Kids Are Snotty

Workday - 8:30am-4:00pm

It must be allergy season. I feel like a kindergarten teacher with all of these runny noses. Then the unthinkable happened today: the tissue box in my (period 1) classroom was empty.

It's not technically "my" classroom, and the room isn't even in my department (either of my departments!). I don't have access to school-issued tissues. The boxes I already have to buy for my music office desk get used by any and everyone in the vicinity. I can't afford to supply this class of gushing noses with them.

I normally refuse to let kids visit the washroom more than once to blow their noses (I told them to stock up on toilet paper to last for the rest of the period). It was disruptive enough having a new kid go out every 5 minutes.

Today, the class is writing a quiz when a student insists he's in a nasal emergency and has to make a second trip. There is no way he's getting out in the middle of a quiz. I tell him to use his sleeve.

I don't understand why the class acted grossed out. Since when were 14 and 15-year-olds so hygienic?

Very Bad Teachers

Workday - 8:15am-4:15pm

Any person with her eyes open cannot help but notice a lot of news surrounding female teachers sleeping with students. In fact, you can find a (disturbingly long) list of many of these teachers here:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47895

Being a (female) teacher, I've had friends cite these incidents and actually ask if I was planning on pursuing this route.

Put aside the ludicrousness and inherent rudeness of this question for a minute (I mean, can you imagine headline news of a father molesting his child followed by someone asking the fathers he knows if they're going to molest their own children?). I'll discuss my feelings on the subject, anyway.

Today after school, I discovered I was the only teacher still present in my department office. Some students were waiting around for an evening performance and made themselves comfortable -- with me -- in the office (students know they're welcome to hang out there). After a few minutes of talking with them I found myself most uncomfortable. I felt awkward as the only adult in the room, and realized I had very little to discuss with these kids. I don't mind talking to students on a personal level (i.e., as a peer), but I find now that I prefer to do this in the presence of other teachers. They act as a buffer.

And it's not as if I don't have things in common with teenagers. Being the highly "immature" person that I am, I enjoy video games, silly websites, and many of the same TV shows (the animated ones, at least. Once these kids get started on their "O. C." I hit the marking pile -- which is a reasonable alternative to stabbing myself in the eyes with a paperclip).

But I digress.

My point is that I can barely spend time with my students outside of the learning environment. Don't get me wrong, I like the kids as students. I could just never see myself as their "friend" (let alone... *shudder*, well, I can't even think about it).

Who are these women who pursue relationships with students? I've heard many opinions. I think I agree with the ones who consider it a sort of fetish. They "get off" on the domination. They really are not too different from male pedophiles (they just don't fit that "creepy" stereotype).

What about the women who claim they "really love" their student counterparts? These women say, "You can't help who you love".

To that, I say: Sure you can!

You know it's illegal and immoral from the start, so you don't let those feelings develop. Then I think about it a little longer and decide, perhaps it could happen. Perhaps you really could fall in love with someone whom you know you should not.

So now I say: Even if you can't stop yourself from loving someone, you sure as hell can stop yourself from doing anything about it!

The fact that these teachers act on their love/lust/fetish/whatever shows some form of emotional disorder. And if that's not enough to prove they are sick, I leave you with one last thought.

Teenaged males are at their peak of disgusting. The majority of them are pimply, squeaky-voiced, unshowered masses of brazen stupidity. When sharing a classroom, I generally prefer to keep my distance. And as for the women who pursued a lesbian student relationship, teenaged females are hardly better. You can add whiny and flaky to the list, at least -- though they're more likely to have showered.