Whose Poem Is It Anyway?

My favorite subject is English.  I love to write poems but I am not a big fan of poetry. What I never quite understood was how my teachers were able to get inside the head of a poet and understand exactly what they were trying to convey in their poem.

O Lady Moon

O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the east:
Shine, be increased;
O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the west:
Wane, be at rest.

Christina Georgina Rossetti

Take that poem for example, my English teacher could tell us that Christina was not actually talking about the moon but something else.  (I am not sure what else it could be).  To me that is not even a poem.  I could come up with that in a drunken stupor, yet this poem is famous.  But that’s not the point, how did my teachers know what Christina meant by this short poem?  It’s not just her, they could take any poem and do the same trick!

“Class, the writer is telling us about a lover who is not returning her love”.  And how do you know that, teacher?  ”From the tone of the poem, we can see she is forlorn and is asking him to increase his love for her”.

How do we translate a poet’s language with such confidence.  How do we know that their words are not literal?  Just words.  With long-dead writers who are not around to explain the true meaning of their work, how could we decipher their poems?  So, was my poetry teacher just bs’ing?

                   With a slash and a cut, it all came apart,

                                                        exposing to the world, its perceived  

                                   meaning.  

Perceived by those who thought they knew my heart,

my mind, but it was all just my take.

                                                                                                                               Me

Schools can make our kids more stupider

I have been on a rant about school in the last year or so.  It all started when I took in my teen-aged high school cousin to live with us, thus experiencing first hand and for the first time, how the school system works. I don’t like it one bit and I am surprised that no one thinks to complain. Maybe I’m jumping the gun here and the issues are just isolated to this school. If so,  I apologize for generalizing.

The issues that irk me are based on the way teachers seem to trivialize students’ accountability.  For example, my cousin got 13% on one of his subjects. (He is in Grade 9).  We called the teacher to find out where he went wrong and the teacher assured us that we had nothing to worry about.  He even ventured to say that had he gotten 40% he would have been more concerned as that would mean he knew the stuff but could’t apply it.  Or some hogwash to that nature.  Stomp on my foot and call me stupid but I fail to see the logic in this.

Another thing is that even though we made it plain to the school that we want any changes in my kid’s schedule, behavior etc to be reported to us immediately, we still never know anything until weeks or months after the fact when it slips out in conversation.  My cousin is something of a problem teen with issues and needs structure.  The school knows this but fails or refuse to give any help in terms of feedbacks.

Last year, he failed Grade nine English.  We weren’t happy as we knew the major reason was his lack of effort. No homework, no using free period wisely.  We withdrew his cell phone privileges until this is improved.  To our dismay, the school insisted on providing ‘outs’ and excuses for his failure.  I understand the sensitivity associated with children and their growth but I also understand the seriousness of promoting children without merit. He fails, he stays is my philosophy.   I want nothing from him but to try his best. I don’t want A’s I want E’s. E for Effort that is.   I also want his teachers to hold him accountable for slacking off.  He is a big boy, he could and should handle it.

Related articles (Check out these links. They are really good read on this subject)

• Letter: To get their attention, failure would do some students well (tcpalm.com)
• Teachers and report cards

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.