#there's 1) study for an exam we're both going to take 2) do homework next to each other or 3) get coffee

[proteuus]

taking a risk and inviting my favorite business boy for tea instead of coffee. will keep you all posted

[lexosaurus]

I worked as a substitute teacher for a few years and one day I helped sub in an 8th grade science class. They were doing math like speed=distance/time. But they had a...really odd method for it. That I commented on because I'd never heard of it before.

And the teacher was straight up like "Oh yeah, this makes it really easy for them to do it for the tests. But its going to really fuck them up next year when they are in high school because they won't understand how to reverse the division. But that's not my problem."

And that comment has lived in my head so much. Like, she just did NOT care that the method was bad in the long run. She just needed them to pass the state test that year.

Also, it's literally a very basic formula, what do you MEAN?

Ohhhhh yeah. That's not exactly the issue in my district, as funding for us isn't directly tied to our state exam scores (thank god). Mine is dealing with both grade inflation and no grades below high school. So kids don't want to learn things if they're not graded on the material. Which is fair, honestly, as I also would not have wanted to learn things I didn't like if I wasn't given a grade or any consequences for not knowing it either. Mine's also dealing with a lot of the "memorization bad" thing that's going around, hence why the kids are entering high school not knowing any of their times tables. They just used a calculator their entire lives. They have NO concept of what numbers mean.

Like, at the start of the year, I asked one of my classes what 2 + 0 was and I got about thirty seconds of 15 kids shouting every number except 2. Which was sort of wild to witness.

At the start of the year, we did a week of review and then we had all the freshmen take a quiz of 7th and 8th grade level easy math problems as a sort of wake up call for them. No quiz corrections either, which they've never not been allowed to retake a test before...

The class average was a C-. Unsurprisingly.

Content Teacher warned me right before she posted the grades, and I spent a LOT of time that afternoon talking the kids down from a metaphorical ledge.

Lots of angry parent phone calls, too, but the math department held firm. The students HAVE to know how to solve this stuff. They NEED to know their basic times tables, they NEED to know how basic fractions work, they NEED to know how to rearrange one-step equations.

After that, we had our Very Frank Class Discussion about how they felt about their education. They felt very frustrated and unprepared, which we validated as we're also frustrated that they're so unprepared. But we were honest about other things. We told them that they couldn't get by just sitting there on their phone and copying the answers off the key anymore. We aren't going to reward an A for minimal effort. Yes, you have to take notes, and yes, you have to follow along with classroom example of problems or you won't pass the class. The students are responsible for their education, we all offer extra help, all our emails are open, all they need to do is ask and we'll never turn them away. But they do need to start taking advantage of all the learning opportunities/supports they have now.

Honestly, I'm so glad we had that convo with them. Felt like they got to vent a lot of their frustrations, and they realized that we were here to push them, but we're NOT their enemy. All our students have a study hall block, and if they come to one of our rooms for even 10 minutes out of the entire hour, we will help them however they need.

A lot of my Freshmen have been really really good about coming for extra help, or emailing and asking if they can stop by for a few minutes to do a few homework problems 1-1 with me.

(And yes, for those worried, while we didn't let them retake that first quiz, two weeks later we did give them another assessment after on the same material, but with slightly harder problems and worth more points. Class average was a B!)

I tried to keep this short, but I guess I had a lot to say aksjnfksjdnkajn

[chaoticbitchywitch]

I have a lot going on and I really jus need to organize my thoughts. If you read this and have any advice I'd love to hear it 🥰

Issue One: My Grades

My grades are pretty important to me, but I missed a lot of school all in a row bc of TSA and Robotics. I currently have 4 C's, 1 B, and 3 A's but I want to at the v least have all A's and B's. I have a two options.

1. Focus on my lowest grades and jus accept B's so I don't kill my mental health

2. Kill my mental health (more) and try to get as many all the way up to A's.

But wait! There's more!

Issue Two: My Activities

I'm in robotics, TSA (Technology Student Association) and band.

My band director is leaving. Tomorrow is the teacher appreciation assembly and some of the band is playing a piece for her, but I was planning on doing homework instead of going to the assembly. I can either go to the library or go to the assembly. I don't wanna go to the assembly but I wanna play for my director bc she means a lot to me. I might be able to leave after but idk fs.

In robotics, we're preparing for next season and the state comp that we're hosting. There's really not much going on there rn at least, but the season jus finished.

In TSA, I made nationals in two events so I have that in June. I need to prepare for the events, but it's kinda stressful.

Band is the biggest activity rn obviously, but the others are still important. And I have all my homework and studying for tests still. And that brings be to my third issue.

Issue Three: Tests, Exams and Finals

I'm in AP US History, and that exam is 10 May, but I don't feel prepared at all. I have Algebra II, Chemistry and ELA EoC's that I have to study for. I have finals in Principles of Engineering, Civil Engineering and Architecture and Spanish. Both language courses are the most difficult for me, but I also have higher priorities (the more impactful ones like the AP exam, etc) that I would rather focus on. I don't have time to study for everything.

Issue Four: Family Bullshit

Since Feb, there's been some issues w my dad. I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail but I've been at my grandparents house. It's been really difficult mentally, emotionally and physically. It's been affecting my grades a lot and I haven't been able to sleep.

Issue Five: Summer

I've been wanting to apply to a new job so I get paid $14 or $15 rather than $12.80 but my mom is v against me working there bc it's farther away than where I currently work, it would be way more enjoyable. A few of my friends work there and the pay is better, so idrc that it's 15 minutes farther or sum like that. I also don't like the people I currently work w and there's a lot of drama (drugs at work (I'm a life guard why are you high at work thats actually fucking stupid), relationships and sex and cheating (as you'd expect from a job filled w high schoolers), people not doing their job, etc.) I jus think it would be a better work environment.

The other problem is summer school. I'm gonna be doing pre calc over the summer bc I wanna take calc next year so I can take higher level physics my senior year. One of my friends also did that last summer and he said it was hell and moved really fast, so I'm kinda worried abt that. He also said it wouldn't leave a whole lot of time for other things, which I believe. Idk I'm jus stressed abt it.

So yeahhhh. I've been having a lot of fun recently. I'm hella stressed and idk what to do. Yayyy. Love my life.

Anyway, if you're still here, thank you for reading. If you have any advice, I'd love to hear it 🥰🥰

[kawaii-watermelon]

Wow. When I was a kid, teachers would do whatever they wanted, we'd get tons of homework. And in some classes, if you hadn't done it or forgot it at home, you'd get negative points, and every three negatives or so, they'd lower your grade. I remember that my first year of secondary school I didn't do a lot of English homework, so my grade went from a 9 (out of ten) to a 7 or so. And when I was 17, we had so much homework and so much to study, I gave myself a tendinitis so bad that I could barely write for months, I wasn't able to complete homework or take notes, and for exams I had to use a bandage with a metal bar that went from my palm to over my wrist, so I would barely move my hand while writing my answers. Oral exams where usually not permitted, but if they were, they had to be in front of the whole class, and I honestly preferred horrible pain than asking for an oral exam.

I don't know how we survived, I remember being stressed and depressed, and I barely had any extracurriculars (in my last year or last two I had math private lessons, and before that, each year I had a different kind of dance/exercise/sports class that was once or twice a week). I also remember barely sleeping, like I sometimes took naps, but most of the time I went to sleep at 12/1/2 am. Sometimes even later, especially if I was stressed, or if I had exams. I would only go out on weekends, and I'd do limited home work then. I was also expected to clean the bathroom once a week, but help clean the kitchen every day, and I was supposed to keep my room clean and tidy. At one point everything got so bad, my mom said I just needed to keep the floor tidy, so she could at least vacuum (and she'd dust too if my desk wasn't full of shit).

There were very few people who always did their homework in my class, it was like, maybe 3-4 students. The rest of us would always skip something because we we're just so tired. And most homework was super ineffective, and in Language (Spanish) class, a lot of the answers had to be literally copied from the book.

Oh, and we were also expected to have binders or notebooks with all of our notes, which had to be clean, tidy, legible by the teacher and organized, and we were sometimes required to have drawings/images stuck in between notes/graphs/etc. If you had messy notes, you scribbled on the margins (or drew pretty stuff), and the teacher checked your notes, you'd get a negative point on your file.

And if you accumulated a lot of negative points, not only did they lower your grade (and you could even fail), they'd say next your grade that you weren't behaving correctly in class or that you had a bad attitude. We could see that, and our parents too (they were required to sign our grades). Oh, and negative points could be accumulated due to anything: bad behavior, getting distracted a lot (even if you had ADHD or similar), drawing while listening to a lecture, talking in class, asking a question without raising your hand, being late, not wanting to go to the front of the class to solve something on the blackboard, etc.

Honestly, my school was the most horrible place ever. When my sister was in primary school (she was maybe 7 or so), my parents had to drag her (literally) to school, and there the head teacher would have to drag her to class. We both tried to call in sick a lot, faked being sick, and as a result, we were later not believed when we were actually sick (due to that, I was once sent to school with an almost 49°C temperature, even though I only had two hours left, I had Religion class, where they made us watch Clockwork Orange, which traumatized me, and then I had a Science class which I could have totally skipped). Anyways, we hated school, my sister was lucky enough and was able to transfer for her last two years to an art school, but I had to stay there until my last year (it's a school that has everything from day care, to secondary school until you're 18). My youngest sister was there from ages 2 to 18, I only went from ages 4 to 18. It was a horrible place, and I ended up forgetting most of what I learnt, I only remember my English lessons, and some random things, but that's it. I had to help a cousin a few months ago with homework, and I couldn't remember a thing.

Oh, and also, this was a Catholic School, so we had to pray before starting our first class in the morning, and we were required to go to the school chapel every so often, especially on important events. We were obligated to get up on Easter Wednesday (whatever it's called in English), to get ash on our foreheads. We also had to learn the school song to sing it at mass. It was torture.

Hot take, but if you see your baby struggle through five hours of homework and then you get pissy because they drag their feet about doing chores? You need to reevaluate.