But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope

Friday, October 07, 2005

I have patience?

The librarian at my school today said that I have incredible patience. My 6th period class is a bit crazy and we were in the library today doing research. Most of them did OK, but I have a good number that always want to find a way out of doing work. They are soon going to learn what happens when you do that in my class. No privileges and lots of failing. There are a few that are growing to hate me, but they get overpowered by my legion of devoted Austinites who seem to have generally positive feelings about me and my class.

Have I ever gone on one of my "Kids these days" rants yet? If not, well here it is. I feel like when I was in school it was very taboo to swear at school, or at least in front of your teachers. My students do it pretty regularly. I don't do that much about it, but by the time they are done with the class I generally see a 50-75% reduction in profanity. I know that our society has really given greater approval to the use of profanity. Now it seems like ass and bitch make regular appearances, and I guess I don't really object. However, I really get annoyed by students saying stuff like "that shit is wack" and "give me back my fucking pen bitch" without giving it a second thought. I even had a student call me an asshole this week, although I deserved it and it was more of a friendly way like I would do with my friends. Still, he said it without giving it much thought, although he apologized later without me asking. So my question is: am I getting old or what? I heard about a school in Iowa (I think?) that now allows students to use up to five profanities in a single class per day before they get in trouble. Is that the direction we are headed? Sure, profanity can be rather effective in some cases, mostly when Samuel L. Jackson is involved, but shouldn't we encourage students to develop a broader vocabulary of insults?

Maybe its just me, but if we don't put a lid on this bullshit I'm going to kick someone's motherfucking ass and that bitch aint gonna do shit about it.

1 comment:

Pete said...

I think you're right. Kids shouldn't be allowed to swear in class at all. Its a respect thing. Your students should respect you as both an authority figure and a superior intellect and should therefor try to strive to your level, rather than them dragging you down to thiers.