Big Brother takes over MN high school

[Andrew Rothman]

Matt, the

Good teachers set classroom rules at the beginning of the year. Students that do not follow those rules get sent to the principal. After a while, even the thickest of high schoolers figure out what behavior is and is not tolerated.

bit sounds good, but it doesn't jibe with the reality I've heard from some teachers in some schools.

My views are affected by news items about assaults on teachers in classrooms, or a failure of a principal's office to back up a teacher when the teacher tries to maintain order in the classroom. Also, by teachers' stories of hallway or restroom behavior involving drugs and sex. I dunno. It all seems endless and futile.

I agree completely, but you just prove my point. The system is fundamentally broken when principals don't support their teachers.

The solution is supportive principals, not making the school a Total Surveillance Zone.

And yet, who do you suppose it is advocating for the cameras? The principals!

Such principals need to get fired. That requires an active, involved and informed school board. And that requires an active, involved and informed voting populace.

Oh, never mind. It'll never happen.

 

[Daemon688]

Well I just graduated from High School just yesterday. Living in Minnesota I know for a fact that Eden Prarie is a huge school and it really is like a small college campus. In fact their high school is larger than my entire school district .

It seems like every year my school was begging the locals for more funding. It is in my opinion the school has wasted their money on replacing computers every 2 years, installing more and more cameras (7 cameras alone watching a rather small parking lot), and worst of all buying a big screen TV to place in the Office so the secretaries can watch their soap operas while they work. My school has also purchased numerous TV's, they have 4 TV's in the lunch room which are never used. Class rooms all have TV's and DVD players which are rarely used, in some cases never.

While we get all the gadgetry we NEVER use it is rarely that our books are replaced. Each book must last 10 years and slowly though we have been getting new text books. What's worse? We still regularly use dilapitated furniture built in the WPA days!

Although my school has gone over board with cameras they have helped the school with security. If it weren't for the cameras kids would have got away with vandalism. I have no problems with video cameras although it is a problem when tax dollars are spent on more than what they need. Besides, when was the last time you walked into a casino, government building, retail outlet, grocery store, gas station, etc that did not have a camera? It's not like they are actively seeking out criminals from a crowd by referencing their faces to a computer database; but merely acting as an aid to catch someone after they have commited the crime.

I'm glad to be leaving that school especially since they will no longer be allowing students to carry back packs. They also don't allow any drinks, food, cell phones, CD players, walkmans, radios, etc into the school and will confiscate your property if you are caught with them. This year they were even considering banning all PDA's. Now those are a violation of basic rights we all should have.

Come the next referendum, I know I will be voting no. And if you don't like your son/daughter's school policy, you should consider organizing yourselves and fight against what they're doing. I'm sure if all of you contacted your local schools regarding their polcies you would be surprised at what they're doing to us.

 

[Oleg Volk]

In 1991, assistant principal of neighboring Edina High OK'd me to bring in a (non-functional) .32H&R revolver as a prop for a public speaking class. Not even 15 years later, PDAs would be off-limits!? That is more restrictive by far than current Russian schools...not a good sign at all.

Home-schooling and trying to deny any money to public schools by opposing referendums and by moving to unincorporated areas seem like stop-gap solutions...not sure what can be done to really remove them from existence.

 

[Goet]

Problem with PDA's and Cells is this:
Nowadays you can IM people all day long. Convenient 21st century note-passing. Don't even have to use paper.

It is sad that more is spent on some gadgetry than on books. Such is the evils of line item budgeting. Be glad. Most principals/supers don't have a clue about accounting. Making expenditures very specific actually saves money.

 

[Oleg Volk]

What's the problem with passing notes? All the tests I provide are open-book, as I prefer to test comprehension and not just retention of facts. And grades matter very little anyway in the long run. However, it would seem to make sense to prohibit the use of PDAs during tests and not at other times.

As it is, schools seem to have turned into places where staff and teachers are likely to abuse students...and the students don't even have a way to call their parents for help (no cell phones). To hell with that! Sounds exactly like a minimum security prison with supervised release on evening and weekends.

 

[R.H. Lee]

What's the problem with passing notes? All the tests I provide are open-book, as I prefer to test comprehension and not just retention of facts. And grades matter very little anyway in the long run.

Agreed. Most disciplines are way to complex to memorize all the components. More realistic to have a comprehensive overview of the methodology and be able to know WHERE to look for details, IMO.

 

[HankB]

It seems like every year my school was begging the locals for more funding.

Ain't it the truth - and it's not just at elementary and high school levels. Back when I lived in Minnesota, there was a minor scandal about spending to fix up the mansion (!) the dean or president of U of M lived in. They spent literally tens of thousands of dollars to paint a picket fence!

Note that I said paint, not build.

They spent enough to redecorate the mansion to build several "average" new homes. And, IIRC, something like $20,000 to buy the guy a new desk.

they will no longer be allowing students to carry back packs. They also don't allow any drinks, food, . . . , etc into the school

So what do you carry your books in? And let me guess - they encourage you to buy your food at the cafeteria?

 

[Goet]

What's the problem with passing notes?

Maybe you misunderstood the terminology. Passing notes = writing letters to their boy/girlfriends etc. while they should be listening. Then, somehow, I'm responsible when they fail their state/fed tests.

Besides, I test for retention as few will actually comprehend a foreign language at such low levels.

 

[SteveS]

As it is, schools seem to have turned into places where staff and teachers are likely to abuse students...and the students don't even have a way to call their parents for help (no cell phones).

While the potential for abuse exists, I don't think it is wide spread enough that kids needs cell phones to call their parents. I wonder how I made it though school without a cell phone.

Most of the local schools allow students to have cell phones, but they are not allowed to use them during class. I am currently a part-time college student and most of my professors ask students to turn off their phones during class. Invariably, people forget and they go off during class. This is distracting and wastes time.

 

[atek3]

in my high school the solution to cell phones was shame. The guys got called "drug dealers" and the girls were "call girls". After the first time you remembered to turn off your cellphone.

atek3

 

[Art Eatman]

:They also don't allow any drinks, food, cell phones, CD players, walkmans, radios, etc into the school"

I fail to understand why this is a problem. School is not a place for self-entertainment.

Now, in those "glorious" olden times, we DID commonly have lunchboxes or paper bags with our sandwiches for lunch; the lunchbox group had small thermoses which commonly had milk...But most of the gripes about the cafeteria were specious, spoiled-brat comments. The issue of who ate what, and where, was a social thing among the students.

Art