I don't know what to say...

[Stormtropper]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/07/06/missin ... index.html

Thats the first thing that I read after I got up, just some typical bad news...

But then..."John Phillips, 63, of Columbia, South Carolina" struck me...

...it took me half a minute to realize "Dude! Thats my 6th grade counsuler!"...

(I remembered him because he busted my @$$ pertty bad for taunting my science teacher)

Can this be a coincidence?...

Jeff

BTW...he was my counsuler at Hand Middle School back in 2000

[Stormtropper]

Come to think of it, he wasn't such a bad guy...he let me off on so may things...and I guess pulling my science project out of my pocket was the straw that broke the camel's back...

[The Ruptured Duck]

My sixth grade counselor should have been sitting in the same plane at the same time.  My middle school experience was miserable because of crappy teachers who did nothing about @$$hole students.

So, do I congradulate you on your victory, or express my regrett over his loss.  I am being too cynical, I should go to bed

[ozzy72]

Duck it isn't that we don't want to do something, it is that we can't as thanks to the sociology brigade and other hippy ideas we aren't allowed to do much. I point out to my students when they start on "My Rights!" that yes they do have rights but they also have responsibilities and one of those is as a student of the school they are expected to learn!
For example I can break up two students fighting but if I slug one I go to prison. Fortunately I'm rather good with head and arm locks which is allowed
I'm not allowed to throw a student out of a class if they are disrupting the lesson and ruining all the other students opportunity for education...
It is the system and not the teachers that have failed

[zeberdee]

It is the system and not the teachers that have failed

Well said

[The Ruptured Duck]

no it isn't that ozzy.

The teachers were miserable people who cared less about teaching and more about their own social status.

One time that comes to mind as an example is when some kid was beating the crapout of me and the teachers were too busy talking to notice.

[jordonj]

Duck it isn't that we don't want to do something, it is that we can't as thanks to the sociology brigade and other hippy ideas we aren't allowed to do much. I point out to my students when they start on "My Rights!" that yes they do have rights but they also have responsibilities and one of those is as a student of the school they are expected to learn!
For example I can break up two students fighting but if I slug one I go to prison. Fortunately I'm rather good with head and arm locks which is allowed
I'm not allowed to throw a student out of a class if they are disrupting the lesson and ruining all the other students opportunity for education...
It is the system and not the teachers that have failed

Interesting!  Here, it's the opposite...you can send a student out anytime, but you may not, under any circumstances, touch a student.

And by the way Stormtropper, on another site, one of the members was a friend of one of the people killed.  Small world huh?

And Ruptured Duck, if you have never worked as a teacher, be careful of what you say.  Yes, there were some teachers like that (who ignored problems), but there are a lot of good teachers who are burning out because the job is 100 times harder than it used to be.  Not far away, there is a school district whose teachers are really burning out because so many of the students are out of line and they have no system for dealing with them.  Several subs who go there leave in tears (I am not kidding).

All I'm saying is, as Pete puts it, think before you type.

[JBaymore]

[quote]My sixth grade counselor should have been sitting in the same plane at the same time.

[The Ruptured Duck]

Good point JBaymore.  I was about ot fall asleep when I wrote that, so I wasn't firing on all 8 cylinders.

jordonj:  My mother is a teacher, and I have taught her class before.  I know what to expect out of teachers.  My mom socializes, but at lunch.  

Here in Wichita, everything is failing.  The school system, the government, and the people.  Lets leave it at that.  I am getting sick of Kansas, and wish to return to Switzerland

[jordonj]

Not only in Wichita actually...

The system near me is but one example of failing districts in Michigan and the United States.  I could go into the reasons why, but that would be political and that's a no-no.

But be careful blaming the teachers.  Many of them work 60+ hours per week as teachers, several have to work a second job to make ends meet, and still they have to attend classes in the summer (if you think teachers get summers off, you'd better think again...and even then they have to take summer jobs in addition to what they have to do as teachers).

As JBaymore said, think about it.

[Felix/FFDS]

This is one thread that really shouldn't go off topic...

Among us there is a person whose life was touched - one way or another - by another person who has lost his life.  Good, bad, or indifferent, those people who died were sons, fathers, firends, counselors, whatever, but apprently were worthy of being remembered pleasantly.

May their families, friends, and acquaintances find some solace in pleasant memories of them.

[Wing Nut]

Well said, Felix.  Let's keep in mind that a tragedy has taken place and we all owe Jeff our condolences and not a diatribe against the Educational system in America.