Find the error before JT corrects it and earn a NH HS diploma.

"...perhaps we should bypass the state level entirely and simply grant it to the individual school districts."

A local school board here in Wisconsin would love this idea. They had budget money left over after a year's spending on sex education and anti-smoking campaigns and tolerance for trans-gendered diversity, so they bought half a dozen High-def plasma TVs for the high school. Now that Blu-Ray is taking over, they'll need money to replace those TVs...

If the Department of Education were shut down today,

would there be any schools that couldn't open on Monday?

"... diplomas despite not being able to read, write, and perform other basic tasks to the level the diploma ought to guarantee. I think it's long past time for such lawsuits to start to break out."

I used to do the enrollment testing for the small career college I work for. I flunked a student on the CPAt Reading test, which only requires 15 out of 30 correct answers in a multiple choice test. She was distraught. [Actually, I don't think she knows that word.]

"But I have a 3.5 cumulative GPA from Wealthy Suburban High School! How could I fail?"

I suggested she sue her school district. She never did enroll in the college.

Actually, you didn't think grandly enough. The money should go directly to the students, to be used to pay for whatever schools they desired. Why should there be any state-run schools?

Hi,
I would like to make a comment pertaining to the reason why O'Bryant students protested yesterday.

The main objective was to prove to the school WHY we were so late. I'm sure that you did your research and know that our school is prestigious as well as crowded hence making it hard to travel from one side of the building to the other.

We attempted to "talk it out" but it seems as if our school's administration disregards the needs of the students and only does things in their best interest. The highly illogical policy hit us by surprise - what basically happens is the administrators sweep the hallways as soon as the late bell rings and holds students in the auditorium for about 25min to "teach us a lesson". Many, including I, found this outrageous for they are combating tardiness with even more...tardiness.

As someone that was part of the protest, I feel as if the Globe along with other media sources did not adequately cover both sides of the story. If the student's perspective was put in consideration you would literally be in shock because this protest was carried out to prove that actions speak louder than words.

I've always believed that the most efficient use of government resources is done at the lowest levels, when the government is most accountable to the people. The higher level of government, the less accountability there is, and the more inefficient the spending gets.

I absolutely agree with this sentiment. I work in a school district, and think the further away from direct student instruction you get, the more incompetence and waste you will find.

Also, another huge problem that I see are mixed messages-even the same administrators in our district aren't on the same page, and if they aren't on the same page, it is tough for the teachers to be on it.

I'm sure that you did your research and know that our school is prestigious as well as crowded hence making it hard to travel from one side of the building to the other.

I am having trouble empathizing with you here. I can just imagine how well you will do when you go to college and you have a class on one side of campus, and you have to be at the next class on the other side of campus in 15 minutes, and Oh my, you are also going to be walking on crowded sidewalks.

Suspend all those students to blocked the school doors and make them attend summer school this summer

I try not to comment too much in the arena of public school, as I home school my four children. Now I home school for reasons that began with my daughter being ill, and whenever we considered putting the children back in school, the placement test put my kids 2-3 years ahead of their grade.

I spend around $1000.00 a year on now 3(as one graduated last year). I do agree that the states might do a better job directing funds, but it's the curricula that is the issue. I seem to believe that very little emphasis is placed on the fundamentals anymore, as there are so many politically correct agendas that need to be addressed.

I have found in the past 14 years I have seen tons switch to home schooling, and maybe the vouchers would work, as most leave the schools because they are not satisfied with public schools. In my town where there are around 4500 students from K-12 we have over 250 kids in our home school group. And we average 3 or so new kids a month.

Best thing to due is bring it to the light...
Just my thoughts

Sullivan when you get a job your employer will be even less 'understanding' with repeated tardiness because the traffic was heavy. There are just too many people out there wanting a job for him to put up with you.

" The higher level of government, the less accountability there is,.." jay

That sure is true when it comes to President Bush!

Baghdad barney - "That sure is true when it comes to President Bush!"

It's true of JT also. JT, you need to be far more accountable and send to loonbats like barneyGrubble to "I was banned for the larger good" hell.

"Off topic attack"..come on JT.. can't ya at least give Ol' Barn a week off?.. PLEASE!

Sullivan, when I was in High School corporal punishment was still a part of the school's discipline policy. Tardiness was not a problem then.

to LC
try being on time for work when you have to leave at a prescribed time too. we do not have the option of waking up ten minutes earlier to make it between classes on time.
to HughS
well over here in the twenty first century, we have some more enlightened ideas. When the punishment for stealing was loosing a hand, there was very little theft. do you also suggest returning to that system?
I was also a part of the protest. I can not speak for the entire school, but my problem with the policy is that it makes no distinction between people who loiter in the hallways for ten minutes, and those who simply cannot make it all the way across the school through crowds in four minutes. People were pulled off to the auditorium when they were five steps from their classroom. the existing policy of allowing teachers to punish students themselves was fine. A student who is thirty seconds late should not receive the same punishment as a student who is ten minutes late. a teacher can understand that. The administrators ignored any explanation, even if the student had a hall pass, and sent everyone off indiscriminately. As for the protest itself, I have tried other methods. Emails are ignored, it is impossible for a student to make an appointment, the student government has no power except to organize dances, and everyone is far to busy to listen to what we think. There were few other options, and obviously two hundred other students agree with me.
when the students were sent to the auditorium, they were held there for half an hour. when they were late, it was two or three minutes. I don't know what brand of calculator you are using, but I think that being late is the lesser of two evils. to everyone who is mad about the protest because the students don't want to be punished for being late, ask yourself why they did not protest back when they were given detention for being late. the issue for them is not whether there is punishments, but the method. obviously, unlike you would like to believe, they actually value their education and do not want to waste their class time.
Democracy should not end at the school doors. High school students have the right to protest too.

Eric

When the punishment for stealing was loosing a hand, there was very little theft. do you also suggest returning to that system?

That was a truly high school response. Congratulations, you're performing at your level.

I'll make it very simple for you. If you are absolutely determined to get to class on time, you can and will do it. My mention of corporal punishment was to make the point (which clearly sailed over your head) that corporal punishment had a way of focusing the mind of a young person. When you focus on getting to class on time, if that is your sole mission starting when the bell rings to end class and ending when the bell rings to begin a new class, you will get to class on time.

Crowded halls, loitering students, distance between classrooms, limited time....those are just challenges you must find a way to overcome. When you get out of school you will learn that employers call those challenges excuses.

corporal punishment simply made everything else, including school-related things, secondary. When I am moving between classes, my priority is to get to class on time AND prepared. If I have to choose between loosing two minutes of class because I must stop at my locker to get books and wasting the remaining fifty three minutes because I do not have the books I need, the decision is obvious. and don't tell me that I should get it before class, I cannot carry four ten-pound (not exaggerating) books, four two-inch binders, an assignment book, a dictionary, a calculator, and a translator all at once. In the same way that standardized testing leads to "teaching to the test," this system leads to everything other than getting there on time to be ancillary.
And it is still unfair and illogical to deprive us of our education to keep us from depriving ourselves of our education. If the policy were to give detention, as it was before, we would not be complaining.
Calling a perfectly logical reason why we can not always make it across a very large school fully prepared an excuse is a very ignorant thing to do.
I am not writing this out of self interest. I am rarely late, because I have a locker in a convenient location. I actually care about not only my own education, but those of the other students at my school.

This is a different generation of students. We do not have similar opinions to those older than us. Having such a tardy policy only entices the entire student body to become angry and fearful. Being a student in this school, I should not feel the need to become angry or fearful.

I understand why the school administration would set up a tardy policy, but it was not the correct method to do so. There are students only steps away from class forced to miss twenty or more minutes simply to write a reflection on why they were late. Does this seem logical?

Not only are they trying to end tardiness, but they aren't allowing people to go to the bathroom, even with a hall pass. We should be able to be trusted. This is not a disciplinary school, but an exam school, yet we are being treated like delinquents!

When the punishment for stealing was loosing a hand, there was very little theft. do you also suggest returning to that system?

Nobody was "loosing" hands back then either. They may have been losing them though.

Think your comparison was also a good deal hyperbolic-I don't think corporal punishment for tardiness is quite the equivalent of losing a hand for stealing.

And I agree with Hugh. You might as well buck up and look for a workable solution on your terms that you are in control of, because the schools response is that lateness isn't going to be tolerated.

This is a different generation of students. We do not have similar opinions to those older than us. Having such a tardy policy only entices the entire student body to become angry and fearful.

LOL I may not be from the same generation, but I have a daughter in high school. And if my kid was blocking doorways and preventing students from getting to class because of some lame protest over being tardy she would be in big trouble.

Also, I don't notice her being all that angry or fearful over her own school's tardy policy (teachers can give detentions for tardies and 3 unexcused tardies equals an unexcused absence), and her high school is four floors. So far she managed to get to class on time.

Maybe you should attend a public high school, and you will be less fearful.

to just me
I do not think it should be the responsibility of the student to fit the needs of the school. The school should set up a system that does not require students to find solutions to its problems.

We understand that lateness is a problem, and if you had been paying attention you would have noticed that our complaint is not that we are expected to be in class on time. The administration should be able to come up with a solution that is worse than the problem.

This is a different generation of students. We do not have similar opinions to those older than us. Having such a tardy policy only entices the entire student body to become angry and fearful. Being a student in this school, I should not feel the need to become angry or fearful.

This guy sounds like a jihadis, it's always
something or someone elses fault, never their own.
Gonna have a piss poor time of it, in getting
and holding a job.

*that is not worse than the problem

Quit whining and blaming everybody but yourselves for your misdemeaners.If you are fearful and angry and can't abide the rules go to another school.

Eric

You miss the point...again.

If I have to choose between loosing two minutes of class because I must stop at my locker to get books and wasting the remaining fifty three minutes because I do not have the books I need, the decision is obvious. and don't tell me that I should get it before class, I cannot carry four ten-pound (not exaggerating) books, four two-inch binders, an assignment book, a dictionary, a calculator, and a translator all at once.

I will tell you to get all of those books and supplies (what, fifty pounds?)into a backpack before class. Go to school prepared because, as you have told us, getting from class to class on time is difficult. Remember, if this is such a difficult problem, make it your sole mission to solve the problem. Focus your mind on solving the problem. If that means carrying a heavy back pack or simply carrying fifty pounds in your arms, find a way to do it.

And it is still unfair and illogical to deprive us of our education to keep us from depriving ourselves of our education.

Eric, life is unfair and illogical.Learn that and remember it. You are not being deprived of an education. You are being taught a real life lesson in how to solve a problem. Believe it or not, but adults in business,medicine,the millitary (better be careful with them, Eric, they have a way solving these problems: see my point on corporal punishment)and other professions deal with these kinds of problems daily.

interesting that you should misuse the word "can't." In many cases, it is simply not possible for us to make it to class on time. it is a big school, it is always crowded between classes, and we need to be able to get our things for each class.

What has America come to?

It's such blasphemy that the educational system has come to this. I agree with the kids, it seems as if they're doing what's best for them. From the looks of it they were protesting for AFTERSCHOOL detention.

As a teacher it seems as if the administration is to blame especially if it comes to the point where students are actually stepping out of their brain numbed selves to take action against unfairness.

So please, get off your high horses and come join the sensible people.

This guy sounds like a jihadis, it's always
something or someone elses fault, never their own.
Gonna have a piss poor time of it, in getting
and holding a job.

Please do not say such discriminatory things, nor involve race into this. Such matters are irrelevant. I am simply a supporter of the protest. I have not once been late to class, nor was I involved in the protest, so do not assume such things. You also assume that I have never worked a day in my life, so before you conclude, think.

Also, I don't notice her being all that angry or fearful over her own school's tardy policy (teachers can give detentions for tardies and 3 unexcused tardies equals an unexcused absence), and her high school is four floors. So far she managed to get to class on time.

Maybe you should attend a public high school, and you will be less fearful.

I do attend a public high school. The thing is, is that our teachers should be the ones deciding to give students detention whether we are late. Some do so. However, administrators do not know who most students are and do not allow students to explain why they are late. There is no justification for that.

I find the justifications by students above quite bizarre. The idea that the punishment for being late is disproportionate because they were "only" a few minutes late but then were punished for an hour is indicative of the entitlement mentality that young people have today.

Not to mention the debasement of the word "fair". It seems that we seen "its not fair" whining whenever spoiled children are not allowed their own wills.

Eric:

Having read your comments, I have one suggestion:

Find and read a copy of "50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School," by Charles J. Sykes. (You can buy a copy on Amazon, if your local library or bookstore lacks it.)

You will benefit from doing so. And you can read it on weekends. Reading it need not impact your school day.

HughS
And you are missing my point. We should not have to make being to class on time our sole priority. In fact, we cannot. we are in school to learn, not to get there on time. I really do not see why the first two minutes of class are so vitally important that we have to run to class (which is not allowed), carry fifty pound bags (not only would all the things not fit, but that is terrible for your back), and fight past people (risk getting suspended) to be there for them. Most of the people I have talked to would even be willing to extend the school day five or ten minutes so we would have enough time to make it between classes. For the most part, this is not a matter of motivation, it is a matter of physical possibility. We are not allowed on some of the staircases, which causes rubber-necking on the others. We simply cannot carry all the books required. we cannot travel all the way across a very large school when we are not allowed to exceed three miles per hour.
Even if it were possible, I still do not think we should have to devote so much time and energy to it. A student's focus should be on learning, not planning the fastest route to the next class. It is a school, not a job, the expectations are and should be different.

Please do not say such discriminatory things, nor involve race into this.

Islam is not a race, unless you are of
the mistaken opinion that all who are members
of Islam (regardless of ethnicity) are all
the same. Repeat, Islam (moslims/mohammedons) is not
a race.