topic Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school) in Community Chat

Times, they sure are changing. (school)

Shorty2U — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 17:34:46 GMT

I now have 2 granddaughters in high school and 1 in grade school. Times sure are changing.

The 2 high school grandkids were given electronic notebooks by the school (no more regular books). They can bring them back and forth from home to school and vice versa. (Middle school kids get them too but cannot bring them back and forth.)

Also they can chew gum, wear flip flops (my grandkids don't wear them to school though), they can have bottled water @ their desks, and lastly they can text in school in study hall (or when the teacher isn't teaching/when their work is finished).

I told them the following and they just looked at me and said you're kidding? lol. When I was in school I got sent home for wearing a USA t-shirt. In fact we couldn't wear pants until I was in 7th grade. (all through grade school it was skirts and dresses) One time I got caught with gum and the teacher made me wear the gum on my nose all through class. lol. We certainly couldn't have water at our desk, chew gum, and of course there were no cell phones.

Well none of these new school issues above bother me much except for with my youngest granddaughter. Cursive writing is no longer taught. I think that is ridiculous. Everyone has to sign their name and write at some point no matter how many electronics there are! (So my daughter taught her cursive at home long ago because she felt she needed to know how to write cursive. like the other 2).

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

ivey — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 17:45:47 GMT

Shorty: I taught school for 34 years, so you can imagine the changes I saw during that time. My GD is a senior and what gets me are the silly electives she is taking. She didn't get a chance to choose because she changed schools.

But one critical thing that I think is missing for her is keyboarding and computer knowledge beyond just surfing the internet. She needs the skill for getting a job through college and afterward. (I was a business ed. teacher, by the way, so I am probably biased.) I can teach her--if she will listen. But it would have been better if she could have used that hour learning something useful.

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

SydneyH — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 17:46:50 GMT

Not all schools are run that way. My children are not allowed to chew gum or have access to their cell phones during school hours, though they do work on electronic notebooks.....

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

Marienkaefer2 — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 18:00:26 GMT

I disagree with students being allowed to text in school, unless it is lunch break and that's it. Otherwise, if they are finished with classwork, they can read or do homework for another class. There is always something else they can do. Especially since one of their biggest excuses for not getting assignments done is that they don't have time. The other is that they know everything already. Sorry, even the top students should be constantly seeking out new learning. Gum...that was a big no no when I was in school also. I guess I don't mind it...as long as they are not blowing bubbles at me while I'm talking to them. I think you are lucky they are getting the latest in technology. Our kids don't have those electronic notebooks, although we did pass a big tech levy last year, so hopefully that will change. We are a small district. They still teach cursive here.

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

Qwackertoo — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 18:06:42 GMT

Our school just started BYOT this year. They bring their own technology. School district isn't providing them. They say they have policies in place to encourage proper use and to not abuse the privilege. Heck, they even had to change the starting/ending times so the elementary can share buses with the middle & high school so they start earlier and get out earlier then buses repeat routes with the older kids. Son is a senior . . . so this is last year for us.

But when they try to pass a tax increase to help with the schools funding it gets voted down. They try to pass a lottery to help with funding, it too gets voted down. I guess they think it just magically gets funded. Not.

We do have quite a few AP and pre-AP offerings and they keep creating these "academies". This will be year one for the Engineering Academy and son is taking a Robotics Eng. class. Also a business, medical oriented and a few others. Maybe this will help the college bound kids determine IF that is for them vs 2 years into it at college and changing majors. Time will tell. Can't hurt.

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

scotttie — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 18:13:41 GMT

Well that district (OP) is way different from ours. They get notebooks I think but that's not their only book.

Also no water bottles allowed that you bring in....some kids were filling them with vodka evidently.

There are pretty strict dress codes also.

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

chrystaltree — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 20:15:29 GMT

Time changes and we have to change with it. Nothing remains the same forever. I know of no school in our area that allows texting or even using a cell phone during school hours. As a parent, I would have a problem with that. The tablet or notebook thing is common in schools that have the resources. Bottled water makes sense to me, if it's important for us to stay hydrated during the day, that would apply to kids too. Flip flops and gum; gum I'm okay with but I think flip flops are an accident waiting to happen for elementary school kids. Cursive, is pretty much a dead art now. Most people only use it to sign their names on things; absolutely no one writes in cursive anymore. Even as I write this, I'm trying to remember when I last saw something written in cursive and excluding signatures; nothing comes to mine. Everyone prints or uses a computer or tablet.

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

hckynut — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 23:51:12 GMT

On 8/25/2014 Shorty2U said:
I now have 2 granddaughters in high school and 1 in grade school. Times sure are changing.

The 2 high school grandkids were given electronic notebooks by the school (no more regular books). They can bring them back and forth from home to school and vice versa. (Middle school kids get them too but cannot bring them back and forth.)

Also they can chew gum, wear flip flops (my grandkids don't wear them to school though), they can have bottled water @ their desks, and lastly they can text in school in study hall (or when the teacher isn't teaching/when their work is finished).

I told them the following and they just looked at me and said you're kidding? lol. When I was in school I got sent home for wearing a USA t-shirt. In fact we couldn't wear pants until I was in 7th grade. (all through grade school it was skirts and dresses) One time I got caught with gum and the teacher made me wear the gum on my nose all through class. lol. We certainly couldn't have water at our desk, chew gum, and of course there were no cell phones.

Well none of these new school issues above bother me much except for with my youngest granddaughter. Cursive writing is no longer taught. I think that is ridiculous. Everyone has to sign their name and write at some point no matter how many electronics there are! (So my daughter taught her cursive at home long ago because she felt she needed to know how to write cursive. like the other 2).

aka-taxpayers

Studies have shown that those that wear uniform dress are generally better behaved.

Do you think these looser standards of dress and other more liberal policies by the schools have helped or hurt the graduation rate?

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

brewhaha — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 23:58:04 GMT

When I wrote in cursive, I was sent home and my mom washed my hand with soap.

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

Burnsite — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 00:03:37 GMT

Schools were too strict when I was attending (Catholic) schools. So was home. My mother didn't permit me to wear blue jeans, so I kept mine at my best friend Mary's house and changed into them before we had double-dates with two friends.

Eyebrow plucking--I didn't, but a friend got into bad trouble for having plucked her eyebrows while bored one weekend.

I think media at school might be potentially more disruptive than t-shirts and eyebrows and blue jeans, though. Students who text are not really _in_ the class.

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

LooPY — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 01:33:10 GMT

Of all the concerns Shorty mentioned, the one most disturbing to me is that handwriting is no longer taught in many schools. I would urge anyone who considers cursive writing a dead art, to read the article in the NY Times (6/3/14) entitled 'What's Lost as Handwriting Fades'. New evidence suggests that the links between handwriting and broader educational development run deep. More recently, research and studies indicate that children who learn to write by hand better generate ideas and retain information. Apparently it's not just what we write that matters, but how. The act of writing stimulates areas of the brain that are not activated by typing. Not only do we learn letters better when we commit them to memory through writing, memory and learning ability in general may benefit. It has even been suggested by one researcher that cursive writing may train self-control in a way other modes of writing do not. (It is a discipline, after all.) Most interesting is, although the jury is still out, even skeptics acknowledge that this new data is thought-provoking. Kudos to Shorty's daughter for teaching her granddaughter cursive writing when the school no longer saw fit to do so!

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

bells4me — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 02:19:53 GMT

Where I worked Chrome books were used in high school beginning in 2007. Students could chew gum and have water bottles in the classroom. Several students were arrested for being drunk because they chose to fill them with vodka. One even passed out in class. Cursive writing hasn't been taught in years or typing. No texting though. My grandson does just about all his math on his phone this year, so times are still changing since I retired. Glad my kids are raised.

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

Lila Belle — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 03:29:54 GMT

On 8/25/2014 brewhaha said:
When I wrote in cursive, I was sent home and my mom washed my hand with soap.

Too funny !

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

sabrescutie — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 03:37:25 GMT

On 8/25/2014 hckynut said:
On 8/25/2014 Shorty2U said:
I now have 2 granddaughters in high school and 1 in grade school. Times sure are changing.

The 2 high school grandkids were given electronic notebooks by the school (no more regular books). They can bring them back and forth from home to school and vice versa. (Middle school kids get them too but cannot bring them back and forth.)

Also they can chew gum, wear flip flops (my grandkids don't wear them to school though), they can have bottled water @ their desks, and lastly they can text in school in study hall (or when the teacher isn't teaching/when their work is finished).

I told them the following and they just looked at me and said you're kidding? lol. When I was in school I got sent home for wearing a USA t-shirt. In fact we couldn't wear pants until I was in 7th grade. (all through grade school it was skirts and dresses) One time I got caught with gum and the teacher made me wear the gum on my nose all through class. lol. We certainly couldn't have water at our desk, chew gum, and of course there were no cell phones.

Well none of these new school issues above bother me much except for with my youngest granddaughter. Cursive writing is no longer taught. I think that is ridiculous. Everyone has to sign their name and write at some point no matter how many electronics there are! (So my daughter taught her cursive at home long ago because she felt she needed to know how to write cursive. like the other 2).

aka-taxpayers

Studies have shown that those that wear uniform dress are generally better behaved.

Do you think these looser standards of dress and other more liberal policies by the schools have helped or hurt the graduation rate?

My school wears uniforms. Worst behaviors ever in 14 years teaching.

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

sabrescutie — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 03:38:44 GMT

Electronic notebooks? I'm lucky if my students show up with something to write with...

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

feline groovy — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 03:42:07 GMT

On 8/25/2014 brewhaha said:
When I wrote in cursive, I was sent home and my mom washed my hand with soap.

Re: Times, they sure are changing. (school)

Shorty2U — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 17:44:23 GMT

Thanks for the input and replies. And a big thank you to those who are and have been teachers!

And I agree on cursive writing.

Anyway, according to my grankids school they are saving a bundle on books and paper by using these electronic notebooks. Yeah good, and hopefully they will put the savings to good use.

I forgot to add, my grandkids go to a suburban middle to upper class public school.

I can tell you that the city school nearby has the students wear uniforms (due to having parents save money and not have to keep up with trends in clothing), and it did not curve behavior problems. That city school is a mess with problems!