When keeping quiet does more harm than good

Who’s ready for my latest soapbox? No…? Then stop reading.:)

I discovered this morning that I have ringworm…..on my chest. I’ve never had this before in my life, let alone know much of anything about it. I had to look it up. Apparently it’s contracted through direct contact with an infected person or item. So now I’m going through the short short list of things that may have touched my chest and things I could have touched before scratching my chest. Not many things.

Being a teacher, we pretty well narrowed it down to student contact in some form. Kids are gross. We all know this. They have poor hygiene and generally repulsive behaviors. Not out of malice, but ignorance and indifference.

Now I have to avoid getting it again or in a worse spot. Well, in order to do that I need to identify the source.

Did you know that schools will not release any medical information about students to anyone? Not even teachers! Earlier this year there was a lice epidemic, but not a single letter was sent home in the affected classrooms, nor were other teachers alerted to the source of these outbreaks. Why? Because it “violates the student’s privacy”.

Ok, I get it. You don’t want us treating the kid like a leper and you don’t want other kids to do so. Seriously, we’re kind of trained to handle situations like this delicately. Forget contagious things. I don’t a teacher out there who hasn’t had to deal with the smelly kid – smoke, mildew, drugs, vomit, poop – you name it, we’ve smelled it. We’ve ended our days by emptying cans of febreeze air effects in our room in the hope that it might lessen the stank. But do we hold that student at arms length? Nope. We still love them.

But when it comes to anything even slightly medically related, we’re all in the dark. We don’t get the chance to avoid infection because we live in the most litigious society on the planet! No one and nothing is safe.

Me personally, if my kid came down with lice, scabes, ringworm or any other uber contagious infection, I’d REQUEST that other parents be informed. If the school wouldn’t do it, I’d spread the word myself to parents I know and ask them to spread the word as well so everyone can take preventative measures to avoid an outbreak.

The problem I now face is not knowing where my ringworm came from and being in the middle of treatment. Oh, my students will know that I’m not able to hug them. They will know I have an infection on my skin that they could catch with direct touch. I don’t want them getting it and spreading it like wildfire. I think it’s stupid to deliberately keep people in the dark.

I’m not saying to put up posters in the halls proclaiming that Johnny Smith has lice. Just send a generic letter home to the kids in the affected class telling parents what to look for and measures they can take for prevention. You’re not announcing who it is. And trust me, if your kid is observant enough to know who has what, they’ll go home and tell mom and dad who on their own, so making an official warning doesn’t add anything to the trouble.

So why don’t we do this now?? PARENTS!!! Idiot parents who think that the mention of the presence of a problem that involves their child is likened to turning their kid into an infection alert lighthouse. Nope. Not even close. I could almost guarantee someone else was absent that day and the other kids are utterly clueless. Not to mention that even if a few kids catch wise, IT DOESN’T MATTER! You would absolutely want to know if their was an outbreak in your child’s class, but if the school ever mentioned YOUR kid’s problem (even without mentioning the name), you’d be calling your lawyer and making threatening calls to the principal.

I understand the desire for privacy, but it puts teachers and students at an unnecessary risk. A generic letter saying there’s cause for concern doesn’t invade anyone’s privacy. Rather, it breeds awareness and healthy habits. I swear, if some parents knew what their kids are being exposed to, they might actually take more notice of whether or not their kid is bathing properly or even just washing their hands after going to the bathroom (I’ll save THAT soapbox for another day). I’m not asking for people to get obsessive about it, just smart.

Because of the idiots who think they can get rich quick off of these ridiculous lawsuits, the whole world operates on fear and it puts others at unnecessary risk.

So stay clean. Stay healthy. And for God’s sake lighten up a little! With all the people in the world, your kid WILL catch something eventually. It doesn’t speak a word to your abilities as a parent. One little nit can cause an explosion of unwanted situations that could potentially have been avoided with the simple act of vinegar behind the ears and some lice preventing shampoo. That’s what I don’t for lice outbreaks. Lord knows how I’ll handle this one, but for now, I just keep it covered and tell students I can’t touch them for a while.

 

OY VEY

Excuses are like…..

I have a job in which I sometimes have to deliver less than desirable information to parents. Every now and then a parent is truly flabbergasted by information I give them, Unfortunately, most of the information I have to give parents (in the beginning) is all negative. Failing in a certain academic area, unable to communicate, violent as hell. I could pretty much guarantee I’m not the first person to say something to the parent (mostly because it’s illegal to test a kid without parental consent), but that doesn’t stop parents from crying, yelling, feeling guilty and being generally upset with the special education process.

I get it. I get it all. I can’t imagine how torn up I’d be in I had a kid not able to learn the way everyone else does. I would never want hardship for my kids. HOWEVER, trying to avoid the situation doesn’t do anyone any good.

In my career I have had my fair share of parents making up bogus excuses to not show up…for anything…ever. So you all know; that’s a red flag to an educator. It wouldn’t take much more to report you to social services for suspicion of…well…the options there are endless. Avoiding the school is a great way to get more attention than you want.

So when meetings come up – heck, even conferences – it’s kind of important to communicate with the school. So let’s just say your child has been referred for evaluation. Fine. We want to meet with you. Okay. You don’t want to come and listen to all the negative things? Awesome. TELL THE SCHOOL! You can absolutely ask us to hold a meeting without you there for ANY reason. And guess what?¿ No testing can be completed and no changes in academic coursework can be made without written consent from a parent.

I have had parents who just didn’t want to know everything that was wrong with their kid and just wanted us to send what needed to be signed. By law, I have to provide copies of all paperwork, but no one is twisting the parent’s arm to read it. I have also had parents who “knew” they were responsible for at least part of their kids problems and were embarrassed. We get that. We don’t blame you. We can’t. We can’t possibly know what happened when you were pregnant and in today’s world there are a million things that can affect your child without you willingly causing it.

So why, OH WHY, do I get parents who make up the most transparent excuses to not come meet about their kid? If you mysteriously get a migraine EVERY time there’s a meeting at school but are miraculously healed by the time you need to pick them up, that’s fishy. If you get injured in the same way every time…fishy.

I personally could not care less why you don’t want to be at those meetings. Just call me and say “hey, I don’t really want to sit in at that meeting. Can you hold it without me?” Sure can! I’ll send you the paperwork in the mail. Have a nice day!

I still can’t do anything without your consent, but you sure as heck don’t need to sit in a conference room and listen to us detail all the struggles your kid is having. Thanks for trusting us enough to make some necessary decisions in regards to your child’s education.

Sorry, but I HAD to get that off my chest.

 

End rant.

Where Have All the Lyricists Gone?

We all know that memes are a big part of society today. We’d be lying if we argued otherwise. Almost everyone has seen one. Many have seen hundreds. One that I rarely see, but strongly agree with, are the music lyric memes.

Most of us always have a powerful connection to the music we listened to in our youth. There are a lot of reasons for that. I feel like I am the last generation to be able to argue that the lyrics ‘in their day’ were intelligent. Poetic, even. And while I admit there were some lyrics growing up that were cringe-worthy, it’s nothing like today. Want some examples? I can even stay within given genres and categories!

There is just enough Christ in me To make me feel almost
guilty Is that why God made us breed To make us see
we’re Humans Being You break this,
I’ll break all that You break my balls with all your
crap Spread your disease like lemmings breeding That’s
what makes us Humans Being Shine on,
Shine on Shine on, Shine on Some low life flat head
scum infects The sickness in his eyes reflects You
wonder why your life is screaming Wonder why your Humans
Being Shine on, Shine on Shine on,
Shine on Humans Humans Being We’re just Humans,
Humans Being That’s what makes us Humans Being……..

-Van Halen (Best of Van Halen 1996)

 

VS

 

(ho!) I don’t think you’re right for him
(hey!) Look at what it might have been if you
(ho!) Took the bus to china town
(hey!) I’ve been standing on Canal
(ho!) And Bowery (hey!)
(ho!) And she’d be standing next to me (hey!)

-The Lumineers (2012)

*Catchy song? Yes, but it’s less like poetry and more like putting a conversation you once had to music.

 

How about pop music?

 

Life goes on as it never ends
Eyes of stone observe the trends
They never say forever gaze if only…
Guilty roads to an endless love
(Endless love)
There’s no control
Are you with me now
Your every wish will be done

-Backstreet Boys (1999)

 

VS

 

Swag, swag, swag, on you
Chilling by the fire why we eating fondue
I dunno about me but I know about you
So say hello to falsetto in three, two swag

-Justin Bieber (2012)

 

How about country?

 

Oh you get me ready in your 56 Chevy
Why don’t we go sit down in the shade?
Take shelter on my front porch
The dandy lion sun scorching,
Like a glass of cold lemonade?
I will do the laundry if you pay all the bills.

Where is my John Wayne?
Where is my prairie sun?
Where is my happy ending?
Where have all the Cowboys gone?

-Paula Cole (1996)

 

VS

 

Oh, Oh
Trouble, Trouble, Trouble.
Oh, Oh
Trouble, Trouble, Trouble.

No apologies, he’ll never see you cry,
Pretends he doesn’t know that he’s the reason why.

You’re drowning
You’re drowning
You’re drowning

Now I heard you moved on, from whispers on the street,
A new notch in your belt is all I’ll ever be.
And now I see,
now I see,
now I see.

-Taylor Swift (2012)

 

These are only three examples, and of course there are many more. Obviously there are also exceptions. However, it seems as though most of the exceptions I can think of are artists who have been around a minimum of 10 years. Hell, even teeny boppers in the 80s and 90s had a little intelligence in their songs. Not anymore! Today, I listen to my favorite radio station waiting for the new artist who are already getting along in age and the throwback music they play alongside new stuff.

 

I believe me, I know there were plenty of empty lyrics as a grew up, but the artists I’ve grown to love over the years seem very with it. They use symbolism and intrigue in their music. One artist in particular, The Goo Goo Dolls. Even their new material is full of thought. They use figurative language in every song they make. They have imagination.

 

I’m sure not everyone will agree me wholly on this, especially anyone under the age of 18, but that’s why I’m here. I get to say what I think without getting slammed.