Fall is here...and I'm still stewing

Most definitely, Fall is here. I can tell because the kids had to wear sweatshirts to school this morning. I'm quick with figuring things out eh?

The kids had the day off yesterday. It was a teacher workday...Pootie spent the day finishing up that STUPID summer reading project.

The more I think about it, the more infuriated I get. I really need to think about how I am going to handle this with the school. Because I do believe that something needs to be said.

But for now, I am stewing.

I am just not happy, in general, with the quality of education that Pootie is receiving at this middle school. My kid came from such an incredible learning environment at the elementary school level, and then BAM, he is smacked in the face with sub par teaching.

And yes, there is more to it then just this STUPID summer reading project.

1-Pootie was supposed to take a year of French. School didn't have a french teacher this year..He is taking modern dance. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about the Arts and what not, but seriously.....what do you think is going to help him further his goal of going to Wake Forest...um cause, yeah, that's his goal......and yes, I KNOW how much it costs and YES, I know that he could change his mind a million times...BUT he might not..and I'm just not seeing modern dance as a way in to Wake!!!!

2-Again, this year is more coloring and drawing and making "brochures" than my kid EVER had at the elementary school level. Sunday afternoon he spent 4 hours making a BROCHURE about something or other having to do with the middle east....what there diet is, clothing that type of thing. HONESTLY!!! Cut, glue, back and forth googling facts....cut, copy, paste, print..and color!!!! We are in middle school people!!! Coloring should not be an option!!!

3-Test scores. You are going to love this one. We'll use math as an example....Math test is not one big test with 20 or 30 questions- it's four or five little tests with 4 or 5 questions...each little test, counts as a big test grade. So, test 1a, four questions, you miss one, you've got a 75...test 1b 2 questions wrong, you get a 50.....get it? Now here's the kicker......YOU CAN RETAKE IT!!!! And not get a "discounted score"... You can actually retake the dang thing and score a 100!!!!!! To me, if you had one big test, and missed one, it's a good grade, no worries...

"They" say that it's broken down this way because grouping the questions according to application let's the teacher see if there is a problem with one specific application!! Example, test 1a is all addition questions. Test 1b is all subtraction, test 1c is multiplication...if student misses 1/2 of the multiplication problems, the teacher knows they are having trouble with multiplication......Really - cause they can't tell that if the questions aren't grouped in like categories...yeah, I feel really good about my kids education. Teacher can't figure out if he is making the same kind of mistakes unless they are grouped a certain way...

Think about it people!!!!!!!!! Who is this really helping? Ummm maybe the teachers and the folks who don't want bad grades to affect their JOBS!?!?

OH - and if it were such a great idea, why isn't it being used at all the middle schools in our area instead of the ones in this particular sub-district?

Blows my mind.