Rant

Today is Student/Teacher Exchange Day.

I do not support Student/Teacher Exchange Day. And here's why: Years ago, this was a terrific opportunity to let students see what being a teacher was really like; it was meaningful and helpful for kids contemplating careers in education. Over the past six years or so, it has morphed into a day of frivolity and hijinks, by and large, through which a small cadre of popular kids, drunk with power, belittle and toy with their peers. The day they started letting the kids exchange with administrators was the beginning of the end.

Granted, some people still take the opportunity seriously, but I think it's just another distraction in a woefully packed grading quarter.

And to be completely honest and fair, I stopped supporting it three years ago when a particularly snarky kid gave me a detention and refused to treat me as an adult. When the administrator I complained to supported the student and not me, I mentally withdrew from the activity for once and for all.

While I'm on a rant, be warned: I REFUSE TO SIGN ANY MORE FIELD TRIP FORMS. THIS IS APRIL; THERE SHOULD BE NO FIELD TRIPS; YOU HAVE AP TESTS IN LESS THAN A MONTH. Of course, I can't stop you, nor would I from a state championship or the like, but some of the garbage I've been asked to give permission for lately is just ridiculous. I will not give my tacit approval of an excuse to leave class to go to the zoo or a theme park. NO. DON'T EVEN ASK ME.

Why am I being difficult? Because I chose to dedicate my life to the pursuit of education, and I live to make my class entertaining and relevant, and it kills me when someone bops into my room and says, "If we're not doing anything important today, can I. . ."