The Wow I Can't Believe That News Story Thread

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

I did. At one point I did this thing where I cycled kids out of class for remediation in groups of six and I was surprised by the new set of challenges the small group presented.

What were the new challenges? I went to school with middle and upper class kids but military school also naturally attracted those kids with personality disorders and violent tendencies but the threat of forcing them to do "PT" (military style exercise for several hours a day after school as an ultra form of detention) just kind of made them chill out in class. We just didn't have ANY problems AT ALL like what you talk about. Plenty of kids were *******s who got PT on a regular basis but it wasn't a systemic problem in school that disrupted classrooms.

I also have to confess that the overly casual atmosphere may have been entirely my fault thinking I couldn’t **** it up with just six kids and then bam I managed to lol

We did also have the "benefit"... **** it, benefit of having a large number of teachers from the military who were quick, fine, and not even dickish about doling out discipline. I guess you could say they had an alpha mentality where they knew how to cut kids' legs out from under them and keep them in line in an authoritative, but also not aggressive way that the civilian teachers often didn't have as those teachers tended to act like normal teachers just with more authority. And the best, chillest, and most liked civilian teachers tended to dole out authority in much the same way as the teachers with actual military experience.

Extrapolate from that what you will but it was definitely a thing. I guess experience with actually powerful authority gives you better skills for being in authority than being a bureaucrat?

[OccultHawk]

What were the new challenges?

The casual nature of the atmosphere with small numbers. I may have told this story on here before but here’s an example. It’s kind of good and bad.

I had six kids at a table and we were going over some document one of those things I was teaching them how to quickly pull the important information from it. Whatever.

One of the kids said “You seem like you’re black” and I was like “Well I’m white. I grew up in an all white neighborhood and everything” and he said “why do you seem like a regular person?” And I said “White people are regular people” and he said “no other white people are different”

All the kids were black and they weren’t like saying I act black like a wigger. They were just saying I didn’t act like I was better than them or more important or whatever. But that sense of equalitarianism was a double edged sword. I made it clear I wasn’t a “friend” but you know how it goes. They took advantage of the situation sometimes.

I don’t know if that answers your question. I don’t want you to get mean about it though. I wasn’t a perfect teacher. I know you’re smart enough to guess what my weaknesses were. You don’t need to call me out.

[OccultHawk]

she turned down tenure and moved to the rich district

Yeah that sucks.

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by OccultHawk

The casual nature of the atmosphere with small numbers. I may have told this story on here before but here’s an example. It’s kind of good and bad.

I had six kids at a table and we were going over some document one of those things I was teaching them how to quickly pull the important information from it. Whatever.

One of the kids said “You seem like you’re black” and I was like “Well I’m white. I grew up in an all white neighborhood and everything” and he said “why do you seem like a regular person?” And I said “White people are regular people” and he said “no other white people are different”

All the kids were black and they weren’t like saying I act black like a wigger. They were just saying I didn’t act like I was better than them or more important or whatever. But that sense of equalitarianism was a double edged sword. I made it clear I wasn’t a “friend” but you know how it goes. They took advantage of the situation sometimes.

I don’t know if that answers your question. I don’t want you to get mean about it though. I wasn’t a perfect teacher. I know you’re smart enough to guess what my weaknesses were. You don’t need to call me out.

I'm not trying to be mean or catch you out on anything. My experiences are totally personal and from a very specific situation and you have your experiences. I'm just curious.

There were black kids in my school but they were probably roughly about the percentage of black people in schools in general in America. I can imagine however in a school system with high levels of black kids that the power structure between black students and white teachers could have been tricky at best.

I mean all that I'm saying about my school experience in military school is about a disproportionate power dynamic in favor of teachers that doesn't exist in public schools, but also the public schools that I went to sound different than the schools you taught at.

[OccultHawk]

I went to a really good high school. Some crazy **** went down but academically it might have been the best public high school in the entire state of Georgia. It was 49% black from busing but for the out of area black kids (there was only one black kid actually zoned for the school) they had to test in like it was college. The black kids were smarter and more well behaved than the white kids. It was like white kids who just happened to have rich parents and black kids who managed to excel even though they grew up in ****ing College Park or The Bluff. And back then those were probably the toughest neighborhoods in America.

So yeah, I was sheltered as a kid from what I experienced as a teacher. I never saw students threaten teachers with violence right in their face until I became a teacher. I was genuinely taken aback.

[Frownland]

Outrage as Auschwitz installs SHOWERS to help tourists cope with the heat

[The Batlord]

Angry white people sweated balls in solidarity with the Jews.

[OccultHawk]

Originally Posted by Frownland

Outrage as Auschwitz installs SHOWERS to help tourists cope with the heat

I think that’s a rehash from a few years ago but goddamn if showering at Auschwitz isn’t all-time great selfie material.

[Frownland]

Copper mine collapse kills 36 in DC Congo

[The Batlord]

Aren't there a lot of children working in those mines?