Friday, January 19, 2007
27
For example, the school is an instrument of stress already. How do we eliminate stress? How do we curb the suicide rate that is increasing exponentially from two years ago and then a tragic car accident this year? The student enters the history classroom. She is already intimidated by the fact that her first language is not English. She finally musters the courage to speak to the professor who is disparaging Cuba based on their communist manifesto (and rightly so by the Americo-centric view of the world history taught to 11th graders) that she likes Cuban people. She is told in a small voice that she is historically incorrect.
She bursts into tears. How could she do this when she was just told in a small voice that she is historically inaccurate. A SMALL FUCKING VOICE! DON"T CRY! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? HAVEN'T YOU HAD ANYONE CRY IN YOUR CLASSROOM?
Apparently this is normal, no stress levels raised.
...but she is not doing her work. The professor must call home, but why? Does he call all of those who do not do their work. (Not according to the student, the Brazilian student who never does any of her work is apparently a lost cause... giving up, this professor must not have the larger 27th brain organ, no persistance) Oh well, it is a physical deformity...
"Thanks very much for calling home" or "I know, I was there..." What happened? Did the student come into the classroom and blow up or did the arrogance of the teacher prompt him to say he called home, in front of her friends, he'll show her who is boss, he is in charge, she will flush, her friends will react, I will be elevated again to the man above all those who made fun of me in high school so many years ago. Oh yeah. I have the POWER! Wait, what you were there? You are responding? You are storming out? You didn't cow and shrink into your desk? I underestimated your chicana power...oh fuck, cover up and run.
Rewrite history, send the email, this is what happened, not the way she said it. Send it to everyone all the way in case her father calls. Not likely, he is an immigrant. He still respects you as an educator. Not like these arrogant American parents that know you are just another piece of shit like them.
She is just a student. She is disturbed. It is not my job to ask students about their personal problems. I am a colleague, trust what I say and that is it. But...
I don't trust you. I took it to your boss, she backed you, but so did mine. If this goes, up. I will win. Hopefully I have stopped this escalation for the student, not you. Your boss is paranoid. There is no culture of teachers back talking each other. There is a culture of increased student stress. If this ends then so be it, if it doesn't then we will battle. If I get one more whiff of your arrogance, this will continue. You changed due to force before, if you do not do so again. We will battle and I battle every day with bad ass mofos and I come back for more. Lets see how your stomach for battle is. It has nothing to do with courage, just perseverance, the ability to get up.
Thank you to my supportive boss who escalated and backed me up. Now I have two supportive bosses at once. I am truly blessed.
I will be obstinate in my pursuit of justice for this student.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Phrenology (from Greek: φρήν, phrēn, "mind"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is a theory which claims to be able to determine character, personality traits, and criminality on the basis of the shape of the head (reading "bumps"). Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall around 1800, and very popular in the 19th century, it is now discredited as a pseudoscience. Phrenology has however received credit as a protoscience for having contributed to medical science the ideas that the brain is the organ of the mind and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions.
Its principles were that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that mind has a set of different mental faculties, each particular faculty being represented in a different part or organ of the brain. These areas were said to be proportional to a given individual's propensities and importance of a mental faculty, and the overlying skull bone to reflect these differences.
Phrenology, which focuses on personality and character, is to be distinguished from craniometry, which is the study of skull size, weight and shape, and physiognomy, the study of facial features. However, these fields have all claimed the ability to predict traits or intelligence. They were once intensively practised in anthropology/ethnology and sometimes utilized to "scientifically" justify racism. While some principles of phrenology are well-established today, the basic premise that personality is determined by skull shape is almost universally considered to be false.
...but everyone likes to get their head rubbed. If you can convince them this a real endeavor...Limitless Possibilities.