Laundry day...

I have spent the day at my parent's home doing laundry since the washing machines in our complex charge exorbitant prices, and it is nice to see my folks. In between folding laundry I have been grading my extraordinary stack of papers that have somehow accumulated between parent conferences and Thanksgiving break. As I was making the necessary corrections to a vocabulary assignment (that my students did in class) I noticed that they most of the papers had something in common. They were all ridiculously MESSY! I thought about the consequences for turning in work of that quality when in junior high, and realized that each one of my teachers would have handed such work back and expected it to be re-done. Most of us would have done it without argument, understanding that if we had taken our time we would not have to do it over. As my dad says, "El flojo trabaja doble." Translation, "The lazy person works double."

I then began to think about how compromised I have felt at my current school site. My normal teaching methods are quite strict, yet fun and effective. However, it seems that we are expected to be counselors and mothers. In fact, one of my co-workers has told me that the administration has approached her several times about her lack of maternal instincts. If I were to hand back any of those papers and say to re-do them because their neatness was not up to par, the girls would whine and pout. Even worse the parents would call the administration directly and then I would get reamed (for trying to prepare them for high school and dare I say it, LIFE).

What kind of children are we molding if mediocre work has become the new standard? Our expectations have dropped and the children will only rise as far as they need to. Where has our challenge gone?