I am just furious. I shouldn't be. I should be used to this kind of thing, as a matter of fact. People trash teachers, apparently all the time & randomly. I am on a yahoo list, budgethomemaking, and normally, I really like it, even though many of the women on there are just too happy about cooking & ironing. The past couple of days, though, it has just made me furious. It all started with a lady complaining about a teachers in her school district requiring home visits. It turns out, in her case, there is more to the story. The teacher in question appears to be a gossip whose behavior should be addressed. However, the outpouring of fury about schools and teachers from the members of the list just astounds me. The last post that went through, and as nearly as I can tell, this was after the moderator asked the topic to be dropped was along the lines of "for every good teacher, there is a bad one" and essentially that people who choose to teach should just be prepared to have to defend themselves in public constantly. This makes me very angry.
My kids have had lousy teachers, just like anyone else. Walker's first grade teacher seemed as though she disliked him for pretty much the whole first semester. Meleah's third grade teacher was incompetent. One of her fifth grade teachers just disliked her. It happens. Her seventh grade social studies teacher caused her no end of grief (truthfully, not just her. He has been causing bright students grief for a number of years). In ANY profession, there are people we don't like. Most people who are in teaching competent. Are they perfect? No. Should they be expected to be? No. The majority, though, do good work.
Inappropriate behavior on the part of a teacher should be reported & addressed, of course, but the idea that every teacher, everywhere should pay for the bad behavior of a few is just crazy.
This is what I get for checking my email too close to bedtime.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Triage
We are not going to get the house renovated in time for school to start. There. I said it. We aren't getting done. We are going to have to refinish hardwood floors while we live there. I can just imagine the grit everywhere.
Our friend came and finished wiring the water heater and the stove. At some point, we are going to have to get him to come and rewire the outlets to 3 prong grounded outlets. But first things first. We have a giant hole in our living room floor right now, and pieces of subfloor in a stack beside it. I am not sure how much of it can be salvaged and reused (if any).
It amuses me, as I paint & drip paint on the chipboard, to think that someday wood may be scarce enough that some, in years to come, will fuss over the chipboard the way I fuss over the stained hardwood that we found under the carpets after we took them up. Or possibly the vinyl tile will be treasured.
Our friend came and finished wiring the water heater and the stove. At some point, we are going to have to get him to come and rewire the outlets to 3 prong grounded outlets. But first things first. We have a giant hole in our living room floor right now, and pieces of subfloor in a stack beside it. I am not sure how much of it can be salvaged and reused (if any).
It amuses me, as I paint & drip paint on the chipboard, to think that someday wood may be scarce enough that some, in years to come, will fuss over the chipboard the way I fuss over the stained hardwood that we found under the carpets after we took them up. Or possibly the vinyl tile will be treasured.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Floors and superheros
Whoever would have guessed what a problem 30 year old termite damage could be.
We knew the floor in the living room was uneven, but, hey, it's an old house. Not until we started taking out the patched bits did we find what was (not) underneath. The header was rotten away. Where it should have been, someone had stacked two-by-fours on top of concrete blocks to hold the house up. It looked like something my child could have done. So that set us back on our timeline.
The kids have picked up a new show Who Wants to be a Superhero? The best part of that show is Stan Lee, who is judge and jury. It is funny to hear him teaching these people (who evidently never read X-Men) what being a super-hero is all about. In many ways, Stan Lee's superhero requirements and the Sermon on the Mount have many similar characteristics...
Olivia is at Mom & Dad's. I am sure she is doing well. But it bothers me that she's not here. (It also bothers me that I seem to feel compelled to write with pronouns without antecedents). Not that she needs to be here while we are working on the house. She is bored here, and lonely. But we ended up staying home and resting today-- I so could have had her here today. Tomorrow, though, we'll be working again.
Why do I only discover shows after they are cancelled? Today I found LA Dragnet. Only lasted two seasons. Stars Ed O'Neill (formerlly Al Bundy) and Eva Longoria. Don't know how I missed it.
We knew the floor in the living room was uneven, but, hey, it's an old house. Not until we started taking out the patched bits did we find what was (not) underneath. The header was rotten away. Where it should have been, someone had stacked two-by-fours on top of concrete blocks to hold the house up. It looked like something my child could have done. So that set us back on our timeline.
The kids have picked up a new show Who Wants to be a Superhero? The best part of that show is Stan Lee, who is judge and jury. It is funny to hear him teaching these people (who evidently never read X-Men) what being a super-hero is all about. In many ways, Stan Lee's superhero requirements and the Sermon on the Mount have many similar characteristics...
Olivia is at Mom & Dad's. I am sure she is doing well. But it bothers me that she's not here. (It also bothers me that I seem to feel compelled to write with pronouns without antecedents). Not that she needs to be here while we are working on the house. She is bored here, and lonely. But we ended up staying home and resting today-- I so could have had her here today. Tomorrow, though, we'll be working again.
Why do I only discover shows after they are cancelled? Today I found LA Dragnet. Only lasted two seasons. Stars Ed O'Neill (formerlly Al Bundy) and Eva Longoria. Don't know how I missed it.
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