Teachers and Grading

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting my cousin’s Science and English teachers at his school’s ‘Meet the Teachers’ Event.  I was less than impressed with the meeting.  First, I went to see the English teacher.  She looked at me as though I had interrupted her family supper and asked ME what would I like to know.  She then promptly summarized some points and ushered me away.  I went in search of the Science teacher, hoping for a better experience.  I found him standing around in the gym chatting it up with some fellow teachers.  I approached him and introduced myself.  (I had my cousin with me by then).  He was even more aloof and brusque.  (I could use more colorful adjectives here).  He made me feel like a paparazzi seeking unauthorized photos.  ‘What would you like to know about him?’ was his opening.   He then casually mentioned that my cousin was good at basketball,  too ‘in’ with the girls, and if he can apply himself a bit more, he would be alright.  he shied away from anything specific.

Now, I don’t want to be too judgmental or harsh on these fine teachers.  Maybe it is just me.  I went expecting a bit more formality. I expected to be sitting across from the teacher’s desk, while they explain to me in no uncertain terms, how my boy was doing.  Giving that I had never met any of them, this would have been the proper way.

Yesterday, my cousin brought home his first report card.  That was a joke!  In my day,   My report card did not need a glossary to translate the terms that explained how I was doing. I was either PASSING, LAZY, NEEDED TO WORK MORE, FAILED, OR EVEN N/A (for when words could not describe how badly I was performing), or worst, REPEAT GRADE.  His report card eloquently stated that for Science, he OCCASIONALLY DEMONSTRATES EXPECTATIONS EMERGING. (I used the Academic Indicator for that one).  Now what exactly am I to glean from this??  Is he doing good? Is he an average student? Dear Teacher, Say It Like It Is!  His English was graded as DE, which means FREQUENTLY DEMONSTRATES EXPECTATIONS DEVELOPING. Well  there it is again!!  What EXACTLY is developing and emerging at this school?? The kid is reading below his age group. His writing needs a lot of work, he is lazy, does not turn in homework, etc. but would anyone get that from his report card?   Well at least in Phys Ed. He got an ES which means he CONSISTENTLY DEMONSTRATES EXPECTATIONS ESTABLISHED.  (by then my consternation had turned to laughter). Putting it all together,  I am gathering he is Frequently Consistent Occasionally.  Seriously now, let’s break this last one down.  So there are expectations in Phys Ed. that were Established. (I got this part).  and he is Demonstrating  these expectations consistently?  Sorry, lost me there, still makes no sense. Maybe it’s just me.

I would schedule another meeting to get his report card translated but I could be interrupting something.  Maybe a lap dance.

Just my take…

Footnote:  On May 16th, 2012, almost 7 months to the day, the following article was in the local newspaper.  Click here to read.

My Poetic Side

Most people, including some of my closest friend who profess to know EVERYTHING about me, do not know that I love to write poems.  I have written poems since I was around 14 years old.  I have since slowed down a bit and only write when asked.  My greatest accomplishment in this field was when a poem (Ode To Haiti) I had written for the Haitian Earthquake was read at Cornell University in the USA. (I had posted it on a poem site and someone saw it).  I was also called upon to do readings at various benefits for the people of Haiti.

For those of you who never knew this, I am adding a page dedicated to my favorites poems that I have written.  All poems are written solely by me unless otherwise stated.

Click here to see Ode To Haiti by Carlos Walcott read by Cornell University Students

Jets take off

Yesterday was the Winnipeg Jets’ first game.  It came with the expected fanfare.  The Prime Minister of Canada, the NHL Commissioner and other dignitaries including Don Cherry all showed up to add their star power to the Biggest Show In Town.  Unfortunately, that was where it ended and the Jets came out flat and cruised to a rough landing at the sticks of the Montreal Canadiens.  The score was 5-1 and deservedly so.  I hope that this game is not a sign of things to come. For now, I will blame it on the jitters.

The weird kid

Today, I saw a ‘weird’ teenager at the bus stop. He was totally an outcast.  Standing there naked of any electronic device.  No wires dangled from his ears and no cell phone nestled in his hand.  I noted how he looked confident and studious as he waited for his bus. How odd that his neck was not craned over a cell phone sending text messages, oblivious of the world around him.  In this electronic and texting age, this kid was the epitome of odd and weird.  Didn’t he feel the urge to listen to some loud music blasting out of some Dr. Dre’s headphones? How about keeping tabs on his friends waiting at the bus stop across the street?  The ones he sat next to in class…

Not believing this weird and unusual sight, I decided that this teenager must have some even weirder parents who instilled such odd values in their son.  Maybe they had no television or if they did, they did not give it the worship it deserved. Maybe they had a no-cell rule at the dinner table. Heck, if they even owned a computer, I can assure you such weird parents would have time limits set on it. It was incredible that such people still exists.  How dare them defy the status quo! How dare them not conform!

As the bus arrived to pick up Mr. Weirdo, my eyes followed him to his seat.  He probably felt my stare because he suddenly glanced in my direction and a trace of a smile cracked his face.  Then he waved.  Weirdo…

The day the music died

I cannot pinpoint the day or even the year.  Maybe it was so gradual that I didn’t even notice until it was too late. Until I started to miss it and yearn for it.  Maybe when I realized that all my YouTube music searches were mostly for songs that were not on the ‘hotlist’.  Yes, I must face it.  Music as I know it, has died.

With its demise,  pretenders promoted solely on youthful looks or their flair for the extremes and not their talents, crawled out the woodwork.  Their songs are pushed into mainstream by their rabid and deaf fans who have no idea what real music is.  Sadly, no genre is safe from this manufactured bubble gum garbage. Reggae music is now music with a hint of reggae.  Says so right on the CD, ‘May contain trace of reggae’.  In a few years, music will be of a single genre. Take it from me even though it is just my take.

Michael Jackson

I grew up on the Jackson 5.   Michael was the first and probably only, singer that I wanted to be like.  I bought his outlandish clothes, posters, stickers and anything else that even vaguely referred to him.   Did I mention that I also collected his cassettes, records, cds and dvd?  Heck, I love the guy!

Even during his darkest times and his eccentricities, I still respected and loved MJ.  In my eyes, he was always this playful, funny little kid who wanted to stay that way and enjoy the many things only kids can enjoy.  In a way, I related.

When Michael Jackson died, a little piece of me died that day.   I chose to omit and not process the circumstances surrounding his demise.   It didn’t really matter that he had paid the ultimate price in his attempt to make the whole world happy even while sacrificing his own unhappiness.  No one but MJ is responsible for creating the man and the myth.  No one but him should be blamed for his premature death.  He was already down the road to self-destruction where no doctor  and no medication could have  saved him from.  End the circus. Llet him rest in the peace that eluded him in life.

Just my take.

Bring our soldiers home!

Poll: 1 in 3 vets sees Iraq, Afghan wars as wastes

By ROBERT BURNS – AP National Security Writer | AP – 20 mins ago

• WASHINGTON (AP) — One in three U.S. veterans of the post-9/11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, and most think that after 10 years of combat America should be focusing less on foreign affairs and more on its own problems, according to an opinion survey released Wednesday.

The findings highlight a dilemma for the Obama administration and Congress as they struggle to shrink the government’s huge budget deficits and reconsider defense priorities while trying to keep public support for remaining involved in Iraq and Afghanistan for the longer term.

Nearly 4,500 U.S. troops have died in Iraq and about 1,700 in Afghanistan. Combined war costs since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have topped $1 trillion.

The poll results presented by the Pew Research Center portray post-9/11 veterans as proud of their work, scarred by warfare and convinced that the American public has little understanding of the problems that wartime service has created for military members and their families.

The survey also showed that post-9/11 veterans are more likely than Americans to call themselves Republicans and to disapprove of President Barack Obama’s performance as commander-in-chief. They also are more likely than earlier generations of veterans to have no religious affiliation.

The Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan organization that studies attitudes and trends, called the study the first of its kind. The results were based on two surveys conducted between late July and mid-September. One polled 1,853 veterans, including 712 who had served in the military after 9/11 but are no longer on active duty. Of the 712 post-9/11 veterans, 336 served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The other polled 2,003 adults who had not served in the military.

Nearly half of post-9/11 veterans said deployments strained their relationship with their spouses, and a similar share reported problems with their children. On the other hand, 60 percent said they and their families benefited financially from having served abroad in a combat zone. Asked for a single word to describe their experiences, the war veterans offered a mixed picture: “rewarding,” ”nightmare,” ”eye opening,” ”lousy.”

There are about 98,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, where the conflict began with a U.S.-led invasion on Oct. 7, 2001. Obama campaigned for the presidency in 2008 on getting out of Iraq and ramping up the military campaign in Afghanistan. He is on track to have all U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of this year, and in July he announced that he would pull 10,000 troops out of Afghanistan this year and 23,000 more by next September.

The Pew survey found that veterans are ambivalent about the net value of the wars, although they generally were more positive about Afghanistan, which has been a more protracted but less deadly conflict for U.S. forces. One-third of post-9/11 veterans said neither war was worth the sacrifices; that was the view of 45 percent in the separate poll of members of the general public.

Fifty percent of veterans said Afghanistan was worth it, whereas the poll of civilians put it at 41 percent.

Among veterans, 44 percent said Iraq was worth it. That compares with 36 percent in the poll of civilians.

Of the surveyed former service members who were seriously wounded or knew someone who was killed or seriously wounded, 48 percent said the war in Iraq was worth fighting, compared with 36 percent of those veterans who had no personal exposure to casualties.

Exposure to casualties had an even larger impact on attitudes toward the war in Afghanistan. Fifty-five percent of those exposed to casualties said Afghanistan has been worth the cost to the U.S., whereas 40 percent of those who were not exposed to casualties held that same view.

Pew said its survey results found “isolationist inclinations” among post-9/11 war veterans. About 6-in-10 said the United States should pay less attention to problems overseas and instead concentrate on problems at home. In a Pew survey conducted earlier this year, a similar share of the general public agreed.

The survey also reflected what many view as a troublesome cultural gap between the military and the general public. Although numerous polls have shown that Americans hold the military in high regard, the respondents in the Pew research acknowledged a lack of understanding of what military life entails.

Only 27 percent of adult civilians said the public understands the problems facing those in uniform, and the share of veterans who said so is even lower — 21 percent.

___

Robert Burns can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/robertburnsAP

My take exactly.

Reflection

On my way home from work today, I was confronted with a sight that not only brought tears to my eyes but also made me reflect on my own frailty.  There was a gruesome single vehicle accident over the weekend that claimed the lives of the two occupants.  It happened not far from where I live.  This morning on the way to work, I noticed a memorial was set up with a cross and balloons.  On my way home this afternoon, there was a solitary young man sitting on the ground in front of the memorial.  He was sitting crossed legs with his head bowed and motionless.  Although I could not see his face as his back was to me, I could read his body language and it spoke volumes.  It so happened that the accident took place at an intersection, so as I was able to soak in the scene while I waited for the lights to turn green.

A lot of things went through my head and I stared transfixed with this somber scene.  I read the writing on the cross, ‘RIP CARLENE’.   I wondered what went through the victims’ minds as their vehicle spun out of control.  I also wondered about the guy sitting in front of the memorial.  Was he a friend? Family? Was he mad at how sudden death came to claim someone close to him?  I thought of myself as I drove home.  How frail life really is…

Favorite Facebook Statuses

I like this one…

‘I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me today, and we all could probably use more calm in our lives.
I looked around my house to see things I’d started & hadn’t finished, so I have managed to finish off a bottle of Sambuca, a bottle of vodka, a few bodle of budweeser, a butle of wum, tha mainder of Valiuminun scriptins, an a box a chocletz. Yu haf no idr how bludy fablus I feel rite now….’

and this one…

‘Amish Computer Virus
You have just received the Amish Virus. Since we do not have electricity nor computers, you are on the honor system. Please delete all of your files.

Thank thee’

Put your clothes back on, woman!

Irish Farmer Tells Rihanna to Put Her Clothes Back On

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Photo Press Belfast/Splash News

Rihanna may be perfectly good at being bad, but when a Northern Ireland farmer tells her to cover up, she listens.

The R&B singer caused a bit of controversy in the corn fields of Ireland Tuesday while filming a video for her new single, “We Found Love” with Scottish DJ Calvin Harris.

The 23-year-old pop star undressed from a flannel checked shirt into a stars-and-stripes bikini, a red bra, a mesh black top before, finally, going topless while shooting in the fields, located just east of Bangor.

At that point, Alan Graham, the 61-year-old farmer who lent Rihanna his land for the video, had enough and drove his tractor over to the shoot to tell the barely-dressed star to cover up.

“The state of undress was becoming inappropriate,” Graham told the UK’s The Telegraph. “I requested that they stop filming and they did.”

“I had a conversation with Rihanna,” said the father of four.  “She understood where I was coming from. We shook hands and parted company on good terms.”

Admitting he had “never heard of Rihanna” until her team asked permission to use his fields, Graham explained, “If someone wants to borrow my field and things become inappropriate, then I say, ‘Enough is enough. You are not entitled to do that.’”

Rihanna’s wardrobe malfunction didn’t end with Graham’s ‘enough is enough,’ however.

The issue went as far as Ireland’s political stage when, during a debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly, one politician asked the country’s first minister Peter Robinson whether potential investors in entertainment industry projects might be deterred after seeing the pop star banned for nothing more than “wearing red, white and blue.”

Rihanna is in Ireland for a series of sold-out shows in Belfast this weekend.  Filming for her video is reported to have resumed at a secret location there.

My take? See previous blog.