MFF #45

Link up at Wife of a Sailor

Underwear Parties, how old is too old?

Being that I have absolutely no clue what this is then I am going to say you are never too old?!?!

What was your favorite class in high school?

Drama.  I loved to get on the stage and be someone else.  It was fun.  Plus, Mr. Nevilles was an awesome teacher.

Have you ever convinced packers/movers to pack something they aren’t supposed to for a PCS?

Nope, if anything they convinced me not to pack things I should've. It was late, I wanted them to get the heck out of my house and I was stressed.

Blogging plays a growing roll in the media. If you were asked to embed as a blogger with a deployed military unit, would you go? What do you think your blog would be like?

No, I wouldn't go.  Not in to the whole being in danger thing.

Do you think kids should attend year-round school?

As a teacher, my answer is absolutely not.  I see the affects of year round school on Korean students and they are overworked and stressed (and have the highest teenage suicide rate).  They do tend to be more advanced in math but that is only because they are sent off to tutors and academies after school to be drilled and killed till the wee hours of the night not understanding concepts enough to explain them to a peer but performing the operations like a robot.  It is great to have the 2.5 month vacation to look forward to every year.

Going to a year round model will not fix the problems our public schools have.  There is a paradigm shift regarding education that needs to happen in our country.  One where parents are positive and active in their children's educations... ALL PARENTS.  When a child hears their parents talk about how they hated school, how they were bad at school, how they aren't good at math, hate math, the child thinks that that is what they should think, too.  Indoctrinating our children to excel in school and be active by positively reinforcing education and educational achievements across the board needs to happen at home.  

There is a huge positive to American schools; something that we do right and that is that we encourage a whole well rounded student who is active in their community, clubs and sports.  Having a student who explores many different activities helps promote them to be a better a student.  Many athletes wouldn't try in school if they didn't have the motivation of the team.  Plus, the strategy and critical thinking necessary in sports and most extra curriculars help build brains to function better in the classroom.  If we go to a year-round model we will lose this part of our education system that we actually have gotten right.  

Our country still has the most prestigious institutes of higher learning and Americans  invent more things that improve our daily lives than any other country so we have gotten some part of education right.  If you ask any of my Korean National students where they want to go to school without a hesitation they will tell you somewhere in the US and most of their parents attended an university in the US.  You should just see how twitterpated they get when they meet someone from an Ivy League (WOW! Did you hear he went to Harvard?).

We need to let our kids be kids but also promote education positively.  Even if you have had a bad experience when you were in school that doesn't mean that your child will have the same experiences.  Why set them off with negative preconceived notions?  Plus, I work a years worth of hours, sweat, blood and tears in 9 months and I need a short break to relax, read a book for fun and maybe take a class that I am not teaching.  I will get off my soap box now... just imagine if you had asked me how I felt about preschool because you don't want to get me started on that! :D

"It's too late to call the judge..."