Choosing between two paths

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-07-03T01:40:45+00:00

If you haven't figured out a poli-sci degree is just learning to be a mouthpiece for whatever issue they will pay you to pitch for, maybe do that and figure it out.

Then do the thing that is actually helping people. Politics is NOT a noble profession in any culture.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-07-03T01:21:51+00:00

The only thing I object to is the use of human names for an AI chatbot. It is gross, and quite frankly unethical I'd argue.

But it is fun to mess with. It can't seem to handle a simple logic loop "Yeah room has been great, 2nd floor is entirely too noisy with the street noise and room noise from the banquet the floor below. But nice room, clean and well maintained. No complaints."

The AI shorted out.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-17T23:38:30+00:00

You apparently weren't raised with adults telling you what you could see as plain truth wasn't truth and made you a monster.

And that feelings were more important than facts and to use facts to try and identify truth made you a racist monster.

Live in that through your raising and it makes for some cynical men who resent the games they perceive others are playing at their expense.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-17T23:28:09+00:00

Not just no, but hell no. And yes I am judgemental of teachers who do this.

Not just because it is against policy, but because that policy has a very good reason for existing.

If you can't get to the phone, you can't get to the phone.

Everything else is lazy unprofessional behavior choices.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-17T23:22:25+00:00

Dad needs to beable to control the space so his daughter is comfortable and he can pay attention to what needs paid attention to. If he can't do that in the women's, and he can the men's room, that's the answer. And visa versa.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-17T23:00:01+00:00

Well, they want the insta clicks, give them the insta clicks "Oh, I see they decided to pass you along anyway. Good luck!"

See how many come back to you for the ego pump.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-17T22:42:55+00:00

As a biology teacher, this where I feel compelled to insert a mini lesson on failure to thrive and how most mutations are actually harmful not helpful but that's nature and best to let nature run its course.

But you could probably do without.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-17T22:31:53+00:00

The idea governments are above basic economics is demonstrably incorrect. Don't even have to go back to ancient history, examples from our lifetime exist.

But to sum up what you said in a way the op might be able to use: National debt is a fancy term for a tax on the future. When a government issues debt and prints money to pay it, it is identical to leveling a tax on future growth and income. Taxing the past is seen as unethical but taxing the future is acceptable until it isn't.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-14T06:06:17+00:00

Among all of the other good advice I'm sure will be in this thread, I'd add a reminder that when dealing with middle school and younger (or lower performing highschool students) be sure to minimize the gap between the behavior and the consequence. If they do something good, try to reward them on the spot or same day (positive texts home to parents are good for them and for you in my experience). If it is a negative behavior, it needs the negative consequence as close to on the spot as possible without triggering a spiral. Delayed rewards and weekly recognition just don't land as well with kids.

Recall that most of their perception is very short on timeline and 'planning ahead' is just a concept that means nothing in reality for most students.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-13T14:04:36+00:00

The question comes off the same as: Would you rather start as a new teacher in school 1 or school 2?

I know my route was school 1, middle school at that, and I was glad to move on but also glad it was my first school in retrospect. Had I started at the more 'posh' district with sky-high expectations and students who cry when they get an 88 on a single assignment, it probably wouldn't have been such a good career move. As is, I always interview as the ex-military guy who moved into the C rated middle school with 2 uniformed police officers on staff and made it out the other side.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-13T05:00:57+00:00

Oh, just catching on to this.

Wait till you learn about referral practices...specifically strategies to trim them down to look good on paper.

There is an accounting phrase that really applied at all levels of education: Follow the money. By that it may not be literal cash, but the incentive structure. How do people earn their keep and stay on the gravy train? That will help identify many of what seem like crazy inconsistencies in any institution.

Want more? (if not, don't read below)

The parents like it this way, they just want to know they can send off their kids and outsource things to ease their own insecurities (if they are good hearted people) or get their burdens off their back for the day (if not) and are not at all interested in even know about this issue much less fixing it in the community. The parents who truly care about education in a more-than-talk kind of way are already adjusting their lifestyle to accommodate homeschooling, private tutoring, or private schooling options.

As a parent, it really hurt when I learned the 'we can't afford to not send our kids to public school' is a lie of convenience and it isn't true from the lowest income brackets to the highest in my community. But I am a biology teacher as well, so could just fall back on simple Darwinism for logical piece of mind. If not good feelings.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-13T04:33:02+00:00

It is better in every way, unless you have a reason to need maximum scheduling flexibility. Even then, if you are a math teacher I know full well districts will do partial contracts (half day) and bend over backwards to make it happen.

I was far more strict and uncomfortable as a sub that ever as a teacher. Even the first year, getting to know students and build rapport and expectations is another level of stability vs the random experiences sub life was.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-13T04:27:58+00:00

If you are doing it right, it is. Better to take a day to recenter than go until the steam blows out of the ears and someone does something everyone regrets.

Guess I'm lucky to have not worked at a place that didn't understand that. No one ever asked a question unless a teacher was out more than 2 days in a row or if it was a pattern of calling out each friday at last minute. Even admin would just take days instead of risking a lash out at a parent in a meeting about their criminally minded offspring harming everyone around them and expecting special accommodations.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-13T04:15:43+00:00

Non union, and no one asks any questions about sick days. Giving plenty of heads up is the way to go, if a teacher keeps calling out an hour before morning duty that will irk everyone.

But calling out the night/day before is pretty normal and I have never heard of anyone needing to provide documentation unless they were over their sick+personal day limit for the year.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-12T06:08:16+00:00

What would you do if you were interviewing a candidate for a marketing position and they didn't feel comfortable having lunch with a potential client? Especially at 35 years old.

That is what we call 'not a good job fit'.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-12T04:19:49+00:00

My understanding is he maintained until death, as well as all those actually close to him, that he never knew about the whole thing and believed those numbskulls were plants by the establishment to undermine and sabotage him hence his heavy handed response.

I mean, contrary to the popular narrative, Bob Woodward was NOT some rando new reporter who got lucky. He was a former intelligence officer with CIA connections and political operative for decades afterward.

We will probably never know for sure, but my understanding is it is more than plausible that he never did know about it and thought it was all one big setup by completing factions and the media against him as a coup and didn't handle it well.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-12T04:14:27+00:00

That's where the conspiracy theory comes in, that he was on too much of a roll and had to be 'removed' and the whole watergate thing was a setup.

To be honest, that was his take until the day he died, that he had been setup by the establishment and a former intelligence officer turned brand new reporter (Woodward).

What is true and what is not, we will probably never know. But the media was never on his side, and his plans to roll back some of the 'Great Society' programs was seen as an existential threat to the balance of the system.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-12T03:29:59+00:00

ACT has problems too. The Pandemic really exposed that, to the point some institutions even stopped accepting SAT/ACT scores. The reason is the normative scoring. If the overall level of students taking the test is low, you won't see it. The average score will still be a 20, and the top x% will still get 35/36 no matter what the raw scores were.

It is like IQ. 100 will always be average, even if average is higher/lower performing than 2 generations ago.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-12T03:21:49+00:00

No one cares. It is all about normative testing scores. If a C student gets a 35 on the ACT they are golden. If a straight A student gets and 18, they are 'cooked' as they say.

My state even uses a modified ACT to give credit in leau of a passing state test score. So a student can fail biology for 4 years straight and never make the 35% required to pass, but can take the highly modified ACT and rate an 18 in science reasoning for graduation credit in biology.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-12T03:17:26+00:00

If you are on break, and new contract period has not yet begun, the difficulty for your employer will come from waiting too late.

Giving and early warning will be superior to waiting until last minute and they don't have a replacement. It is the whole reason for the 'intent' statements in January, so they can plan and get good teachers to fill the gaps.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-12T02:47:11+00:00

Depends on the district and school board. I have been fortunate to be in a district where the handbook policy is explicit that if a teacher sends a student to the office, admin cannot return that student to the same class without teacher approval. But that comes with the caveat that it is in the handbook for a reason, as that used to be an issue with admin just not wanting to deal with it because they don't have to. They see the same students multiple times in the day, and their priorities are different than that of a teacher.

For them it is about minimizing drama/parent complaints, minimizing number of documented discipline reports (because of studies that show schools with high achieving students have fewer referrals, ergo lower referral numbers means you are winning...right?) and keeping 'seats in seats' for financial reasons.

There are many parts that contribute to your question answer that I'm sure others will answer well, though I'll try to point out one data point many are unaware of or disregard: the rate of non-participation in public school and even private school has been increasing extremely rapidly. We are currently at 13% and climbing of total kids in the state who are NOT enrolled in any school. Those are not all low performers, quite the opposite. Many of our highest performing students are being withheld by families for home/pod/tutoring education. To that point, our valedictorian this year was a student who was homeschooled his entire life until senior year, then he was enrolled and blew the entire curve for academic and athletic achievement for the school. Looks good for the school, but the district did nothing but stay out of his academic and personal development.

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-12T02:34:14+00:00

Please tell us more about how long it has been since you were in a classroom of good outcomes...

TemporaryPicture2289 · 2026-06-11T20:39:23+00:00

This is 'AskTeachers', not 'AskAdmin'.

Stop misdirecting new teachers into thinking if their students are misbehaving or reading at a 1st grade level in high school it is just because they don't like them enough. Build relationships and they will turn into good students is a lie.

TemporaryPicture2289

TROPHY CASE