A band of teachers and a minority of students gathered together today to fight for the teachers to receive an equal percentage of raise. I thought it quite ironic that that was held on the night that I was to write this blog.

On the sign that I held proudly above my head was written the saying “Behind every great student there is a great teacher” and on the reverse was the saying “Make education a priority”. I can proudly say that my throat hurts from all the cheering and singing and I can boast my blisters that developed during that hour of walking up and down the block. But such minor pains are a small price to pay for the hundreds of people now informed of the teacher’s positions.

“Give us what is right, not what is left” the words on the teachers’ red and blue shirts said. It seems to me that America today is focused so much on businesses, money and the war in Iraq that we have come to neglect what I see to be the most important aspect of our society: the kids. Are children not our future? What good will money in the hands of the aging adults do the kids if they do not have the proper education to earn a living themselves? A strong future is a smart future, and without the competent schooling needed for such an education, there will be no strong future. Respect for the teachers will bring respect to the schools. “"Stupid" American Schools and "Stupid" American Students.” Does that sound like respect to you? It certainly looks a lot like a grotesque generalization heavily laced with exaggeration to me. The teachers fight for better or simply equal conditions for their schooling while the government takes away money from the schools to add to whatever fund they deem necessary. But the students are those who suffer from these conflicts.

So what if it is not the money issue that hinders the child’s education? What if the teacher is incompetent in their teaching and the child does not learn what they are meant to? I have been (and still am) in a situation like that. I will not name any names, but many before me have said the same about these teachers. I go to the class every period, I take all the notes, I do all of the homework, and yet I still do not feel as though I have learned anything although I am getting an A in the class. To add to that frustration, one such teacher always seems to confuse themselves on their own answers to homework questions or information they tell the class. Such a scenario would be as such: “Crystal Violet is gram negative and Saffron is gram positive.” They said at the beginning of class. And later, “Oh wait, Crystal Violet is gram positive and Saffron is gram negative.” Which leads the class to question which one is positive and which one is negative. It is frustrating beyond belief when the teacher does not know half of the things that they teach to the class - if they even teach it at all, that is. So should the school have the power to remove such teachers from their classrooms? Their teaching methods only hurt the students that are trying to learn the material, and is the purpose for going to school not to learn? Schools are for the students, not for the faculty or the school boards. Schools are meant to teach and the teachers are the honorable givers of the knowledge of which the students deserve; no matter what financial or personal situation they might be in.

And yet the teachers deserve their fair pay in return for this great service. But when this service is less than great or just in the gutters, there should not be such an agonizingly long road for the penalty of an incompetent teacher. Good teachers should be rewarded and teachers who essentially do not do their jobs should be penalized. Some teachers just don’t have the special touch that others do in teaching the youth of the world. They try (I hope) to teach them, but the students simply do not learn. Each teacher should be thoroughly assessed for their teaching ability at least once every two years and if a sour pickle is found, then they should be informed of their inadequate teaching methods and asked to improve. If they have not improved by the time of the next visit, then they should be chastised after ample warning. No student should have to live with a teacher who does not teach. It is not fair to the student and it is not fair for their future.

Teachers may have great personalities and may be the nicest people, but if their teaching “sucks eggs,” then they should not be teachers. It may be a bit extreme, but I have been fed up with having classes that I do not learn in for a long time now.

I want the best from my education and if a bad teacher stands in my way, I want something done about it.

Is it true that “stupid American schools make stupid student”? Well, yes and no. Some teachers are pretty bad at their job and just assign busy work but on the other end, it could depend on the student(s)’ the determination to learn. If they’re just lazy and don’t see the point of learning or going to school, well then they’ll be stupid; I’m not trying to sound harsh but that’s just the way it is, if you don’t want to learn, eventually, no one’s going to be there to hold your hand the rest of the way.

Before I came to Foothill, it seemed like the only teachers that actually cared for my education were in Elementary School especially during fourth grade which was probably the best year for me until fifth grade. During middle school, at Anacapa, it was more of thinking you matured but still acting callow. When I was in seventh grade, I had a Pre-Algebra teacher named, Ms. Dunn, who basically just gave a lecture in the form of a monologue and as a result, I basically had to teach myself the whole textbook because she would always go off on a tangent for half the class and then assign us homework that was not possible if just relying on her lectures. But when it came to eighth grade Algebra with Mr. Boutain, that’s when things got interesting. Throughout the whole year, I found, to my amazement that I actually learned in that class and it was awesome-sorry for the lack of diction but that’s just how it was. I remember how interactive he wanted us to be; every class, he would ask us if we had any questions on the homework and then to make sure we actually tried it, he would ask at what part we were confused on. At Anacapa, I saw both the good and the bad-and let me tell you, the bad was pretty ugly.

Some teachers should just be fired because of their lack of enthusiasm for the learning building blocks for the future generation. How are we, the future generation, supposed to lead the county if we can’t even read books on our own will much less get past one book on our own? Do the teachers think that they can just slack us off for one year and get their paycheck just because of some ten page process that protects them? It’s because of these idiotic laws that keep the useless teachers in and the education out! These laws are just a hindrance to the learning process of the students who need-no I should say desire the education! I side with the teachers who wish to be legit to their ambitious students and wish to penalize the unfair because it rewards those who work hard and gives the cheaters a dose of reality that life isn’t always just a blow off assignment.

Also, not to sound stereotypical, but most Asian parents, especially immigrants, are always strict on their child’s education. Me being the sibling of perfectionist and in a family full of college-bound young adults, I’ve had my fair share of comparisons to the perfect counterpart. I feel that Asian countries do have a strict educational tradition such as: Korea with its bowing tradition and Japan with its law school = social ranking. Even Vietnam has a “tradition” where there’s a major test, like the SATs over here, at the end of high school in order for you to graduate but the twist is, if you pass, you move on with your life and do whatever you want with it however, if you fail, then it’s off to the army with you.

So no matter how you look at it, whether Asian or American, both societies rely heavily on education as the ticket to a better life. And stupid schools do tend to lead to stupid students only because of the teacher(s) and/or the students but whichever it is, it’s still not right to categorize them all because of one class or one individual.

Oh and ASIANS WILL BE THE SUPERIOR RACE!!! >=)

Despite global shortcomings (YES they are global and not just American), there’s no denying that there is something slightly more askew in the American education system. A couple summers ago I took an Italian class. (Such learning for the sake of learning is discouraged because an A in a college class in fact brings your GPA down.) We covered a unit on the Italian education system and related vocabulary words. The professor was herself a product of this distinctly different system. Now, not all Italians are going to be as applied as she chose to be in her courses, but the liceos provided an environment I know I wouldn’t thrive in. Would you be ready for a pop quiz that tested you on any material from any point in the past school year—without a study guide? Italian bambinos better hope so. Whatever their test scores, Italian schools employ a more active form of learning, demanding that their students keep on their toes and really "know their stuff".

An offense to students’ right to a quality education—which is totally irrelevant to a student’s success in learning—is tenure. Tenure undercuts teachers’ motivation to teach well and places a vise-like grip on bad eggs. If you’re an excellent teacher, what is there to fear? The argument commonly resorted to against this point of view is that principals will fire poor innocent teachers on a whim. But really, how often would such an injustice occur? And, tenured or not, there exists a due process for firing professionals.

Looking at teachers as the problem is much like taking Tylenol for the flu. It cures some superficial symptoms but cannot master the underlying virus (which can only continue to produce symptoms). One need only watch John Stossel on 20/20 to see a reason for that. One mother came on the show complaining that her son “just learned to write his name, and that’s through me telling him that an ‘m’ is a ‘hump hump’. A kindergartener could barely right his name? What’s going on?” Indeed what was going on the first 5 or 6 years of her son’s life? Does she mean to say that what does or doesn’t enter her son’s brain is solely within the school’s jurisdiction and only after he enters kindergarten? Another mother complained similarly saying, “My son is now 18, and he is not reading. He’s on a fourth grade level.” Was his mother really that unable to find some time out of those 18 years to personally help him? It can’t be said that parents don’t contribute chiefly to a child’s education. Just as the ads on television say the “first five” is where it starts; home is where it starts. Parents can make or break a child’s chances. Even if parents did crack down those first 5 years, one cannot live with the expectations that such standards will be so widely maintained by the child. It’s easier to stroll around the mall with friends, seeing what trouble lurks for the bored mind. It’s easier to be angry with your parents, to party, to act like you don’t care. It’s easier to say “school is not for me” and wallow in false apathy.

There’s only so much that parents and teachers can do. The rest is up to the child’s dedication and perseverance.

And so begins the blame game: the problem is the teachers’ unions/lack of competition/insufficient funding/teacher tenure/lack of voucher programs/the fact that John Stossel is a Nazi/the government conspiracy to brainwash us with fluorescent lights!

Not again.

It’s always someone else’s fault. The solution is always something tangible. If money doesn’t fix the problem, then legislation will. If legislation doesn’t fix the problem, we can develop a pill to work around it.

Can we never accept the fact that maybe, just maybe, it’s our fault; that maybe it’s a cultural problem, not a monetary one? Sure the public school system has its defects, and there are many things that could be changed, but the bigger problem is our own attitudes toward education.

I mean, what does it say about society when the highest form of entertainment is Napoleon Dynamite? Very rarely is it “cool” to be smart. I experienced that for six years at my old private school. No one wanted to try in school, and no one wanted to be smart. The stupid kids were the funny ones, the athletic ones, and the popular ones. The smart kids were only good for one thing: helping the stupid kids if they ever had a question. I remember despising my intelligence, sometimes purposely getting things wrong just so I wouldn’t look like the perfect smart nerd kid.

Of course, there are kids in other countries who don’t want to try. And it’s true that Stossel’s program had a definite bias. But the fact remains the same: in general, American school children don’t perform as well as students from other countries. It’s not as severe or drastic as Stossel has made it out to be, but at the base level he’s right.

Here in Am Ex, we remain a bit padded from mainstream society such as this. Mr. Geib has repeatedly said that the days are over when we could get an A in class without working hard. No longer are we in Health class, where the teacher practically handed out A’s for showing up to class, and where your homework often resembled coloring books. And for the most part, people here do care about their education. It’s a funny thing about AP, you don’t just do enough to get by, you go above and beyond in preparation for the College Board torture device we will take at the end of the year.

Still, the thing that bothers me is that intelligence doesn’t matter until you move into the working world, and by then it’s too late to reform. But then again, is that really a bad thing? I don’t want someone running a multinational company who was too lethargic to care about school in their youth. Those with motivation tend to succeed well past their school years. So maybe we don’t put as much pressure on students as Koreans do, and maybe we try to educate those who in all honesty aren’t going to take anything out of school except for other kids’ lunch money. It could be that we’ve dropped a perfect education in place of fairness and having a good life. And maybe we do discourage our children by holding up as our idols those celebrities who’s IQs are less than the number of cars they own. There’s no reason it all has to stay that way. We’ve found it possible to value intelligence at Foothill; why not other places?

PS If you think the public school system is horrible, you should check out the private school I went to for six years. It sucked.

Mr. Villa actually incorporates time into his lectures for tangents (that is what calculus is all about right?) and I find that it is a rare occasion that I come out of his class without having had spent some portion of last 90 minutes doubled over in laughter. The South Carolina preschool teacher is correct by saying that learning should be fun. It is a sorry case for the students in Ms. Mullens class who are forced to learn such a dense subject as pre-calc while constantly under the evil dictatorship of the humorless Chancellor. While I only wasted 3 days of my time in Ms. Mullen’s class I was able to form an opinion even though I have been heavily influenced by the popular temperament.

John Stossel, apart from his annoying mustache and ‘shock and awe’ ‘OMG look at this’ reporter disposition presents highly fragmented information. The 20/20 report first claims that a high school is doing terrible, and then compares the almighty test results of failing east coast teens to west coast pre schools. And small segment comparing the ‘above average’ American students to college bound Belgian teens, by administering a test, is clap trap. The report didn’t tell the viewer that the kids in Belgium were pre-selected for college and it failed to directly compare the results of the foreigners. The report didn’t even tell the viewer what scores the arrogant Belgium students received. I figure the 20/20 news crew should administer a test on either what happened to Belgium during world war one, or give a grammar test on the Belgian language; oh yeah, that’s right, they don’t have a language!

The vale dictorian of a Louisiana high school failed the exit exam 6 times (NPR). We all took this exam last year, and we all passed, and for most of us it was easy, is that because we have really stellar teachers, or is that due to our outstanding effort? Personally I wouldn’t let anyone other than my AP teachers take credit for my education.

The most out of line idea set forth by the 20/20 report is the ‘monopoly’ of schools. That is an egregious fiction. Schools don’t have a monopoly. There are many free ways of getting an education, the internet comes to mind. The nonexistence of a monopoly situation in the schooling system serves as proof that the real reason schools aren’t doing as well is that the students aren’t trying. Dose that make them stupid? Against all parents, yes, the kids are stupid. But it’s not a monopoly. The situation the schools have is more like Starbucks. Starbucks has a shop on every street corner; even to the point that it would seem that there is no other coffee shop. However because The Coffee Bean and Tea Leave exists that is not so. Similarly, schools have a campus in every district, but there still exists the public library and other forms of education above and beyond the standard jail like schools.

In address to the testimonial on cheating: I have learned a great deal from what my teachers have directly told me while I was holding a test in hand, that is not cheating ( its just telling me the answers), and if teachers were teaching students how to cheat it would be a conflict of interest but never the less a useful skill.

NPR had a report that said black kids still don’t think that being smart is cool. The 18 year old black man that cannot read (as referred to by the 20/20 report) must be really cool. The reporter was referring to community colleges, but the mentality also applies to high schools. The reason some blacks have to go to community colleges spawns from the failures they experience in high school. The report by NPR went on to say that even those that go to community college don’t graduate.

Paying for private schools is wrong because private schools can teach nonstandard curriculums and get away with such heinous crimes against better understanding, such as intelligent design. Does the risk of attaching atheist tax dollars to a kid who may spend them at a church school out weigh the cost of having a federally funded church, in violation of the first amendment?

Even though teacher unions are too socialist for me I think they should stay as they are. And if a teacher commits a crime they will lose their job much faster than following the teacher’s union agreement. Competition kills the one of the four reasons people go into teaching, the job security. Without job security the other three reasons for teaching also vanish, June, July, and August.

Families shouldn’t intervene; the Kansas City Cheater’s High School incident stands as a testament to that. For the most part schooling isn’t the job of parents it’s the occupation of the one who needs to develop the skills, the students.

Teachers’ unions have little to do with the intelligence or stupidity of students. From my experience, what separates many smart kids from “dumb” kids is motivation. The kids who don’t do as well act apathetic. In some cases it is because the student would rather look “cool” by not trying and failing, other times it must be that the students just don’t care. What can be done with a student who has no desire to learn? Make him dig holes in the ground with a shovel until he decides he’d rather use his brain to make a living? It’s not a teacher’s fault when a kid isn’t motivated, but it is the teacher’s fault when their students are not challenged or being taught.

It is good that teachers’ unions allow teachers better wages and good teachers job security, but it is bad that they also allow bad teachers job security. I’ve had teachers who don’t have the mathematical intelligence to understand there is no difference between five points on a test and five points on a homework assignment in a class where grade is not weighted. I’ve had teachers who bore me out of my mind and nothing to challenge me. I’ve had teachers who give ridiculous amounts of homework that teach nothing. How are teachers like this still teaching? Teachers’ unions are why they are still working. Even if the law didn’t protect them, would they be fired? Probably not. Teachers’ unions are not the problem. The problem is students who lack motivation.

It is hard to understand this topic completely coming from AP classes at Foothill Tech. At Foothill we are blessed with mostly good to great teachers. I’ve gone to Balboa Middle School and Ventura Missionary School as well. My teachers there were also pretty good teachers. Most of the time I was never really challenged, but the teachers weren’t awful. It is hard for a teacher to challenge all the students enough when there are F students and A+ students in the same class. I think a good way to improve this is by decreasing the amount of students per classroom and separating students into different classes based on levels of intelligence and motivation (Basic, College Prep, Honors, AP, etc.). Another method that could be used is force teachers’ unions to change their methods of legally firing a teacher. The documents that make it near impossible to fire a teacher who clearly abuses students should be declared unconstitutional and redrafted to allow bad teachers to be fired. However, this would be difficult to do without at the same time making good teachers susceptible to being fired. The solution to cleaning the school system would be complicated, but if a few intelligent, motivated people set their minds to it, it could be achieved.

Oh Mr. Stossel! After watching your intriguing yet laughable showcase on how “stupid” American schools are and how we are lagging in the supposed ongoing race of intelligence against Belgium, I am dying to ask you about your education experience as a young lad….

But, am I currently living in a place where stupidity roams the halls of our schools and ignorance is present among unguided students and clueless parents? A place where a “good” education is scarce and those who manage to survive this jungle and chaos are doomed to be called cheaters? Has the education system gone so downhill that students and teachers must resort to cheating to get by? Is school a place for learning or a daycare center? Is this America? Land of the free and home of the idiots?

I beg to differ.

While I am quite skeptical about the educational system now more than ever due to unfortunate events and evidence I have complied throughout my schooling, I am not in total concurrence with Mr. Stossel. Though, in my earlier ages, while attending public schools, I have found that there is more room for dissatisfaction and lack of instruction. Where? Not in the teacher’s lounge, not in the girls’ bathroom, but in the classrooms. Not enough undivided attention by teachers, not enough help, not enough time. There are teachers who are not able to get the job done correctly and teachers who just don’t care. Why should they be concerned if they have the Teacher’s Union and some flawed ten-year plan protecting them? This teacher “insurance” may protect the teachers, but it doesn’t protect students. So although not all public schools are littered with horrible inadequate teachers and insufficient lesson plans, one may think that a private school might be better to avoid these common issues. This type of schooling requires pulling out the checkbook, so it is destined to provide students with fine instruction and rigorous academics, right? Well, that’s what I thought. At first I was intimated, because “private” schools are supposed to be a place where smart rich spoiled kids attend and excel. A place where strict teachers drill their students and where things must be done in an orderly fashion. Wow. I was sure naïve and WRONG! Even undeserving and inadequate teachers are able to jump over the hurdle to enter this level of schooling. Classrooms can still be unruly and the students can be stupid and act like scoundrels. Well, I guess money can’t buy everything. Not even a good education.

(Please do not take offense at my next statements…) Or even at my current location of schooling, I feel cheated and taken advantage of. Since when is curriculum supposed to based of making money? “Sorry Mom, but I have bad grade in *** right now because I need to make more money and fundraise.” And aren’t teachers supposed to help their students when they ask for it? Is it right that a teacher denies a student’s request to receive instruction and class notes on the material and tells the student that they must work on some pointless time-consuming group project instead? Is it okay to have a classroom full of students who ask for help and guidance on previous homework assignments but get their request vetoed, because another class project must encompass a 90-minute period? Should a class of 32 be taught by a teacher who did not get a degree in chemistry, but instead got a degree in forestry? And should students have to deal with a teacher who blatantly states that they are learning the material with the students? For Pete’s sake, here we are as one of the top schools in the state and we have inadequacies (mainly dealing with teachers) piling up faster than flapjacks. How ironic! But, ahhh! The agony and despair! Is this what we deserve? It is times like these when I think the Teacher’s Union is cheating on the students. Thanks to this form of insurance, it may seem like no one is safe. Beware parents and students! Hurry parents! Lock up your children and pray to Jesus that the Teacher’s Union doesn’t ruin your child’s education. As if we didn’t have enough to worry about already. Not only will that 42 year old pervert not be arrested, but a teacher who lacks teaching skills hold’s the key to a student’s education.

But does it really?

Well, as much as everyone enjoys bashing on teachers, not all teachers are scandalous and inadequate. Fortunately in my years of schooling, I have come across inspirational, motivating, and outstanding teachers who have taught me life lessons. Not just the material, but have led me on the path to success. And even if we come across a misguided teacher, students have the power to either tough it out and try to do the best they can or complain about it to their peers. Either way we, the students mold our education. We can choose to either get the most out of our classes, or we could shrug our shoulders and not care at all. Schools don’t need more money. Schools need more confident and determined students. How does this happen? Through the parents. So parents turn off the Baby Einstein and interact with your child. Teachers, just teach, but teach well and actually try. And as for teacher unions, know that there will be an easier way to get around your maze-like system one day. Teacher unions and teachers will not control my life, I will.

It always strikes me as unusual to think that teachers are actually people too. They have lives, they have kids, and they say bad words—they don’t just fold up and live in a closet when school is over. And with this realization, I can understand why these educators are so mad about such ludicrous rules as being fired for getting married. Teaching is a profession just like any other, and just like any other these professionals are entitled to fair rights, but no more than that.

I do believe that teachers are underpaid and underappreciated. People who can put up with a rowdy bunch of hormonal teenagers on a day-to-day basis have to be some sort of superhero or lunatic. And while many teachers prove to be the former, there is also a considerable amount of the latter. These educators—if they are even fit to be addressed by such an esteemed title—should not be allowed to continue in what they call teaching. They should be fired, immediately. If there is a teacher that has abused a child, sent sexual emails and letters to a minor, or simply cannot teach for their life, then they should be fired. Why should the student, a simple lump of hormonal clay, be subjected to hours on end of droning and inconsistency? That is exactly what we DON’T need.

A merit system is definitely a long overdue adjustment to our crippled and debilitated education system. I know some very nice but incompetent teachers. And to put it simply, I can’t learn from them just being nice, I need to get the material. I think that a teacher who is unable to get a point across should attend a kind of class that teaches them how to teach—a mandatory FIRE for teachers. Maybe this will help them handle a class better, or simply stop half their students from failing a calculus test.

On the other hand, teachers should not be given any special privileges. They are just like any other type of highly educated professional. Doctors don’t have tenure. If they screw up during surgery their ass is grass. They don’t get a second chance. They are sued for all they’re worth (and sometimes sued when it isn’t their fault), and their medical license is revoked. It is amazing to think that teachers who abuse their students are allowed to continue in this fashion without so much as a dock in their pay! If a teacher rapes a student, he shouldn’t be allowed to continue teaching for another second! He should have his ass out of that class room and in jail where it belongs. There is no question in my mind that the Teacher’s Union could use some serious revisions. It was formed in the days when teachers were fired for getting married or for being pregnant. This is the 21st century—things aren’t like that anymore. With changing times, revisions are necessary. I don’t think that the woman in charge of the Union quite gets that, maybe she just has her head stuck so far up her ass she can’t hear.

I’ll stop there. My point being, Teacher’s Unions are great, they are working for a good cause, our teachers. However, it goes too far when the principal or even the school district doesn’t have the power to fire sick maniacs. A careful balance is needed.

Oh boy, that dreaded word: “teachers.” The people whom most adolescents will claim to be the number one cause of pain in their lives. Whose fault is this, the students or the teachers? Usually both. Not only are kids “stupid in America,” but teachers’ unions and tenure also tend to let too many bad cooks spoil the soup.

Sure, there are kids who don’t try in school, who don’t care, who feel school is a waste of time, etc. But these kids don’t just live in America; there are people like this all over the world. Nor is it true that all kids in America are stupid; we need look no further for proof of this than are very own AmEx classes. It’s usually a kid’s own fault if he or she doesn’t do well in school. But there is also the case of bad teaching. I’ve had my share of bad teachers; there are the teachers who are just downright mean and vengeful, and then there are the teachers who are good people, but who just don’t have the “teaching gene." But how do we weed out the good teachers from the bad teachers from the people who shouldn’t be teaching at all? Tenure sure isn’t helping; although it’s a good idea, it has been taken to far too much of an extreme. You know there is something wrong with the system when teachers who commit known crimes (child molestation, for example) are still allowed to keep their jobs. But you also can’t always trust the complaints of the students; most students do not see the difference between a terrible teacher who should be fired and a teacher with a conflicting personality that one must adapt to. I feel that teachers who commit crimes must be immediately fired; as for the other bad teachers, this is a democracy, right? Put them on trial. Call to the bench many student witnesses; showcase proof of the teachers wrongdoings; let the teacher have his or her say; and let a jury decide the verdict.

We will never be able to fire every single bad teacher, nor turn every single student into someone who wants to learn. But the system, the teachers and the students included, definitely has room for improvement.

Really, I have no major complaints on the schools I have been through. I am not saying that I have had boring teachers or that I have ever been in a boring class. What I am saying is how. For me personally, I look back upon my education and have no regrets. I feel I am learning and progressing just the way the education system was set up to do so. What do I have that might be missing to the stupid American students?

Well first of all, I am from Belgium. Warm, chocolate Belgium blood with a mind of waffle batter. Definite plus.

So many factors run into educating a student. The first and most important I believe is the student itself. The student must decide to learn or lose, try or quit. From the very beginning, how the student will perform is really up to how the student feels the importance of his or her education and assignments. Why do I feel that three-fourths of American students have cheated in school? It is because the assignments mean nothing and the education is worth risking. Am I risking my education when I copy a chapter packet? No, because I will have the exact same work, the exact same effort next week, and the week after that, and the week after that. Do I risk my education when I plagiarize on a semester final? Yes, I risk it a lot. But how is a daily cheater to know any better when he or she has done it previously and not gotten stopped or penalized for it. If it worked once for you on the chapter packet, why won’t it work on the final?

So are the teachers to blame? What is the responsibility of the teachers?
Teachers can impact each and every one of their students. Teachers can go through the year without ever noticing a student. Teachers can make learning fun and exciting. Teachers can make school horrible and boring. Teachers are the biggest significance to a student and his determination in the subject and school. When no effort is invested into a student, no effort is made. I have had great teachers who taught their subjects tremendously. I have had teachers who started the year by looking forward to the end of it. What should be done to the teachers who fail their students? What should be done to protect the good ones?

Teachers unions! Teacher unions! Ah yes, the teacher unions. What power, what pizzazz, what protection. Teachers shall never be taken advantage of. Teachers will be protected. And the have every right to stay confident in their job and treatment…if they do their job. If you don’t do your job, you don’t work there any more. I believe responsibility should be on the teachers to do their job in order to have a job. What is a job well done? To have students come away from a class knowing more than before and being prepared for the next stage. Teachers unions I believe are more of a hindrance than an aid to the schools and teachers of today. I have no problem with their efforts to protect teachers, my only problem is when they protect the bad ones.

Students must have the determination. Teachers must have the determination. A student without determination will be impacted most of the time by teachers with determination. It is when the student comes to a teacher without determination when the schools get stupid and the kids don’t learn, when kids result in cheating and when “smart” Belgium kids beat “obese” American test scores.

(And by the way, that Belgium stuff I made up. I am not from Belgium and I don’t have waffle batter for brains. I am an American. I eat waffles for breakfast.)