The bane of all teachers

I remember the day when, if you wanted to cheat, you had to write your answers on a leetle leetle piece of paper and stuff it in your pencil case. Cheat sheets made way for electronic devices, ranging from pagers, walkmans, mp3 palyers and now cellphones.

As a teacher, I don't mind if a student has these items as long as they do not use them in class or as long as they ask my permission. Case in point, one of my leadership students filmed me just chilling at my desk in class and added it to his clip montage on his hi5 or myspace page, I forget which one. Nothing incriminating, nothing tasteless, just a few seconds worth of Miss Alarie.

If a student dared film me without my consent...well, let's just say no one in their right mind at Beurling, unless of course they are new to the school, would try such a prank, because they know they don't fuck around with Miss Alarie (pardon the language). Want a 30 minute rant? Piss off Miss Alarie. Want to be banned from any possible outing and activity? Act like a twit. Want your higschool experience to be as enjoyable as a root canal? Go ahead, be all the moron you want to be.

Let's be clear, I am not saying that I am the ultimate disciplinarian at school nor do I hold all the power over students. Sheesh, that's Mrs. Harvey's claim to fame. She's awesome. She says jump and you ask (as a student) over which building, Mrs. Harvey?

So, to make all this rambling coherent, I am not at all shocked to see 2 students suspended after filiming their teacher. This was done without his knowledge and after the students harassed him at a restaurant. What? Did they think they were going to get away with it? I hope there are criminal charges because (and crap am I going to sound old saying this) kids these days think they are untouchable. Sorry to burst your bubble kids, but Eliott Ness, you ain't...

Big Bad Musak

So I am reading up on ADD and ADHD... mostly because I am now a parent and if my daughter has any of the two disorders/afflictions/malaises, I can't go complain to the principal that I don't have enough aids in my classroom to help me deal with the situation. Googled ADD and found many nifty sites ranging from the "We have the meds to deal with ADD!" to the "ADD is a genetic disorder" (hoo-boy), but only one really caught my attention and, dare I say, pissed me off.

At first it seemed quite comprehensive and thorough when listing possible causes of ADD (why the italics? Well, there is no single official cause to the disorder as per determined by the various medical communities at large). They listed nutrition (check), certain pregnancy behaviors (check), video games (hmmm, ok, check) and music. Why music? This is what they say regarding music:

"Studies have attributed similar effects on the brain when listening to music, particularly in regard

to learning and studying. Classical music, with an average 50-70 beats per minute was optimal for

learning. Interestingly, it also provided health benefits such as lower blood pressure, lower muscle

tension, and a slower pulse rate."

Ok, so far, I have no issues. But wait, it gets better:

In every one of several human and animal studies" done of having

subjects listen to Mozart versus Hard Rock, the effects of classical music were in comparison to the

control group consistently of a calming, soothing nature, while the Hard Rock group invariably lead to

an aggressive, or even violent behavior."

Now there's a generalization to end all generalizations. Why don't we say that if a boy wears pink he's gay! Now here's the kicker:

"It is not difficult to understand how the influence of the hypnotic rhythm and beat of Heavy Metal Rock

music induces a drug-like effect that removes inhibitions, morals, and incites rebellion and aberrations

of conduct."

Aberrations in conduct? Any of these twits seen the movie Amadeus? Mozart himself was an abberation in conduct par excellence! He boozed it up like Tommy Lee back in the good ol' Crue days. Sure we can say that the movie is a dramatization of the life of Mozart, but to believe that classical composers were god-like in comparison to today's rock stars is a wee bit foolish. I can understand the value of classical music and its benefits (and I am a fervent fan of classical music), but to poo-poo rock music is sooooo yesterday and proves only that this website is attempting to a find scapegoat than real factors to ADD.

If Evelyn wants to listen to Metallica, that's fine by me. Who knows, she might want to pick up a guitar or bass and become the next Melissa Auf der Maur. Rock on, sweetie, rock on!

"I want you to understand that you are not being left alone."

Those are the words of Japan's Education Minister Bunmei Ibuki after receiving anonymous letters from a student being harassed so much by bullies that he intends to commit suicide on Wednesday November 8th. A desperate cry for help? Attention-grabbing scheme? I see it as an extreme measure to resolve a never-ending problem...

I wish I had the bright idea when I was in highschool to send a letter to my Education Minister at the time so I could have perhaps had some sort of reprieve from the taunting and teasing I endured. Even today I see some despicable behavior from students when it comes to their classmates. Some of it is obvious and some of it is very subtle and only noticeable by those who have gone through a similar situation: the slight laugh or chuckle when you ask a question in class, the "accidental" bumping in the hallway, the sudden silence when you walk into a classroom... sure, it could have been my paranoid mind working overtime and it could just have been a coincidence, but I don't believe coincidences can occur repeatedly over a 5 year period, day in day out.

I applaud Mr. Ibuki in his efforts to help that student and I hope more educators, administrators and politicians act in a similar fashion.