A Few Quotables

Here are a few quotes I think are worthy of passing along. Some of my thoughts about them might also be worth passing along, so I'll include a few of them. At some point I think I'll pontificate on what to do when the rule of law clashes (apparently) with the Golden Rule. Which do you follow? Is it possible that the Golden Rule should be "rejected" in favor of something else? But my thoughts on that will have to wait for another time (don't worry, I'm really not a heretic).

Now for the quotes:
1. "I am aware, that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hand of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; -- but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest -- I will not equivocate -- I will not excuse -- I will not retreat a single inch -- AND I WILL BE HEARD. The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resurrection of the dead."--William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator, January 1, 1831

Pro-life people should be able to find inspiration from such language, and could appropriately appropriate it for their cause. Of course, for Garrison, the cause was ending slavery. I admire the guy for having the guts to stand up against the horrific system that slavery was in the American South, at a time when few people dared or cared to take such a radical stand as Garrison, who demanded the immediate abolition of slavery. Say what you want against Garrison for some of his other views, which may be less admirable. But he was a man who saw slavery for what it was, and sacrificed a lot to sound a clarion call against it, decades before a political party--the Republicans, who mostly just wanted to stop its expansion, and were not nearly as bold as Garrison--dared to adopt a plank that could lead to the institution's eventual extinction. (By the way, in case you missed the memo, slavery was a VERY EVIL institution in the American South, and as such very much corrupted the culture of the South. I will not digress too much here by detailing the overwhelming evidence that supports this claim. But any wannabe pro-South defenders will have to do better than to say that "slavery is in the Bible" or use ad hominem arguments such as "the North was corrupt too" to justify the slave system. But this is another topic, perhaps worthy of a very long post sometime, so I'll stop now.)

2. "Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive."—C.S. Lewis, in "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment," in God in the Dock.
This could be good thought fodder in the classroom, when contemplating government intervention to improve people's lives.

3. "Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward." Ecclesiastes 5:18
I read this the other day, and was struck by how much it summarizes my vocation. Sometimes I can't believe I get paid to teach. My job is almost too good to be true! Of course, there is a warning label that should accompany the dose of sentiment of which you have just partaken.
Here it is:

Contextual warning--Readers should be aware of the fact that I am about 10 days removed from my most recent classroom experience, so time may have dulled the memories of frustration and exasperation that also frequently accompany my job.

Even so, I am glad to say that I enjoy myself in all my labor--er, at least most of it!

Baffled

I am baffled, in addition to stressed, disturbed and emotionally drained. Why? To make a long story short, due to a meeting with a parent who wanted to defend their child's egregious plagiarism, who threatened to get my principal to "force" me to change the grade despite my decision to give the zeroes for the assignment (which is in keeping with official school policy, I might add--it's not like I'm going out on a limb to do this!). Oh, and apparently I don't really want to make this experience a "teaching tool" for their child because I decided to give zeroes. Because naturally you can't teach a student not to plagiarize by giving them a stiff academic penalty. You have to coddle them and try to imagine it was all a big mistake that multiple sections of an online source magically appeared in the student's paper. It's magic because the student claims to have never visited said source. And of course if the student says they didn't do this, and denies that they plagiarized, and is fearful for the academic consequence that will come with a zero, this student MUST be treated with care and given a chance to make up the assignment! Only then will this experience become a "teaching tool!" I'm suddenly not very enthusiastic about dealing with people in this sin-sick world. At least those that question my integrity. But regardless, I'll press on. Blame it on the Patriots if you want. My shorter night of sleep could be having an impact on my life's outlook right now!

I Love to Laugh

"Some people laugh through their noses, sounding something like this..." Gotta love Mary Poppins and this classic song. And I'm glad I've had the chance to laugh a few times recently. Here are a few reasons:

The story a colleague related about a student in their class, when discussing Canada and how its laws are different than those in the United States. Deadly serious, the girl responded something like "I thought Canada was a part of the United States." She didn't know why there would be an issue with different laws, since they are all the same country. I'm sure Canadian friends will roll their eyes at that one!

A hard-working, sweet and intelligent, yet sometimes a little ditzy, flighty, and chatty girl in my U.S. History class and the way she occasionally laughs in class. She laughs quite a lot. But on occasion it comes out as a snort. Literally. I think it happens when she laughs more than the usual amount, or something. Her normal laugh is not a snort, but on occasion it suddenly shifts to that. It's REALLY funny. What adds to the humor is her horror at herself and how she sounds. She'll laugh, the laugh will turn into a snort, and then she'll clap her hand over her mouth in horror at what just escaped from her lips. I and students in the class have had occasion more than once to laugh at her for her laugh and reaction to it. It's one of those moments I wish I had a video camera to capture... Of course I occasionally sound as funny, when I'll be talking and suddenly my voice will crack and briefly turn high pitched. If I don't catch it quickly enough it will usually elicit a good laugh from my students, and a chance to laugh at myself.

Blurted and spontaneous comments another girl in U.S. History will make in reaction to things I say. I can only remember one big one right now. But she's the one who shows more than the average amount of interest in the subject, so will ask questions that involve a little more explanation, and sometimes lead to rabbit trails. Though on one hand I don't like students to blurt out comments when they interrupt me or others, on the other hand the spontaneity can be refreshing. Case in point: I told my students there was a real irony in that the worst grade I received in college was the same subject I was teaching them, U.S. History. Then I told them the grade: a B+. Of course this was devastating for me. The girl blurts out "Why are you a teacher? You could've been a chemist or something." Yup, once upon a time my life was at a fork in the road. One direction said "teaching," and the other was clearly flashing "chemistry." Chemistry would have been the only other option, of course, to one as "smart" as me. Forget law, medicine, engineering, or some other hard science. But for some reason I chose the not so smart route, and entered teaching. I was rather amused at the chemist proposal. I suspect it was the first occupation that popped into her head which she thought required some brains, and more brains than teaching.

Speaking of teaching, I'm a little scared at myself. I like it so much! I think something is wrong with me. In fact, over the last holiday weekend I had a workshop on Friday. Then we had Monday off. This meant four days away from students! I was so itching to get back into the classroom after those four days! It was a little weird to me that I wanted to get back so badly. Actually missing students seems kind of sad, but it happens. I think Thanksgiving break resulted in a similar angst for resuming teaching, though I don't remember feeling as ready to return. Part of it may have been that I've been doing some extra reading for a workshop that I recently participated in.

Shifting gears a bit, here's my new plot to change the world. Anyone who wants to join the plot can do so. I recently discovered that someone had rated my teaching abilities at ratemyteachers.com. It was an unfavorable rating, though the comment the student made showed that his reasons for disliking me were quite shallow (essentially "too weird," so that makes me a bad teacher--go figure). Well, I think that websites such as these are ridiculous in terms of their ability to accurately reflect a teacher's ability. After all, it's usually the students who hate a teacher who take the time to go to such a website and enter the ratings. Conversely, the teachers who are loved, usually for the wrong reasons (like being really easy and giving no homework, or showing movies all the time, or whatever), are favorably rated. One of the most incompetent teachers (since moved on from my school) I have known of all time (and pretty much universally recognized as such by my colleagues) has received very favorable ratings at this website. So based on it alone you would think this teacher is one of the best the school has to offer, as opposed to the worst. So anyway, I decided to participate in a nefarious scheme: rate myself. You can do so anonymously, so it's not like I made a claim to be some former student. I just made good comments about my intentions and my niceness, despite the hard work and challenge that my classes entailed. So anyone who wants to mess with an already wildly inaccurate reflection of a teacher's true abilities, please feel free to join the scheme!

I'm a little annoyed at myself that right now I can't remember other interesting things from work. There are always interesting things happening, which would be blogworthy material. Then I forget about them. Of course there was the sleeping substitute of mine when I was gone for the workshop a couple of weeks ago. He was also incompetent in some other ways. I left clear instructions asking him to do certain things, very basic stuff, such as distribute a sheet in each class for students to sign, to verify their attendance. He didn't do that after the first two classes, but apparently thought he knew better and would simply mark the students absent. Of course there were then several errors, students who claimed to be present who were marked absent, and vice versa. With no signatures as backup it was hard to straighten things out. And the students told me that he liked to talk. So rather than playing the very important video segments right away, which were timed to fit within the period so long as things were started right away, the sub told stories and started the film late! This meant there wasn't time to watch all that needed to be. Sigh. And students for a couple of classes said he was sleeping. He had his head in his hand, pretending to read the newspaper while sitting at my desk, but they could tell he slept! That's a first for me. The sub who slept. Apparently he was an older man...

It blesses me to have some students who are good, and then some. I give extra credit opportunities to help students who wish a grade boost to get one. Some of my best students also do the extra credit. Their work ethic has impressed me and won my heart. I will have to remember to praise them for it.

Amidst the humor, the roll your eyes moments, and the good things, there is pain. Like the obviously distraught girl in my class the day before Thanksgiving. I asked her what was wrong, and she basically melted into tears, and said it was too difficult to talk about. But I know her Dad has cancer, and that has to be weighing on her. I think her parents recently divorced as well. It makes me wonder how many other stories there are like that among my students. How many of them are dealing with unspeakable pain, and do not know the Person to turn to who can comfort them in that pain? It's a sobering thought, and gives me fresh reason to remember these kids in prayer. I live the words of Steve Green's song, "People Need the Lord," every day. Actually, I'm often a little blinder than the words of the song suggest. I don't see the needs every day, but I am occasionally reminded that they are there, and I am certainly amidst a huge amount of pain and need every day.

Lord Jesus, have mercy on us.