Farley vs. Simple Dog

Yes, he really does sit this way!

So my friend L introduced me to a blog site called "Hyperbole and a Half."  Blogger Allie has written several entries about her dog that L thought I would enjoy.  And I did.  I laughed so hard at some of them that I choked on my own spit and had a violent coughing fit.  Now that's true enjoyment!

Allie refers to one of her dogs as "Simple Dog" because, you guessed it, she (the dog, not Allie) is not highly blessed with gray matter.  Since Farley is also not a canine Einstein, I could totally relate.  After reading the entry entitled "The Simple Dog Goes for a Joy Ride," I was actually feeling slightly relieved; Simple Dog made Farley look like a rocket scientist!

Alas, my joy was short-lived.  In an earlier entry, Allie described how she performed a doggy IQ test on Simple Dog by draping a towel over her head to see how long it would take for her to get out.  As expected, SD failed this test.  The other night while I was getting ready for bed, I decided to give my dogs the IQ Challenge!  I flipped a part of my blanket over Rusty's head; he immediately shook his head vigorously from side to side and within seconds, darted out from the opening his thrashing had created.  Then he gave me a dirty look that translated, "I know you did that.  The question is why?"  Suspicious, but smart!

Then it was Farley's turn.  I flipped the blanket over his head and he immediately turned his head under the blanket carefully from one side to the next.  Slight pause.  Then the blanket hump that was Farley sloooowly slid down onto the mattress till he was completely prone.  Longer pause.  I flipped up the part of the blanket covering his face to find him perfectly relaxed, his eyes completely closed.  The blanket fazed him not at all.

I'd say the score is tied.

Sex Education

My global studies classes were discussing diseases in history today.  Naturally we started off with the black plague and I was pleasantly surprised that there was some spirited discussion on how diseases are passed and why some carriers (like fleas) are completely immune to its effects.  The black plague discussion led to modern diseases such as hepatitis and its high prevalence in college students; as my students are soon-to-be-graduating seniors, this was quite apropros.  Since one of my students did her senior project on HPV and her panel presentation was within a few hours of our class, she also piped up that students should also consider getting the Gardasil shot to protect them against this steadily rising STD.

Nothing perks up a class discussion like the merest hint of sex.  The black plague was cool for its gross-out factor but STDs!  Now there were 30+ students with lots of questions they wanted to ask.  Some questions were purely anatomical while others were obviously based on real-life experience:  "What if my friend did..."  Change the "friend" to "I" and fill in the blank.  And the new generation think they are so clever and sophisticated.  They can't even create an original story.


This is not the first time that I've had discussions with my students about sex.  In the 10th grade Health Core class I introduce the body systems and when we get to reproduction, questions abound.  Now my students are far from innocent; you don't grow up in our neighborhood without learning a thing or two about life, but for all their street smarts and the language that goes along with that, many of them couldn't even bring themselves to ask their questions.  They struggled to actually describe the behaviors in question and couldn't even verbally identify the body parts involved in said behaviors.  The embarrassment!  The horror!  And these are future health care providers?

After too many moments of hemming and hawing, I finally told them to get the questions out and have done with it; if they had a question worth asking, I was going to answer it and nothing they said would embarrass or upset me.   One brave soul finally spoke up and asked, "Can you get an STD if you, uh, masturbate someone?"  Naturally the class erupted with nervous laughter.  I replied, "With your hand or with your mouth?"  Yes, I can create moments of complete and utter silence.

I am always startled by how naive some of the questions are--even the questions that come from students who I know are already sexually active.  It's sad to think that they can't talk about their body parts without giggling, let alone have a mature discussion with their partners about contraception, yet they are already engaging in the behavior.  Few of the students said they were able to have any kind of open conversation with their parents about anything remotely sexual, so they don't bother trying.  That saddens me even more.

Common courtesy...it ain't so common!

We are in the thick of band concert season and since C and T are now in different bands, that means keeping track of two very different schedules. Last night E, C and I went to watch T's first concert performance of the season.  It was a special concert since it was the first collaboration between Farrington High School and Hawaii Pacific University. Both bands performed well but our enjoyment was tempered by the behavior of some less-than-courteous audience members. 

During his welcome speech, the emcee reminded the audience of appropriate behavior for a performance of this sort:  if you need to leave, please wait till the end of the song, please turn off your cell phones, please refrain from talking during the performances.  C turned to me at the end of the reminder and said, "People actually need to be told this."  Yes, they do.  Too bad some of them choose not to follow it.

The auditorium was far from full but a family group decided to sit in our row anyway.  The group consisted of four women and two children; the elder was perhaps 9 years old and he decided to go sit way down in the front row for a while.  The younger boy was about 7 and he ended up about 3 seats away from me.  About one song into Farrington's performance, three of the women and the younger boy got into a discussion that seemed to revolve around the use of a digital camera that none of them could figure out.  Things pretty much went downhill from there. 

One of the women just could not shut up.  I don't know what she was saying since it wasn't in English but she had frequent comments to make to the women next to her.  Even if they didn't actively respond, she kept right on talking.  I know a lot of family members aren't really interested in classical music but they do come to support the students.  Except for the incident with the camera, she showed absolutely no interest in anything related to the performance; not the music, not the staging and not the performers. 

It was annoying during Farrington's performance; it was downright infuriating by the time HPU took the stage.  During the brief intermission, the older boy decided to rejoin his group; he plopped down in front of the woman with diarrhea of the mouth and began an animated conversation with her that seemed to revolve around the Nintendo DS he held in his hand.  During HPU's performance, the boy continued to play his game, but did not bother to turn the sound all the way down; HPU played "Danny Boy" in preparation for an Ireland tour they are taking soon.  For those in our row, the beautiful melody was interspersed with "ping, ping, blat, blat, blat, blat" from the DS in the row in front of us.  Diarrhea woman kept leaning over the kid's seat to see what he was doing and making comments to him as he played.  Then her phone rang.  Yes, she answered it.  Yes, she had a short conversation.  Two minutes later, it rang again.  Yes, she answered it and then passed it to the woman next to her.  She, at least, had the grace to look slightly embarrassed in my direction.  She still took the phone and had a brief conversation though.

I videotaped the performance last night and midway through I had a wild urge to swing the camera in their direction and say loudly, "And this is what rude people look like."  With my luck, they would have reacted as if it were a well-deserved photo op.  People like that just never get the point.

Conversations over Dinner

As our kids have gotten older and their schedules more complex, dinnertime has become a much needed and enjoyable time to reconnect with them. As both boys have sharp memories and keen minds, the conversations have become increasingly diverse and complex.  We've discussed (well, okay, the guys did) the results of C's latest math test, history, chemistry, botany, cooking, etc.  Last night was not one of those times:

E:  Hey, what happened to that preschool by your mom's house?  Part of it was demolished; I saw one of those big, construction machines out front.
C:  It's a back hoe...
E:  You would think I'd remember that by now, considering I see them used all the time.
C:  ...As opposed to a front hoe.
Me:  Or a ho-ho.
E:  Like the Hostess ones wearing a Robin Hood hat.
C:  Ho-hos are mostly used near the Poles.  There are high-hos.
Me:  And hidy hos.
T:  Or tally hos.

Some discussion, instigated and mostly participated in by E, followed regarding whether or not anyone with the last name Ho would actually give any of their children names such as "Tally" or "High".  He decided that "hidy" spelled "Heidi" would be the most appropriate. By this time, the eating part of dinner was over and they were rolling tiny magnetic balls around the table and manipulating them into shapes; it must be a testosterone-driven thing because as much as I find the shapes they create interesting, I have no burning desire to try it myself. Yet another opportunity for intelligent conversation:

E:  You know, a whole bunch of these little balls could be stuck together to make a chain mail shirt.
C:  It would be too heavy, it wouldn't stay together.
Me:  A magnetic "chain mail" bolero jacket then.
E:  Or a chain mail bikini!
Me:  Maybe just the bikini top.
T:  Because the bottom would chafe...*silence around the table*...Well, that's what I heard!

With this kind of meaningful discourse, who needs dessert?  :-)

Sometimes Love is Not a Many Splendored Thing

Last week I asked my psychology students if they could remember the last time they looked their parent, guardian or other family member in the face and said, "I love you."  In each class, perhaps 4-5 students could pinpoint the last time but only 1-2 of them had done it within the past month; the class range was all over the place--anything from a few months ago to "Uh, years," as one of my boys stated.  Yet when I asked them to identify the last time they criticized someone, even jokingly, a whole bunch of hands went up.  Most of them had done it within that day, some within an hour of our class.  Including me.

We did two follow-up assignments.  For the first, everyone took out a sheet of paper and wrote their names across the top.  I did one, too.  We sat in a circle and passed the papers around.  Each time we got a new paper, we had to write something positive about the paper's owner.  At first, the kids complained; they claimed that they didn't know EVERYBODY in the class well enough to write on every paper.  It was silly, they said.  Like camp, someone moaned.

I can't believe they actually thought they had a choice!  I started writing on the sheet in front of me and the students gradually followed suit.  At first, I noticed the comments on the papers that came my way were brief:  "You're nice" or "You have a cute shirt."  It reminded me of my 7th grade yearbook.  At least no one wished anyone else a "great summer" or hoped they'd "see them again next year"! Anyway, within a fairly short period of time, the comments began to expand:  people recounted specific events they shared with that person, a talent they observed, took note of a friendly smile or an engaging sense of humor.  The silence grew until all that was heard were the rustling of papers and the scratching of pens.  Some of my students were unconsciously smiling as they wrote or even looking speculatively across the circle at a classmate they probably never bothered contemplating before.

When the activity was over and we had all written our piece, we read the comments.  Hardly a word was spoken but smiles were breaking out all over the classroom.  Some of the students had not signed their comments and I could tell that the papers' owners were trying to match the comments with the writers.  Nearly all of the on-line reflections for the next few days raved about the activity and how good the comments made them feel.  Many of the students never realized what other people noticed about them.  Many said they would always keep the paper where they could see them as a positive reminder for bad days.  The newly found sense of camaraderie extended beyond the papers.  Today I noticed several people having a laughing conversation during recess; before last week, I had never seen them exchange anything more than a quick hello.

The second follow-up assignment was not nearly as successful.  I challenged my students to look their parent, guardian, or other family member straight in the eye and tell them, "I love you."  Students were then supposed to record the person's reaction and reflect upon the reasons why.  It was not surprising that the few students who previously could remember when they last expressed their love to their parents got the most natural response:  "Hey, I love you, too."  In their families, expressions of love are often and freely given.

For too many of the students, the reciprocal response was not to be.  Though some parents expressed surprise and did respond in kind, the majority either (1) laughed, (2) asked "What do you want?", (3) assumed there was some kind of trouble, or (4) ignored the statement completely.  The students' reflections upon their families' reactions were remarkably forgiving, as well as perceptive; verbal love is not something their family did, some said, it was more important that love be shown through positive acts.  Others defended their relatives' negative responses; it came out of nowhere, they said, if it's not commonly done, it's hard to know how to respond.

Some students who found the exercise difficult did express concern that if they had never been exposed to verbal expressions of love, they would never be able to model it for their own children.  It made these particular students more determined than their classmates to take the time to express appreciation and affection to others.  I think that's a lesson well-learned.

Time Flies When You're Not Paying Attention!

Last February I remember thinking that the year was off to a slow start and the next thing I knew, it was the beginning of December and I was trying to figure out where the heck the year had gotten to.  Well, it's already March and rather than procrastinate a few more months, I decided to start early...in wondering, where the heck has the year gotten to? 

To post, or not to post...should have been the question!

"Disobedient, lazy, noisy, crazy, loafers" are just a few of the things Natalie Munroe, a high school English teacher in Philadelphia called her students.  I can sympathize; my students run the gamut in terms of ability, level of motivation, parental support, command of the English language, you name it.  Sometimes, it's hard to be their teacher.  The problem is Natalie vented her frustrations in a blog which her students read, and then reported, to her school's administration.  The result?  Natalie has been suspended and the media furor has created divided camps:  Natalie supporters (see them on Facebook) and Natalie critics.  Discussions regarding how, or if, a teacher's online behavior should be monitored have erupted.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with much of the substance of her frustrations; too many of our students are unwilling to work hard, to go beyond what is expected of them and to do it willingly and wholeheartedly.  Too many of our students are used to just getting by and are not being held accountable for their actions.  As a result, they have poor work habits, poor critical thinking skills and questionable work ethics.  Getting an A means far more to them than the knowledge they should acquire in order to achieve it.

It is a sad snapshot of our current society.  Today's kids, my own included, have been spoiled by the technological advances of our time.  Here's a prime example:  When I was in high school, having to write a research paper meant making time to go to the library; it meant looking up resources in a card catalog, locating the book in the stacks, checking it out and reading through the book while I took notes.  Then I typed the paper, making sure I adjusted the bottom margin accordingly for footnotes, manually rolling the typewriter platen up each time.  Heaven help you if you miscalculated the amount of space you needed for those darned things!

For today's students, instant information is at their fingertips 24/7; they've lost the need and capacity to prioritize and plan.  There are no long hours at the library, no scheduling around the library's hours or book return dates; sometimes there is very little writing, too--a clever student knows how to utilize cut and paste along with some judicious editing and appropriate use of APA citations. Grammar and spelling?  There's no need to know that either when you use a program with spelling and grammar check.

So, while I agree with Natalie's frustrations, decision to post her remarks on a public blog was foolish and unprofessional.  There is a time and place for comments such as these and an internet site that anyone can access is not one of them. Her venting may cost her her job and most certainly has cost her some of her credibility--especially in the area of "appropriate use of technology!"

Post-script:  I am well aware that some of my readers will be amused and/or critical of the fact that in publicly questioning Natalie's decision, I am emulating it.  I have a basic golden rule about what I decide to post:  I never post anything I would be ashamed to have my mother read.  Nope.  Not ashamed at all.