We get a lot of teachers in training at CSL. So much even, you wondering if the school gets a monetary bonus. (If they are, the money isn't getting all the way down to the students. Money at CSL suffers from ice disorder; it disappears faster than than ice in a sauna.)
Us students, we need to put up with substandard "teachers" and still get evaluated just as severely. If you get a hundred more than once with the reform at our school, you either:
1-slept with the teacher if you're a girl and the teacher was a guy
2-slept with the teacher if you're a guy and the teacher was a woman
3-slept with the teacher if you're a guy and the teacher is a guy (one case)
4-you bribed 'em
One recent teacher in training couldn't write for shit! With him, the writing on the board looked like the *urine* streaks from a drunk monkey. Something was always missing (Flashback: La defniton de compresion: une membre qui subt une compretion)—I think he has a problem with nerves. Hope he gets better, all in all, he wasn't bad.
Considering the state in which CSL is in financially, equipment-wise etc, the teachers are pretty much the last shot CSL's got to attract students and they're throwing that away too. (We do have a couple good ones)
At least the teachers are getting something good out of it.
The regular teachers get somebody else to teach for them, and they get to take a period off, WHILE getting paid. The poor teachers in training don't even get paid! No justice at all, and definitely, I'm not going to become a teacher. (I have to put on with troublemakers like me and I don't get paid...awesome! Best job ever!)
I suppose it's good training for them. If they survive us, they have a *small* chance at surviving at a real school.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Do we need another Nuremberg Court Session?
The prison/school comparison never gets old. There are a plethora of examples, analogies and scary similarities between these two places of pretence. Yes, we do learn things sometimes, but the amount of complete codswallop we are told pales in comparison to the amount of things we are told that will never serve any purpose whatsoever. Now that I have finished justifying my metaphor to all the bumpkins out there reading this, I will ‘get to the point’.
I recall, on the first day of our 9th grade, the head of our hellish detention centre said something along the lines of ‘...we are capable of comprehension, we are not Nazis here’. I also remember finding this statement had a strange defensive tone. Exactly one year later, on the beginning of this school year, the same phrase was reformulated but nonetheless lurking within the crooks of his speech, like a small fine print trying to make itself scarce. The second time around, I started to ponder: what if they are Nazis? I indulged myself by going even further in the analogy. Somewhere in this train of thought I came to realize an ironic play on words. The school wants us to concentrate. A school is full of kids/teens...like a camp is. I’ll let you make the link yourself. But, as these things usually do, they don’t stop there. After reading a book by an Italian survivor of the abomination that happened in Hitler’s Germany, I started seeing SOME similarities between both establishments: The various languages, the exchanges of food, the fatigue, and a few other less prominent likenesses. You could also argue that intolerance is an issue (shocking from a school that proclaims itself a partisan and user of a certain internationally renowned way of learning). I’m not talking about racism per se, but a form of ideological war. Several employees of the school are partial to the strong nationalistic sentiment that has developed through the years in this nation. Due to this ridiculous (arguably violent and vindictive) conviction, they punish any use of the English language outside of the English class. Yes, it is in the rules that only the one language is usable to communicate, but when 40% of the students speak perfect English, adapting is, on some level, necessary. You’d think, to be fair, they’d look out for people talking in all the other languages out there too, but do they? We wish. You could probably speak Mandarin or Esperanto wherever you want, but speak English and you get yelled at.
I recall, on the first day of our 9th grade, the head of our hellish detention centre said something along the lines of ‘...we are capable of comprehension, we are not Nazis here’. I also remember finding this statement had a strange defensive tone. Exactly one year later, on the beginning of this school year, the same phrase was reformulated but nonetheless lurking within the crooks of his speech, like a small fine print trying to make itself scarce. The second time around, I started to ponder: what if they are Nazis? I indulged myself by going even further in the analogy. Somewhere in this train of thought I came to realize an ironic play on words. The school wants us to concentrate. A school is full of kids/teens...like a camp is. I’ll let you make the link yourself. But, as these things usually do, they don’t stop there. After reading a book by an Italian survivor of the abomination that happened in Hitler’s Germany, I started seeing SOME similarities between both establishments: The various languages, the exchanges of food, the fatigue, and a few other less prominent likenesses. You could also argue that intolerance is an issue (shocking from a school that proclaims itself a partisan and user of a certain internationally renowned way of learning). I’m not talking about racism per se, but a form of ideological war. Several employees of the school are partial to the strong nationalistic sentiment that has developed through the years in this nation. Due to this ridiculous (arguably violent and vindictive) conviction, they punish any use of the English language outside of the English class. Yes, it is in the rules that only the one language is usable to communicate, but when 40% of the students speak perfect English, adapting is, on some level, necessary. You’d think, to be fair, they’d look out for people talking in all the other languages out there too, but do they? We wish. You could probably speak Mandarin or Esperanto wherever you want, but speak English and you get yelled at.
P.S. I do not intend to offend anyone by referring to the Holocaust. I also acknowledge that our pain is mental and nothing near to the pain suffered by the people in that genocide.
Lime
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Another Drug Conference
Good thing: we miss last class of the day to see a skit.
Bad thing: it's about drugs, sex and gambling and it's in our tiny gym.
I understand its a necessary thing to keep us youngsters away from drugs. But using "skits" and class presentations from drug awareness is getting as old as yo mama jokes. (also, perhaps more importantly, it isn't doing much good)
Two new things most people learned this time:
1- put your seatbelt on
2- play poker; you may lose money, but not your life
You gotta give them credit for trying though.
They used real pot, and used the old sex on stage trick. (Relax, it was censored)
I can't really say much about the skit, I was part of the 50% who couldn't see shit. We were all cross-legged on the floor.
Oh, for future reference, making people sit cross-legged on a hard floor is, surprisingly, a great way to torture them. Worse, let them hear something interesting but make sure they can't ever really see what is going on.
Bad thing: it's about drugs, sex and gambling and it's in our tiny gym.
I understand its a necessary thing to keep us youngsters away from drugs. But using "skits" and class presentations from drug awareness is getting as old as yo mama jokes. (also, perhaps more importantly, it isn't doing much good)
Two new things most people learned this time:
1- put your seatbelt on
2- play poker; you may lose money, but not your life
You gotta give them credit for trying though.
They used real pot, and used the old sex on stage trick. (Relax, it was censored)
I can't really say much about the skit, I was part of the 50% who couldn't see shit. We were all cross-legged on the floor.
Oh, for future reference, making people sit cross-legged on a hard floor is, surprisingly, a great way to torture them. Worse, let them hear something interesting but make sure they can't ever really see what is going on.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Next Generation Teacher
Today, something historical happened.
The next generation teacher has arrived at CSL. Somewhat ironically, he was the substitute teacher for our ethics & religion class. The "regular" teacher, an overweight old lady with a mood as unstable as nitroglycerin and an overabundance of affection for dogs hasn't shown her face since Christmas. (We hope you're getting well)
The NGT (next gen teacher) started out with an introduction about himself, and wastes no time dropping the bomb: he is doing his master's on the cult phenomenon World of Warcraft. As you can imagine, even the most inattentive guy raised his head to that.
Quote from Alex who was playing around on his ipod touch "What's happening? I heard Warcraft!" ("...Oh, WORLD of warcraft."-resumes playing on touch)
He brought us poor bastards a peak into the future of education. Some schools have already started, but its an all-new concept for a school like ours. (You know, ghetto, cheap, low-budget, antique desks and only well-known because of the stupid geniuses who go there.)
In the future, there will be cellphones (iphones in his example) and laptops for every student. Wikipedia will no longer be taboo but rather the starting point of every class and of every subject. Video and picture reports will be abundant. Students will be learning about how to post an Wikipedia entry, about how to advertise their point of view on facebook efficiently, and learn how to properly make an Youtube video. Hmmm, Julian could really use a Youtube video making 101 course.(There was going to be a link to his *adjective deleted* videos but I think he deleted them all)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netiquette)
Maybe we will be teaching our kids about netiquette one day. (Omigod, us having kids, what a scary thought. *shivers* Oh, by the way, you can do your english etiquette around the world project on netiquette if you'd like.)
Netiquette certainly would become necessary soon with all the flaming, trolling, and increasing number of dumbshits ejaculating their worthless bits of obscenity on every web page, forum, and blog they find. The comment button on any page is like a huge, irresistible beacon to them. They see one they will ache to click it, just to add their 1 millionth of a cent's worth. Newsflash: You don't need to write 'fuck' or 'gay' or 'fag' or yo mama jokes everywhere. Trust me, they aren't at all in danger of extinction! Go protect the whales! Or turn 'round and 'round until your green and join the *expletive deleted* environmentalists.
The NGT had even included a little rant (I'm a fan of rants) about present day teachers and their views about computers, Internet and technology in general.
The high point of his rant (translated from french):
"Of course teachers of today show an aversion to technology, Wikipedia, cellphones and computers, they don't even know [what the fuck] is Tetris! Pacman was the best they ever knew, and even that, it was for pro-gamers only."
Hopefully, more and more teachers will be like this guy. Maybe then, the reform might actually work, and dropout rates might decline for a change. You can't go wrong with Youtube and Facebook. Just ask Obama.
(Still one problem: It's colorful in Canada, it's cotton paper, and it has various important historical figures and numbers on 'em.)
The next generation teacher has arrived at CSL. Somewhat ironically, he was the substitute teacher for our ethics & religion class. The "regular" teacher, an overweight old lady with a mood as unstable as nitroglycerin and an overabundance of affection for dogs hasn't shown her face since Christmas. (We hope you're getting well)
The NGT (next gen teacher) started out with an introduction about himself, and wastes no time dropping the bomb: he is doing his master's on the cult phenomenon World of Warcraft. As you can imagine, even the most inattentive guy raised his head to that.
Quote from Alex who was playing around on his ipod touch "What's happening? I heard Warcraft!" ("...Oh, WORLD of warcraft."-resumes playing on touch)
He brought us poor bastards a peak into the future of education. Some schools have already started, but its an all-new concept for a school like ours. (You know, ghetto, cheap, low-budget, antique desks and only well-known because of the stupid geniuses who go there.)
In the future, there will be cellphones (iphones in his example) and laptops for every student. Wikipedia will no longer be taboo but rather the starting point of every class and of every subject. Video and picture reports will be abundant. Students will be learning about how to post an Wikipedia entry, about how to advertise their point of view on facebook efficiently, and learn how to properly make an Youtube video. Hmmm, Julian could really use a Youtube video making 101 course.(There was going to be a link to his *adjective deleted* videos but I think he deleted them all)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netiquette)
Maybe we will be teaching our kids about netiquette one day. (Omigod, us having kids, what a scary thought. *shivers* Oh, by the way, you can do your english etiquette around the world project on netiquette if you'd like.)
Netiquette certainly would become necessary soon with all the flaming, trolling, and increasing number of dumbshits ejaculating their worthless bits of obscenity on every web page, forum, and blog they find. The comment button on any page is like a huge, irresistible beacon to them. They see one they will ache to click it, just to add their 1 millionth of a cent's worth. Newsflash: You don't need to write 'fuck' or 'gay' or 'fag' or yo mama jokes everywhere. Trust me, they aren't at all in danger of extinction! Go protect the whales! Or turn 'round and 'round until your green and join the *expletive deleted* environmentalists.
The NGT had even included a little rant (I'm a fan of rants) about present day teachers and their views about computers, Internet and technology in general.
The high point of his rant (translated from french):
"Of course teachers of today show an aversion to technology, Wikipedia, cellphones and computers, they don't even know [what the fuck] is Tetris! Pacman was the best they ever knew, and even that, it was for pro-gamers only."
Hopefully, more and more teachers will be like this guy. Maybe then, the reform might actually work, and dropout rates might decline for a change. You can't go wrong with Youtube and Facebook. Just ask Obama.
(Still one problem: It's colorful in Canada, it's cotton paper, and it has various important historical figures and numbers on 'em.)
Monday, March 9, 2009
Back to school
This is what CSL does to us, even after a week, it feels like its only been a weekend.
You are once again among the humans you know, some better than others and some you wish you've never met.
But at least, we're in the final lap. Light speed....engage!
Don't despair, it passes horribly fast starting from now. Almost too fast. Better start stocking up on those brain pills.
On another note, SPRING IS COMING!
Also, for those going on a school trip, enjoy! We will be eager to see you gone. :P
You are once again among the humans you know, some better than others and some you wish you've never met.
But at least, we're in the final lap. Light speed....engage!
Don't despair, it passes horribly fast starting from now. Almost too fast. Better start stocking up on those brain pills.
On another note, SPRING IS COMING!
Also, for those going on a school trip, enjoy! We will be eager to see you gone. :P
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