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Welcome to the world of governmental incompetence, Mr. Tushinde.

Please do well, join society, and bring this lesson with you.

Through a bit of common sense and reason we can attack governmental incompetence, but there is no gauarantee of success.

There's an old world saying, rich with the wisdom of the ages that my parents brought over on the boat, and, loosely translated, it says, "Tough Cookies, kiddo." You knew the rules. You broke the rules. Suck it up and move on.

Ayo, I taught high school with the policy to which you are referring . It worked as well as any tardy policy is going to work. Coming in tardy to class is disruptive whether it is a few minutes or more. Usually the instruction has already started and roll has been taken.

This policy requires teachers to sweep at the begining of their planning period. Teachers then require you to fill out a simple form.
The teacher turns the form in to the office, and as you said letters go home. A lot of work for school personnell. How do you suggest tardies be handled?

If you received ISS, it was not your first or your second tardy. I don't see how ISS could make you turn in your project a day late.

To avoid all this, just get to class on time, with one bell then a warning bell and 5 minutes between classes, you can get to class.

I did a trial run to see if I could get from my upstairs corner classroom to the last trailer outside and made it before the warning bell rung. As I suggested to many students, "Pick Your Battles".

Thanks Carol for summing up the situation succinctly! Once a teacher, always a teacher!

Ayo Tushinde:

Welcome to the real world! Look around you. Don't most students manage to get to class on time most of the time? Does this tell you something?

Get with the system now because in the working world, a boss won't send a letter home to your parents when you're late but, instead, will send your butt home permanently! It's called "being responsible" or paying the consequences for irresponsibility.

Today, I had to write two tardy notes for my 16 year old.

Please Excuse ___ , she lost her car keys and like little bo peep, she did not know where to find them.

Please Excuse ___ , she overslept.

My 16 year old said, "But these will be unexcused tardy's".

I said, "You want me to lie?"

She was quiet, and took the notes.

Way to go, James. If we had more parents like you, school would be a better place.

You would not believe the number of parents who lied for their children. Some kids really enjoyed this...in your face, teachers and administrators. We were required to always accept the parent's excuses.

There were also many parents like you, and they produced such good kids. So thank you, good parents. You know who you are.

I remember being in high school, turning 18, and moving out of my parent's home. At that point, I was able to write my own excuse letters. As you can probably guess, I always chose excusable absenses.

That was great. At least until the end of the year when I surpassed my allowable number of absences. Then I had to attend class after school to make up the time.

Ayo, I can understand your pain. You seem like a bright student from your letter. Buckle down and learn now that tardiness is inconsiderate to your fellow students. Not only does that apply in school and at work, but nobody likes waiting around for someone who isn't punctual.

I agree with the comments made. The LTE author needs to get a grip on life. I too am familiar with the system Carol references. Those tardy were usually just "lagging" along or with his/her significant other. Then they wanted to whine when they were "swept."

The sad part is that this system is another drain on the GCS system. Those "letters" are mailed via USPS to the home. That price will cost the school system two cents more come January!

What makes the sweep policy totally funny is when a kid writes down a ficticious name, address, contact information. Generally, those are eventually discarded. The kids know how to beat the system at a much younger age than the parent!

I too applaud JDR on his parenting procedures. However, there are far too many parents who will take the side of a lackidasical child over an oftentimes skilled educator/administrator. That is a sad fact.

Shalom

Darryl,

Your last paragraph sounds exactly like something I was saying to a friend the other day. When I was a kid, my parents and the school teachers/administration would always side with each other and tag-team my tail. If my parents would have let me slide or defended my actions, I would have had absolutely no fear or respect for the teacher.

I agree that is one of the MAIN problems that schools face today.

Truth, in 16+ years of education, I know of only ONE (1) time where my parents sided with me against the administration/teacher. And that is it! Any other time there was a problem...I knew about it.

I recall a problem when I was in fourth (4th) grade. My parents were called in for a conference. The "law" was laid down to me. I was also informed that if they had to be called, whether by telephone or visit, that I would be standing in class for while! That was grace on the part of my parents. All other situation were handled by my dad's "board of education!"

Shalom