Damn, F- for being a loser on grammar myself.

-20% for being a LOSER

I don't know, calling them a loser for no reason or to relate to the other kids seem a bit too much, especially if he's actually taking off points.

I'm not against the idea of outright insulting the kids who score poorly and don't try, though. Some of them could use a stronger message.

That is what I mean. While on one hand I should perhaps be more patient with ESL, I also teach kids who have had mandatory ESL classes for nearly 10 years by the time I see them, so when they can't connect a noun to a adjective after that much time, my true and honest opinion is that they are idiots and don't deserve much of my time. Especially considering I'm nearly fluent in their language after only 2 years.

Sigh. And the icing on the cake is that the good students are a bunch of annoying Tracy Glicks. I got to get into grad school so I can teach at university.

Did anyone really take public school K-12 half-assed seriously? It was a 13 year day care until you were old enough to dig ditches or go to college. I'm not entirely sure how some people couldn't make it to graduating high school when the pre-req for a C was "just show up".

Five for the teacher being a part of a shitty system and being sub-human by taking it out on a little girl's self esteem.

In Korea, where I'm at, you you don't test well in middle school, they ship you to a vocation high school and no college will ever accept you with a degree from one of those, so it's a tad different. You try joining in the losing battle giving kids a half way decent education and see how long it is before you become a cynic. I don't, in the end, condone this dudes action but I can't say I don't occasionally think the same damn thing when I see a class of 40 with 35 getting F's. Stupid modern kids what with their rap music and their makeout parties and grrrr, lawn, get of it!

Wait. Korea? Aren't you allowed to beat the students? I'm talking about the shitty American system.

The temptation to mark them down because they're dunces. EFL solidarity.

American kids get sent from Middle School to vocational school too, but only if they're losers.

I'm kinda with Aelric on this one. The kids in my Bulgarian ESL classes actually enjoy it when I'm a little off-the-cuff and insulting with them, particularly since it stands in stark contrast with the stodgy ex-Communist teachers still inside the system. Where the teacher really failed, however, was for attaching the 'loser' epithet to a negative grade. When you attach bad grades to a paper, you need to cite reasons why you're giving them a bad grade, especially since the little shits always run to their class teacher and accuse you of playing favorites.

That said, I have written 'A for AWESOMENESS' on a few creative writing assignments, wherein the students obviously spent a lot of time and effort to make the story entertaining (e.g. a story about Santa Claus getting involved in a kung-fu fight with post-apocalyptic zombies).

You live in North Carolina, you are a loser by default.

It sounded like Bumkin County. Did anyone else hear that?

Planet earth, losers, etc

God that sucks if that's true.

I did, but the school-board didn't think you could handle the stress.

That kid got REX ROLLAN'D, amirite

lolol now i wanna become a teacher for the sole fact that i can insult kids with stamps.

lolol kill yourself

If I had more stars, I would give them to Sacks5thAvenButt

Here, take these

if your stars will lead me to the "be a teacher" line, i will gladly accept them

Just for your edification, using the term "PC" and its derivatives in anything less than disdainful quotation marks is basically confessing that you're an abnormally tall pile of shit that walks like a man.

Yes sir.

I'm in favor of closing every institution in which people sometimes act like assholes to each other

I don't think Gatto ever recommended closing down all the schools. The main thrust of his argument is that no person, big or small, should be forced to 'learn' in a school environment, since anybody being forced to do something invariably learns how to cope with the situation, instead of actually benefiting from the material. So basically, all of the vaunted "smart" people in the class just lucked out and have a brain that stores a bunch of information and recall it easily, whereas the "losers" have a harder time of it, and find other ways of coping (ie. giving up because fuck you guys for making me into a monkey-puppet). John Holt also wrote a couple of good books on the subject; How Children Fail and How Children Learn. There's nothing wrong with an education per se, it's just the whole "Do it or we'll fucking ruin you." mindset that goes along with it that does the damage. I know, right? Crazy idea, that we shouldn't enslave children to meet our own agendas. THAT'S NUTS. And again: not saying education should be illegal, it just shouldn't be compulsory.

You can't really rush to the defense of this kid unless you've read the paper. I mean, by all accounts it could be a total loser paper. The way this kid's mother speaks, it wouldn't surprise me if that's the case...

Girls don't fight back, moron!

Dock his paycheck for being a square

she washes herself with a ra-yag awn uh sti-yeck.