T-Dog
Each week my students are in the trenches of the War on Drugs, learning to just say no. With any luck this will be more successful than Georgia�s Sex Education program �if we don�t tell them about sex, they won�t know about sex and will abstain.� I am not holding my breath.
The kids did not ask this week where they could (in their own precious words) score some marijuana. Today the kids learned about alcohol and drinking. One of the kids felt it important to point out that they see ME drinking all the time without pointing out that I drink during Holy Communion.
DARE is better than when I was a student. Just Say No, which is easy to remember and fun to teach is really useless. I am glad that they are now pointing out how using drugs is harmful, common misconceptions about drugs, and most of all, focusing on improving the personhood of a child to prevent them for turning to drugs, alcohol or tobacco for a sense of fulfillment.
I think if we made children work in factories in their spare time, after school and on weekends, they would no longer have time to do drugs, smoke or abuse alcohol. If we lowered our safety and compensation regulations, it could also stem the tide of outsourcing. They have loads of energy, tiny hands and a natural knowledge of technology.
In Other News...
My students are silently reading right now, which is an amazing part of the day. Thirty minutes of silence and even they do not like to see the end of reading time. I am really lucky this year that my hobbits are readers.
We are going to read �Charlotte�s Web� after Thanksgiving because I have a class set of the books, the teacher�s guide, and the video. I am also well aware of how lazy that makes me sound but at the moment I do not feel like making my own teacher�s guide, buying a class set of anything or reading a book that does not have �reward video� at the end of the rainbow. We were going to read �An Indian in the Cupboard� but will do that later.
The main reason we can�t read �Indian in the Cupboard� yet is that I want to cross out �Indian� and replace it with �Native American� like the Mormon kids in high school did with the obscene words in our novels in High School. I understand the idea that intelligent people do not need to use obscene language in their writing but there is a difference between saying someone is a mandrake and an author using the word mandrake in dialog, usually to show someone�s ignorance.
However, there is no excuse to use the word, �Indian� unless you are talking about people from the Asian Sub Continent.
Also, T-Dog, who sits by my desk, said he preferred spiders to Native Americans, we must always listen to celebrity endorsements because the are more important than actual facts, information or discussion on our own.
I have no idea why he wants to be called T-Dog, but it started today and he insists. Normally, but capitulating to T-Dog�s shenanigans I am able to end them, quickly.
