So my six-year old brings home his first grade homework; bit of vocabulary, some reading, a little writing, a spelling list, and some 'color the right answer' problems. My job is to make sure he completes it, go over the answers, and sign the sheet saying it was done. Easy, no problem. It's 6pm, he's bright, the work is straight forward, we'll have this knocked out by bedtime.
Dad and mom aren't together, so this is a nontraditional week for both of us. His mom is out of town and he has to spend the week with the mean parent.
We start with the vocabulary: Use each of the following words in a written sentence; Shouted, drowned, bridge, about, frog.
His entries: I shouted at my mom!!!!!(sic) I drowned in the pool. We walked under the bridge. She asked about him. The frog said ribbit.
I pause for a minute. Not a fan of the first two, but its early ... and even as a relative amateur I know you have to pick your battles, and 6:09 isn't the time to start a battle. There's lots of work left, and these are all legitimate uses of the words in sentences.
Now to the written words: Expand the following contractions three times; shouldn't, couldn't, dose'nt.
I ask him about contractions. I want to know what he's been taught in school so I can reinforce it. He doesn't actually get them, but its okay, I understand contractions fairly well. I explain them the way my dad explained them to me. Then I look more closely. DOSE'NT? Hmmm...not familiar with that one. I draw a line through it, thinking its a typo, write it correctly and have him copy my version rather than the mistaken one. He struggles a bit with the concept, but we get through it.
Now its time for spelling. Full disclosure--spelling used to be my thing. I'm a trophy-earning ex-champion. Love the stuff, even though I make far more mistakes now than I would've in my early teen years. I look over the list, and stop cold. There at number four, in my six-year old's spelling list, is the following gem:
"finnishe."
Finnishe?
I ask him to read it to me. "Finish," he says. I tell him to use it in a sentence. "I will finish the race." Hmmm...he knows the word. He can properly use it in a sentence.
Its one of TWO misspelled words in a list of eight.
The principal says--yeah, let's just skip ahead to that part of the story--"I'm so sorry. I walked into his classroom and saw that on the board, and IMMEDIATELY erased it."
Exsqueeze me?
You ... saw that on the board ... and ... erASED IT?
"This is how it was ... TAUGHT? IT's nOT A TyPO? YOu KNEw THis?"
Frustration ... no, ANGER rising.
"Ma'am; I understand typos, I get mistakes. I make both all the time. But ... this is a SPELLING list. Actually, this is a FIRST GRADE SPELLING LIST." F-I-N-N-I-S-H-E?
Okay, Finnish I might've even given a pass; perhaps you're referring to the fine people of Finland. But the extra "E" means you're
a: just being a dick, or
b: REFUSE to grab a dictionary before you send home bad spelling to a class half-filled with FIRST GRADERS whose parents don't even speak English as their primary language. You ERASED it?
Well ...
what did you say to the teacher? what did you do next? did you think this was a problem? what planet am I on?
Once upon a time, the news was something I watched or covered.
Since moving to the Washington area, it has increasingly become something that I live ... up close and personal.
Over the past eight years there I've had a series of first person run-ins with the health care system, the impact of immigration on a community, subprime loans, and the like.
And now, I've had my first contact with the DC public school system.
It is as bad as they say, and needs to be fixed. Or maybe I should say fixt.
I'm the son of a teacher. I believe it is among the MOST honorable professions, I understand how important it is, I am aware of how much off the clock work goes into doing it well, and I personally comprehend the impact that ONE teacher--good or bad--can have on a person's life.
A closer examination of Mercer's past homework turns up error after error after error.
And I'm telling my son he can grow up to be President? With THIS sort of education?
Unless we find a better system, I'm pretty sure that idea may be finnishied. There's more ...
Peace,
--Stew.
photo:
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/09_01/misspelledAP0609_468x311.jpg
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ReplyDeleteI hate to tell you this my long-time friend... but you are at the very beginning of this very difficult journey. It's an experience from which you will discover that those who are charged with educating are children are so far beyond merely fallible that it seems society has given up on the idea of public education or accountability. I have so many stories like this that it's just sad. One day I'll tell you about the time I ran into my daughter's 3rd grade teacher at a strip club, then had a parent teacher conference with HER two days later. :o)
ReplyDeleteWow. I thought the Philadelphia school system was bad!
ReplyDeleteLiving in Florida and seeing the products of the public school system makes me glad NOT to have children. If I did, I would do ANYTHING within my power to send them to private school or even home school them. And it saddens and sickens me because we NEED TO FIX WHAT'S WRONG WITH PUBLIC EDUCATION rather than abandon it. It's a shame.
ReplyDeleteVery scary--it would annoy me to see such bad spelling in cyberspace, let alone in my child's classroom...by his so-called "instructor" no less! I didn't realize there was such a thing as "bad public schools" until I heard people talking about DC public schools--oh I've heard the stories, but I had an excellent public education in Fairfax County. Beyond excellent. This is the first time I've encountered someone who was personally affected by sub-par public education. I can only reiterate--very scary. I'm sorry that it's happening to your child.
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