Bravo!

Gosh, I don't know much about rainbows. I have never been able to go under them or find the end of them, where pots of gold supposedly may be found! They are considered good luck though, in my culture. How about yours? Are there any legends?

NBBF - So true.

RRA1 - The state and federal (main) governments do fund public schools, and teachers in most areas do not, as a rule need to spend much of their own money on materials or directly for their students. (The term pupils is interchangeable with students, although not typically used. My last school required that we call the kids scholars in an effort to suggest that most of the kids actually cared about their education and studied.)
The majority of schools do fine with what they are given. In reality, although more money is spent on the schools in which kids are most in need of it, schools cannot to do the job of families. I'll take a risk here and also add that there are now generations of students raised, whether good or bad, on various forms of welfare  - "food stamps," heavily subsidized housing, free medical care, etc. Whereas poor kids in other societies care very much whether or not they can get an education that will be a key factor to survival for themselves or their families (and therefore cooperate in school), many here simply don't worry about that. I've been told repeatedly when I express my concern for a student's future, "I'll just collect." I've taught teens who have a child or two before they graduate from high school and plan for more, thinking nothing of, whereas I would have been racked with worry about how I might provide for my babies. These inner city school as so pressured to have kids graduate that they pass them with averages of 30%, attendance of less than 50%. I am not exaggerating.

Yes, although there are some part-time teachers, most in high school and middle school teach full-time and one subject area. An English teacher might teach composition and Russian literature, for example, or a math teacher geometry and algebra. In my special schools, I've taught each student each subject, though, or English and social studies both. Meetings would be with parents of kids they teach, although many parent cannot or will not attend.
We have something called homeroom, in which time is set aside daily or weekly for students to be in the class with one teacher all year. Some catch up on homework (in regular schools in which kids do homework, study for tests), talk about how they are doing, watch student-created news shows about the school, participate in social activities designed to promote a sense of belonging and positive social interaction.

Your discussion of discipline is interesting. Typically, schools can give detention when students misbehave, have students talk to the principal, call parents in to discuss behavior and consequences, give various tasks. The problem with the populations I teach is that the parents often support their kids or refuse to even meet or talk on the phone. The kids simply do what they please. They know that they will be passed on grade-wise and everyone is afraid that if real consequences are given students will not come to classes at all and then drop-out rates rise, making the school look bad. Smoke and mirrors, baby! There are some kids and families who care. I have, at times, been reduced to having those few who want to learn sitting at my desk while others shout, fight, eat pizza, blare music, or sleep. (This, after exhausting efforts on my part during which I have been assaulted, with little or no assistance/support zero assistance.) I've actually had counselors and administrators tell me that I was "triggering" students because I was doing things they did not "like" and needed to stop it because our job is to keep them in school. I was criticized for having seniors write paragraphs, asking them to follow along as I read out loud, and one woman with a PhD in education lambasted me for attempting to facilitate a discussion on a video I had shown. What, you may ask, was I supposed to do in English class? Give them "worksheets,"  pieces of printed paper on which they circle nouns they find in sentences, underline spelling mistakes, copy definitions from a dictionary. After giving them the answers (because that is what they "like"), I was told to reward them by allowing them to sleep, eat snacks that I was to purchase, or listen to music. Heel, the janitor could have done that! Many other teachers did as they were told and collected heir paychecks. They were lauded as really caring about and understand the students. I'm curious as to how that caring and understanding is working out now.

Please understand that most US schools are not like this. I've been a substitute teacher in my own local schools where the kids would not dream of even trying what I have described. I've worked with, in these places, very low level students (intellectually disabled) who behaved better and did much higher level work than the typical student in schools I was used to. My point is that some are, usually in the inner cities.

I think that, even though US school vary in terms of how teachers and students are organized, no full-time teacher works just a few hours per day.  Teachers typically meet with parents once or twice twice each year to discuss how the students are doing, address any problems, show classwork.
In the last school in which I worked parents had to come in to conference with teachers of each subject in order to receive their kid's report card .
Most teachers here get 10 weeks off in the summer, a few days in the fall, a week off between Christmas  and New Year's Day, a week off in the spring, and a couple of other holidays. No reimbursement for airline tickets, though! That would be so nice... Housing for them is almost unheard of, although a few very rural places are trying to attract and keep teachers with some deals such as low-cost apartments. Philadelphia used to offer
low-interest loans in order to encourage teachers to live in the city. While we don't get paid extra for parent meetings, many teachers are paid extra for coaching athletic teams, scholastic competitions, etc.

Now THAT'S a pizza! Hope it doesn't cause dystopian dypepsia!

I went with a brother to breakfast today - dined alfresco at an old, converted mill. Afterward, he came over to my house and we talked for four hours. He's like that, but I don't see him as much as I'd like to.

Thanks, NBBF! While teachers may often get away with doing the minimum, it is really difficult to be effective (especially with the populations I teach) without devoting much more time, energy, and funds than people realize. IMO, its a privilege to teach kids; if someone doesn't want to give 100%, they should do something else.

RRA1 - Teachers in "special schools," as well as inner-city schools, have to deal with many issues not often seen in "regular" schools. We deal much more with the whole child, as our students tend to come with a great deal of emotional baggage and even physical concerns. Its not easy to teach a child who is in the 10th grade who reads on a 2nd grade level while trying to break up fights, get most of the kids to sit in seats, turn their music down long enough for instruction.  He or she might be resistant to learning because of the resulting low self-esteem, or because s/he comes from a culture in which education is not valued due to seeing easy money "earned" via illegal means. It takes a lot of time to create plans and materials that meet their needs. A kid might have a mother who sold her government-granted food card for something other than food and the kids comes to school hungry, but too late to eat the breakfast served because mom was up all night fighting and doing drugs with her boyfriend of the moment. In the winter, teachers might have to either buy winter coats or find a store to donate some because students newly arrived from Puerto Rico have none. I've typically been given $100.00 to purchase school supplies, but spend many times that amount throughout the school year because parents (or whatever adult is raising the child) will not or cannot provide these things. In reality, more money is spent on this population than anywhere else, but the needs are so great that it is never enough. Then there are the endless meetings and busy work assigned in an effort to pretend that the schools themselves can save these kids. Then there are the endless calls home to parents/guardians who defend their child's disruption and/or violence. Most teachers in these situations leave the profession within the first year or two, or get jobs in school districts where life is better, for both kids and teachers. I've become battle-hardened, I suppose.

So true, JK. Those English breakfasts are not something I can quite replicate at home. Ditto teas with clotted cream and such! I would so like to return and experience the British Isles through the eyes of a mature adult. I was a bratty teenager when I was last there, and did not appreciate what I was experiencing. 

RRA1 - Sorry about the occasional wait for sunshine. I don't have a lot of spare time, and am often just too tired to do much when I have it.

My trademark saying is, "You can't fix stupid." This does not mean that I look down on people who disagree with me, have intellectual disabilities, those who did not have opportunities to get an education, or anyone who does not have particular knowledge or skills that I might have. Rather, it refers to people who are stupid because the have an attitude such that they refuse to grow. In many cases, in my opinion, it is a very conscious phenomenon. As a teacher, I see it in some of my students, which used to keep me up at night. You will have some who have low ability or a poor prior academic experiences, but open themselves to learning and do progress. I just finished teaching a remedial reading class in summer school. I spent three or so extra unpaid hours per day creating really fun and engaging lessons, complete with hands-on projects, to make sure that I did all that I could do to support their learning. Four girls advanced a full grade level to a level and one half in ten weeks. The three others, who listened to music, ran around the room, destroyed my posters and decorations, and tried to shout over me so that others could not learn, remained at their second grade level. This troubles me to no end, but I have an obligation to those who want to learn because they are not stupid.   

I never couch-surfed. Just doesn't appeal to me to be a guest, paying or not, in someone's home when I don't know the person. I do have a high level of social anxiety, so I would be all worried about pleasing the host rather than enjoying my vacay. That is why I hated staying in bed and breakfasts in England, although I thoroughly enjoyed  the English breakfasts.

I'd enjoy watching that show, just to see the faces of the contestants who win the "poor" vacation.  Still, if it's free it's free, better than nothing.

Especially affecting was the story of the loss of nasal vowels. I suppose similar disagreements also arise over the pronunciation of words. A friend of mine moved backed to Pennsylvania from the Boston area with her little girl. The school promptly recommended that she take speech therapy because she said "ah" at the end of words ending with r. In reality, the sweet child spent her life thus far in a town just north of the city where the stereotypical Boston accent is at its most extreme, and no one had an issue with it up there!

RRA1 - Your accounting of your living conditions as a student is interesting. I think that I am grateful to have lived in the whore house! Also, you have an amusing way with words, and I don't mean by that that you make mistakes with English. It's impressive that you know Russian, English, German, and Korean. I know Koreans who speak/read Korean, no one else.

Yes, the Captain. You explained the financial issue quite well.

RRA1 -

I went to college by applying for and receiving partial financial assistance. I was awarded some funds from a church organization because my dad was an Episcopalian priest. The state of Pennsylvania kicked in a fair amount (based on need), and my university also contributed to my tuition. Some students who were outstanding in high school have tuition and room and board paid by their university or college and need nothing else. (Not me!) The rest of us cobble together a mish-mash of sources for funding higher education. The difference between grants and scholarships is sometimes fuzzy. The words are often used interchangeably, some based on need, academic achievement, participation in certain organizations, or one might have to write an essay to receive money for educational purposes. I was on my own for living expenses and books, hence my need to work 30-40 hours per week. On the upside, I had no student loans to pay back.

I don't want to click on the interview if it's the one with Mike in the hot tub.

Performance is when people do dramatic things in public spaces. It is the performers who are the visual art.  They might pose in a thought-provoking way, do motions that are highly choreographed, etc. It started in the 1960s. One example is a woman who stood naked for several hours and told people they could do whatever they wanted to her. It was disturbing. Stella McCartney is a fashion designer.

Sorry about the spelling of the b-word. Spellings do tend to get mangled across the miles! I'm guessing the ch has a hard sound that sounds like a t, so perhaps that's where we got the idea.

Psysanka is the tradition of making elaborately decorated Easter eggs using wax and dyes. My friend, Dariya, used to demonstrate this in high school.

 

No, I'll have to find it. It just might be in my next read, Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom. The book examine the liberal Orwell and conservative Churchill, apparently finding between them common ground in terms of their ardent concern for freedom of thought and gifts of expression. (I don't believe that they ever met.) What I find fascinating with Orwell is that he was clearly a Socialist, yet saw the realities of Communism. This was not typically the case of many Europeans and Americans of a similar bent through the Stalin era.

the Captain - Bravo! You did a great job of explaining our educational system, funding, etc. Not an easy thing to do!

RRA! - I think that a student can live anywhere and do fine. Some live at home and are babied, others are held accountable for age-appropriate responsibilities. Some live in dorms and waste time and money, in some ways retarding their growth, while others figure out how to balance academics, other college activities, and a social life. For me, home was not an option and there were just too many kids in the dorms who were annoyingly juvenile. In reality, I knew many kids my age (at the time) who did not go to college, but lived at home and worked and seemed more mature than many of my college peers. Of course, there is nothing like being totally responsible for one's own shelter, food, transportation, etc. to force the issue. What do YOU think? Tell me about your experiences at the institute. What did you study, what was life like? Did it prepare you for what you do now?

RRA1 - Art walks are very cool. I've never attended one in NYC, although they now take place even in smaller cities and towns. I enjoy the kind that include all of the arts - music, paintings, performance art, and unusual food. Nothing like it on a warm Sunday afternoon in the fall! Anything like this in Russia? Next weekend, I'm going to a Ukrainian festival that celebrates Ukrainian Independence Day. While not an "art walk" per se, they'll have pysanka on display and demonstrations by artisans, Hopak dancing, borscht, maybe some vatrushka for dessert!

RRA1 - If home is a healthy environment, I think that it is usually a waste of money not to live at home for the first two years and attend a local college or community college (where students can complete first and second year coursework of get an associates degree). It can also make sense for all four years, but many kids want college experiences that are easier to have living on campus. Honestly, a lot of students go primarily to party and goof around. Many can balance their responsibilities with their academic demands, but  many  flunk out or graduate with a very low grade point average that, in my opinion, makes me ask why the person bothered. I know of some families in which their kids lived at home for part or all of the college years. Most of them expected that the student pitch in around the house with laundry, yard work, dishes, and work enough to at least make their own spending money. Of course, the money issue depends on how much the parent(s) have.  I expected my son to contribute enough to cover his own food, and he paid for his own clothes, books, entertainment.

NBBF - Agree about the notebook issue. I saw many fellow college students struggle mightily with professors whose stressed lecture. I learned very quickly to, like you, develop my own "shorthand." This might stress some people, but I was, by then, used to my horrible handwriting and avoidance of unnecessary work (such as writing out whole words and articles). With my own students, I give very brief lectures supported by the main points on a PowerPoint. I purposely write a bit more than is necessary to provide an opportunity for them to narrow ideas/notation down to that which is essential. For example, I'll show, "Kaiser Wilhelm II was exiled to the Netherlands in 1918." If we know the topic of discussion, why not just jot down, "KW exiled Netherlands 1918." Alternatively,"Kw" is not needed if he is the subject, "Netherl" suffices (as there is no other nation that would be confused with this), and "19" is already understood by the end of a unit on WWI. Still, most painstakingly write each word on the screen, not really grasping what is being said because of their laser focus on copying each word neatly. A five minute lecture thus turns into fifteen, a situation that most professors would not permit.

NBBF and RRA1 - I was not a happy dorm dweller. I was in a different place, mentally, than the other young women, who wanted the "college experience." This meant a lot of drinking, finding boyfriends, needing to go everywhere in groups dressed in college jackets. Yikes! I had to work nearly full time in order to support myself and pay whatever tuition was due after scholarships and grants. My happiest year was my senior year, spent living in my own room in a seedy hotel with hall bathrooms. I soon learned that it housed prostitutes who worked from "home." I didn't mind, though, as I learned that they were even more damaged than I and didn't believe that they could do anything else. Kept my door locked tight, though. No Johns in my room! 

I sometimes say, if I forget something or make a mistake in the morning, "I didn't have my cup of coffee yet." It might mean that I actually did not have the coffee and am not yet mentally alert, or that I was just stupid and needed to blame something. As for the cup at 10:00 PM being a bad idea, I guess they mean that they are too wakeful to go to sleep. Also, people use a coffee line when they appear jittery, goofy, talkative, etc.

RRA1 -

Thank for the advice! The only unanswered question I can find pertains to what is a "flag girl." Many marching bands in the US have the usual marchers who play musical instruments plus a "color guard" - those who carry the American flag, some other flag (?) and the school band's banner. Then there are the show girls; some twirl batons, others do tricks with fake guns. I was with the group that carried colorful large flags that were waved around to make the show visually exciting. It was more difficult than it appeared, as we had to count every step, coordinate the flag motions with the music as the band as a whole created different formations on the football field. Marching in parades was much easier because we did everything while staying in formation. I was quite cute, with my white go-go boots with blue pom-poms, blue beret and mini-dress.

Regarding taking notes, I blame teachers for college (institute) students being unable to do so competently. Your poor friend probably fell victim to hers putting such emphasis on neatness, spelling, and complete sentences when, in reality, there are different purposes for different types of writing. I've actually had teachers who gave me low grades on my notebooks because THEY had difficulty reading the content - never mind that I earned top grades on my tests! I have also taught with teachers who write notes (in full sentences) on the board and have high school kids copy them down. The goal is for the students to jot down just enough to remember what is important while still attending to the lecture. 

Billy - I'm so sorry you are going through this. I hope that you find stable, adequate housing.

NOLA BB Fan - My experiences with dogs and cats have been similar to what you describe. In cartoons, of course, the dogs tend to be the aggressors!! Regarding tea, most of my American friends think of tea as having a cup, period. They don't grasp the concept in terms of the ritual, creating a space in time devoted to it.

the Captain - I wish that my cats could be somewhat controlled via a baby gate!  I love parades of any sort. I still attend hometown ones. While not exciting, they touch a sentimental place in my heart. It was fun watching my boys' faces as they experienced them, eyes wide open and going after the candy thrown by various entities.  Also, I was a flag girl in my high school band. Why was your mother made the marshall? She must have done something cool.

A non sequitur is when someone draws a conclusion that doesn't logically follow from what was said previously OR it could be a statement that has little or no relevance to what was said in the previous statement. They are, then, errors in reasoning. Here are a few examples:

    My purse was left on the desk. Sally was the last person in the classroom. Sally left the purse on the desk.
   
    I think that Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On is a bad song. Therefore, all songs sung by Celine Dion are bad songs.

    I am mortal. I have some cats. My cats are therefore mortal.     
     
   
                                 

The Book Thief is about a girl living in Munich during WWII, taken in by foster parents after her parents are taken away. She learns to read and steals books to read because she finds that sustaining while her world crumbles. I'll be teaching the Holocaust along with it, with an emphasis on
resilience, survivors, and rescuers; my students are girls who have experienced neglect and/or trauma. As far as Animal Farm is concerned, I'm going to focus on the conditions leading up to the Russian Revolution, the Revolution itself, and the aftermath under Stalin. Orwell wrote the novel as an allegory to all of this.  I'm especially excited about this, as my reading obsession for the past couple of years has been Russian history and the Imperial Family.