She needs a good spanking.
About 10-12 years ago.
At our school, diplomas are withheld from people who misbehave at the ceremony and they have to do community service to get them.
If anyone were to push the school on this practice, it wouldn't go well for the school. Why? Because every state /county /school system has a very specific list of requirements for earning that diploma. Perhaps your students are required to complete X number of credits (this many Englishes, this many maths, etc.) and to pass a computer competency test and a CRP class ... I promise you, your school has a list of requirements. Every student who puts on a cap and gown and walks into graduation has met those requirements.
One of those requirements is NOT "sit pretty and behave at graduation". Yes, it's a social expectation, but it's not a requirement for the diploma.
If you require naughty students to do MORE after graduation day, you're not in compliance with the requirements for earning that diploma.
Yes, I personally think community service is a great plan, but it wouldn't stand up to scrutinty.
Part of growing up is knowing the time and place.
Totally agree.
2. It sounds like there was a problem with an intoxicated teacher and it was dealt with. Yeah, it sucks that a teacher was arrested, but why not express her displeasure while she was still a student? It sounds like the school dealt with it. Maybe she did, and maybe there is much more to the story. Bringing it up during her speech was serving what purpose, though?
Yeah, I see no blame for the school here. An individual teacher was drinking on the job. The school found out, and that teacher was removed. What else would the school have done?
It’s the counselors job to notify students about possible scholarships. If the counselor didn’t give students the information in enough time before the deadline, money is lost.
It is the counselors' (counselors plural) job to create a system by which the seniors can access information about scholarships -- not to call up individuals and say, "Why don't you apply for this specific scholarship?"
At our school, this happens in several ways:
- On the first day of school the guidance office sends home (in the pack of back-to-school information) a flyer about HOW to find scholarships.
- The county office maintains an online list of scholarships -- it's accessible through the front page of our school website. Students can read through a very long list and pick out scholarships for which they think they have a reasonable chance. Most students ignore this list, saying, "But most of these don't work for me! I'm not going to major in Nursing, so I don't qualify for this one. My parents are not veterans, so I don't qualify for that one. I quit." Doesn't mean the information wasn't provided for them.
- The counselors from all the county high schools get together and hold a meeting about HOW TO APPLY three times in the fall ... the three meetings are identical, and they're held at locations across our (large) county so everyone has three opportunities to attend.
- These county-wide meetings also discuss how to fill out the FAFSA form. Again, three opportunities.
- The guidance counselors maintain a filing cabinet in their front office that's full of local scholarship forms. Students can come in before /after school or during lunch to leaf through the files and take what they want.
- The guidance counselors come to every senior English and math class to remind students of what they told them on that first day /through that flyer. Students have a chance to ask questions about HOW to access scholarships.
- I don't think this is an unusual set-up. The information is available for those who use the system and search for scholarships.
People are getting fed up with the so called elites and people in power. You are seeing more and more people speaking out. I think it is a good sign. The laundry needs to be aired out.
You think any elites work in high schools?
What this young lady did was exactly what our current society taught her to do, speak out loud and with resolve, regardless of the time or place.
This is true ... and it was totally devoid of eloquence, appropriateness, and couth.
If she really wanted to change things, she could've asked for an appointment with the principal ... or the county superintendent ... or the state superintendent ... or she could've made flyers and passed them out at voting places ... or she could've contacted one of those "On your side" news crews ... any of those would've been more appropriate than botching the graduation of her fellow students.
What bothers me about it is that it was an airing of personal grievances, some of which were by her own words already resolved. There wasn't any real "call for change" in her message because it was so focused at the individual level.
Yes, she seems to be "tattling" and trying to demean people -- not "call for change".
I agree. And I think this stunt will totally come back to bite her in the butt when it comes time to look for employment.
Oh, totally. It might not even be employment ... she could lose her university admission or scholarships. And, yes, the internet is forever, so when she applies for jobs, companies will research her background and will see this. Yes, the chances of this happening are very strong.
I have once seen a student lose a university admission very "late in the game". Short story: the student was a known cheater /very good at cheating. The student was admitted to a prestigious school (was a scholarship involved? can't remember), and a teacher wrote annonymously to the university /told about cheating, and
the student's admission was revoked. I don't know who wrote to the school, and I'm not defending this as "best practice" by any means ... but the student did kinda get what was coming to him. He WAS a cheater.
n that the speech has to be inspiring? If it's written somewhere, our new superintendent didn't read it. More on that after I resp
I think it's written in the same place as the idea that we are required to dress our students in caps and gowns and march them across the stage.
It's tradition, not requirement.
Probably just a full-of-herself bratty teen; which is a condition that ebbs and flows.
That rings true.
C'mon - she wasn't looking to "have issues addressed". The time for doing that in any productive way was long past. She was calling out people and trying to embarrass them in a way she probably though was edgy and clever. Not exactly a brave warrior for truth and justice...
Agree.
the change it's most likely to bring about is that the next kid won't get to give a speech. Admin will no longer feel safe assuming that the next student won't try to top this one.
Yes, that IS the change most likely to happen.