any yellow ones so I gave up and we bought all white ones that were on sale and wrote on each one "Blue" "orange" etc LOL- never heard a word from the teachers about it.

I did this last year when 1 of the teachers wanted a certain size of a yellow 3-ring binder. I went to 4 or 5 different stores and could not for the life of me find one. Why? Well, because there were about 120 other families looking for the same thing. And on principle, I refused to go buy one online. So we used a white one that we already had instead. As it turned out, the teacher didn't care what color it was...it was the administrator overseeing that grade who decided on the binder colors for each subject.

 

[SteveH]

I loved when teachers tried to get my oldest that organized, it failed every time. He was the king of the messy desk, but they didn't try to force a round peg in a square hole with him. Reality was he turned things in on time, and got really good grades, and usually made the teachers think. Sometimes I think some teachers micromanage way to much.

 

[Kitty 34]

Because the notice from the school said that parents should contact the administration if one had concerns and the student needed a different organization system than the mandated one.

So if they don't comply to the school's way of organization do they get in trouble or can they just change up on their own.....if it works or not?? Sounds like they can't if you have to contact an administrator. Just wondering.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

A live look at the principal:

 

[VandVsmama]

So if they don't comply to the school's way of organization do they get in trouble or can they just change up on their own.....if it works or not?? Sounds like they can't if you have to contact an administrator. Just wondering.

If the kid doesn't have permission to not comply, then the kid is sent to his/her locker and has to put away the all-in-1 binder and has to put away the single HW folder. It's stupid.

 

[Kitty 34]

If the kid doesn't have permission to not comply, then the kid is sent to his/her locker and has to put away the all-in-1 binder and has to put away the single HW folder. It's stupid.

Thank you for your reply and yes.....stupid. Good luck.

 

[Colleen27]

When my daughter was in school they requested blue, red, orange, yellow and green binders for each different class- well could not find any yellow ones so I gave up and we bought all white ones that were on sale and wrote on each one "Blue" "orange" etc LOL- never heard a word from the teachers about it.

We don't get our supply list until the week before school, at the back-to-school day when they do pictures and such, and we live in a very small town where our school supply choices are Dollar Tree or CVS, the latter of which has long since moved on from back-to-school to Halloween in their seasonal aisle by the time that list comes home. So there have been a couple of years where the color-coded binders were accomplished with a strip of the designated color duct tape on white binders, because I wasn't about to haul myself the 45 minutes to a Target or Staples to get the specified colors.

 

[mousefan73]

Gosh I remember the days when we just stuffed all papers (done, not done, graded, whatever) in our textbooks. We didn't even have backpacks to stuff anything in so we just walked around with 3 to four books in our arms. Now those were the days!!

Really! I graduated high school in 92 and the only thing people carried where girls and their purses. NOBODY has backpacks or school bags.. heck a backpack was soo nerdy/lame.... today is totally different. We carried books and one time in High school I left my books on the roof of my car and drove off! lol...

anyways OP, what you wrote is serious overdown micromanaging..

 

[hereyago]

Bring back the Trapper Keeper lol.

 

[Kitty 34]

Really! I graduated high school in 92 and the only thing people carried where girls and their purses. NOBODY has backpacks or school bags.. heck a backpack was soo nerdy/lame.... today is totally different. We carried books and one time in High school I left my books on the roof of my car and drove off! lol...

anyways OP, what you wrote is serious overdown micromanaging..

At least you had the option to decide they (backpacks) were nerdy and lame........

 

[LSUmiss]

dang, someone at that school likes to micromanage ah for the good old days-just a pee chee folder with some binder paper, a textbook covered in brown paper bag and a (gasp) non mechanical pencil (how did we ever manage to be educated?).

That’s what I was thinking. How ridiculous.