Ch-Ch-Changes...Turn and Face the Suck....

I know the date up there says Sunday, but, let's be honest, I've missed the point where I can post-date the entry by, oh, twelve hours, so work with me here and just pretend this is a Saturday post, okay? Okay.

Today sucked. For one reason alone.

J, one of my favorite co-workers, an awesome shift, always just ridiculous amounts of fun to work with, becoming a good friend...is getting transferred to the Ironwood store.

Rage.

We're getting some new guy from Florida to replace J. I don't want him. I want J.

I'm pissed for several reasons. First, on her behalf: This will be her third transfer, to the last available store in the district, in the past six months. She started at the Ireland store, went to Main & Douglas when she started dating a co-worker, went to our store because we needed a new closer, and is now going to Ironwood to be one of their closers. The poor girl is getting a complex, thinking she's getting passed around because no one wants her and she's doing it wrong, which couldn't be farther from the truth.

Second, corporate keeps promoting this culture of being a family, of being more than just a faceless business...but the faces keep changing because no one with any power seems to have any qualms with using workers like game pieces. It's hard to give any kind of shit for a company that doesn't seem to give a shit about its workers.

Finally. If I have any more change in my life. I'm going to puke.

Let's review, shall we? Since the beginning of this year, the following crap has happened:
[o] I found out a dear friend committed suicide
[o] I decided to attend, and was accepted at, Eastern
[o] I left school
[o] I left my job of two years
[o] I turned 25
[o] Ryan and I moved 800 miles
[o] We got our first apartment, with our first set of roommates, and our first set of all-on-us bills
[o] I got my first full-time job
[o] Ryan went to the hospital
Personnel changes alone:
[o] Within two weeks of starting this job, the store manager left the company
[o] JH left
[o] DD left
[o] KB left
[o] A came
[o] A left
[o] JP came
[o] JP left
[o] J came
[o] J will be leaving
[o] JC came
[o] M came
[o] D came
[o] Boss Lady came
[o] H got promoted
[o] L got demoted

....seriously. This isn't cool. I know that some of those items are all my/our fault, so feel free to ignore that and look at the store changes alone. Six people leaving, three of them "against their will" (not kidnap so much as forceful transfer), and two of those were transferred in by the same people who are now transferring them out. What the hell.

Now, please unignore the first part of that list, and look at all that crap that I've had to process since May. Yes, a lot of it was my doing, but still, it's had to be processed. Can you see why the idea of one more little change makes me want to curl up into a ball in the corner?

Blargh.

My Random Opinion on Education That No One Asked For, Part Two

Only two weeks after the first installation, here is the second part of my rant.

Gratuitous Fine Print: I am not a teacher, and I have not taken a single course on education. These rants are just that, ranting, based solely on my experience as a student, a friend of a student, and a friend of teachers.

My next Mostly Opinion-Based idea: Eliminate homework. Or at least change it's purpose, and the weight with which it's grade.

First, there's an important question to ask: What is the point of homework? Is it to help students review what they've gone over? Is it meant to introduce new concepts that will soon be covered in class? Is it showing how much a student is learning--or at least memorizing?

Ideally, I think, it should be a combination--help embed the information in child's mind (review), suggest how else the information could be used (introduction), and see how well the child is grasping the information (measurements). It should be used as a tool and nothing more.

Sadly, what it's currently used for is another thing to grade, another project for a kid to worry about, waste time on, or forget to do. I can name literally a dozen kids in high school whose marks went down the toilet based solely on their homework grade--and those are just the kids I knew.

My current boyfriend had to take a math class over again because he didn't do any of the homework the first time he took it. When he walked back in the second time, the math teacher looked at him and said "What are you doing here?" He spent that semester helping other kids learn the material, because he knew it forwards, backwards, and upside down. Read that again: he knew the material, but he was flunked because of homework.

You might ask "Why didn't he just do the homework and get a passing grade?" I ask back "Why should the homework matter so goddamned much that you can flunk a class based on it even as you ace every test?" (For the record, he has off-the-charts ADHD. This is merely an explanation, not an excuse, because he shouldn't need a bloody excuse.)

To repeat myself: homework should be a tool, and nothing else. If the kid doesn't want to do it--because they don't have the time, the attention span, the will, the need, whatever--it should not affect their overall grade. What they should be graded on is participation and projects/tests/papers--things that show that they thoroughly understand the material, and aren't just memorizing it long enough to get through the class and move on.

Currently, a lot of schools work as an assembly line. Send the kid through the grades, plugging in the required passing grades in all the required subjects: math, history, social studies, sciences, language, English, etc. Grades are what matter, not how well the student grasps the concepts; the importance is placed in the wrong area.

What this leads to is quite obvious if you take a look at our country. Abysmal rates in literacy, education levels, and basic knowledge.

To sum up: Take the emphasis off of tokens like homework, and put it back on understanding and comprehension.

Can we at least watch All The President's Men?

This started out, in my head, as a post about what's going on in my life. I started with school, then starting writing about this one class, and found myself on a tangent. I love it when this happens.

Reporting & Writing News Stories...*shrug* I'm learning how to write differently--I won't say better, because it's not better, it's just different--and I've been introduced to that wonderful jewel, my new bible, the AP Stylebook. The class itself, though, is usually the reason that the drive in to Manchester just feels like a waste of time and gas and energy.

I wish the teacher was more energetic. She seems to be just taking it as a given that because we are in this class, we care about journalism and will find the excitement on our own. Enter me, and a few others, only taking this class because it's required for some non-journalism degree or certificate. Those of us who are only showing up for the grade could use a shot in the arm--hell, so could those who want to be journalists. Who couldn't use some fucking ENTHUSIASM once in a while, even if it's for a subject they're already crazy about?

Back when I was an Accounting major, I had to take a business elective, and I chose Principles of Marketing. From the very first class, Ms. Waldron came in and woke us all right the hell up. From that very first class, I knew I was in the wrong major. Almost every class had enthusiasm, excitement, ENERGY. The students who were already into marketing ate it up, and those of us who weren't ate it up even more. Every class was "This is how you combine psychology, design, and business to show people how much they NEED YOUR PRODUCT!"

Journalism is an exciting topic, or at least it should be. Reporting the hard facts! Unveiling conspiracies! Digging up the truth! COME ON PEOPLE! Every class should be "This is how you slap people in the face with THE TRUTH!"

Instead, it's "Okay, this is how we write a lead. This is how the second paragraph should look. This is how the newsroom works." All things we need to learn, introduced in the most docile of ways.

We do have to practice what we're taught, which is good. As much as I hate it, I will have to turn in not just one, but TWO articles for the student newspaper this semester, and finish off the class by presenting a story idea for next year's class to work on. I don't want to be a journalist, it's not for me, I don't like having to interview people and all that, but I'm glad we have these assignments. This is how we learn how to be journalists--by acting like one.

Except, again, it's docile. At the beginning of yesterday's class, the teacher invited those of us without story ideas to come to her afterward for some ideas. I managed to pick up an assignment: the Wednesday after next, I get to attend the Meet Your Presidents & Deans meeting, and chronicle what goes on there--the remarks each person makes, and what goes on in the Question & Answer period.

....WOW! NOW we're getting to the SEXY stuff! HOPE I DON'T GET ARRESTED AT THE ENSUING RIOT!

I know, I'm being harsh. But this is the most humdrum introduction to journalism I could ever imagine. I know not every reporter gets to run around interviewing celebrities or politicians, go undercover into a major company's skeevy underbelly, or investigate crime...but this is just...*snore*

I know this subject, this path, is not for me. But there might be someone at MCC who it is right for, and all they need is a wake up call to realize it. If they take this class, they will not receive that wake up call. And that makes me sad.

My Random Opinion on Education That No One Asked For, Part One

Let me start by saying this: I am not a teacher. I could never be a teacher, for the simple fact that I can't teach for beans. I have never taken a single course in education.

Let me also get the obvious Three Things That Need To Change In America's Education System out of the way:
[1] BETTER FUNDING
[2] BETTER FUNDING
[3] BETTER FUNDING

It is nothing less than disgusting that we as a nation will go on and on about how Children Are Our Future, Children Are Our Nation's Resource, Teaching Is The Most Noble Profession, then pay our teachers, the ones in charge of building up this resource, jack diddly. We spend around $60 billion on Education, and over $500 billion on Defense--and that's BEFORE the befricked War On Terror (source)(yes, it's Wikipedia, but it's backed up here).

Can we all agree that this is outrageous? Disgusting? Stupid?

Okay then. Moving on.

My first issue with the education system is Time.

I'm about to piss off about half the teachers I know and talk to when I say this: Summer vacation can go away now.

*ducks*

Am I saying that all vacation needs to go away? No. I'm saying that we don't need so much of it in a row.

Summer vacation came about because the extra help was needed on farms during planting and harvesting seasons. Farming communities had breaks in the spring and fall, while urban schools were almost non-stop. This was averaged out in the 1840's, with the summer months being a natural compromise--students weren't crammed into buildings in the hottest months of the year, and they were able to help out back at home. Plus, no student got more or less education than any other student.

Today, there are more workers and better technology that lessen the needs of child labor on farms; there's central heating and air conditioning systems that keep schools comfortable; finally, there are about a zillion more activities vying for a kid's time, attention, and energy.

An average day for someone in middle or high school can mean getting up before sunrise, maybe practice for a sports team before school starts, classes from early morning to mid afternoon (possibly with some extracurricular activity taking up time at lunch), practice or rehearsal until dinner time (or later), then homework and studying for the next day. Squeeze in there spending time with friends and family, chores and errands, any extra projects or papers that require even more study time, maybe a part-time job to earn money for college or car expenses, maybe volunteering to pad the college application, and on and on. There are barely enough hours to get everything done, let alone to get the amount of sleep that the average adolescent needs--which anyone who has ever been, raised, or even known an adolescent knows is A DAMNED LOT.

I'll get back to sleep in just a second. I want to stick to my current point: time requirements.

The school year is 180 days, give or take. The school day is about seven hours. That's a grand total of 1,260 hours in the entire school year. 180 days also hold 4,320 hours, meaning school takes up "only" 3% of the time. Doesn't seem like a whole lot does it? Especially considering the amount of material teachers have to squeeze into every hour.

So, seven hours a day on school. If you're out of luck and don't have a car, you're on the bus up to two hours just to get to school; if you have a car, you might luck out with a half-hour commute. Add to that an hour to wake up and get ready in the morning.

Practice, rehearsal, or club meetings take anywhere from one hour to four, before or after school; let's average it to 2.5 hours. Getting home can take anywhere from half an hour to two hours (the morning reversed). Then another 2-3 hours for homework.

Prep/Commute: ~2 hours
School: 7 hours
Extracurriculars: 2.5 hours
Commute: ~1 hour
Homework: 2.5 hours
Total Active Time Per School Day: 18 hours
Over 180 Days: 3,240 hours--75% of the total hours

And again, I'm leaving out social time, extra study time, part-time jobs, volunteer hours, chores and errands, etc. Not to mention the point I will now return to: SLEEP

The average teenager needs around 10 hours of sleep, and their natural tendency is to sleep from early morning (1 or 2 a.m.) to late morning or early afternoon. Take one look at the average teenager's schedule, however, and you'll see that this just doesn't happen. It is impossible. After an 18+ hour day, you've only got six hours for sleeping. I had many classmates who bragged about their ability to "function" on less than four hours. This is not healthy, and it's not conducive to retaining information on anything more than a "regurgitation" basis (learn it long enough to spit it back out on a test).

Make the school year longer, you get more hours and more opportunity to learn what you need to learn. There's less stress to get through a unit by such and such a date so you can move on to the next unit, then the next, then the next. School days can be shorter, leaving more time for extracurricular activities, studying, and sleeping.

Everyone gets more of the time they desperately need, plus the added bonus of teachers getting more paid hours. It's a win-win situation.

The biggest problem: finding the times in the year for shorter vacations that work around major holidays. I'm working on this as a side project. Because I'm weird like that.

I don't look good in aprons, anyway.

I want to announce something to the world:

I love my boyfriend. I do. I love him. I adore him, I treasure him, I cherish him. I want to marry him and have his babies. I think he's wonderful, fantastic, lovely, neat-o, extraordinary, cool, awesome. I am smitten with him, crazy about him, gaga over him, mad for him. He is my heart, my world, my universe, and I can't imagine a life without him where the sun wouldn't shine just that much less.

And you know what? There's not a damned thing wrong with any of that.

I realized several months ago that I was censoring myself when it came to talking about Ryan. I sat down and analyzed this, wondered what it was I feared would happen if I mentioned just how awesome he is and how much he means to me. And I struck on it: I was afraid of being frowned upon.

In modern society, there is an undercurrent of disapproval if you talk about your mate in a positive manner. It could be argued that it's seen as gloating, bragging about something you have that others don't, but I think there's something more. Something that is especially true with women.

It's a sign of weakness. If you show any sign that your happiness is related to another person--especially if you are a woman and that other person is a Man--then you might as well put on an apron, get in the kitchen, and make up some supper. You've just set Women's Rights back 50 years.

Somewhere along the line, affection for got mixed up with dependence on, and now calling someone your world is the equivalent of vowing to never have a mind of your own.

Oh, but if you want to complain? HAVE AT! Go on! Enjoy yourself! Have a ball! Bitching about the one you love shows you are not a drone, you are self-aware enough to realize that this person is not perfect.

I want to clear the air right now. I know my boyfriend isn't perfect. He makes mistakes, forgets things, puts his foot in his mouth. He almost always forgets to put up away messages online, he won't throw away his snack wrapper for days and days and days, he'll throw paper into the trash can and NOT the recycling bin half the time, and if he walks by without paying attention and unplugs my computer one more time I'll chop his foot off. Ryan isn't perfect, but I wouldn't want a perfect version of him, because I'm not a perfect version of me, and then we'd drive each other crazy in a slightly different way than we do now.

I know that, if we broke up, I would not shrivel up and die, I would not be guaranteed to spend the rest of my life along, the sun would not stop shining or the birds stop singing. I could live without him, I could possibly even be happy without him. I just don't want to.

I don't think he's the only good person in the world, the only attractive person, the only smart person. I don't think he's better than anyone else. He's just better for me.

Ryan makes me happy. He understands me, my craziness, my obsessions, my weaknesses, my faults, and at the end of the day, he'll always be there to hold me when I cry, he'll sit on the couch with minimal eye rolling as I coo over Say Yes To The Dress, he'll insist that I have some form of protein with my macaroni and cheese dinner. He takes care of me, he helps me, and he lets me help him without the first though that it damages his status as a man.

We can have conversations that range from what's for dinner to our future kids' names to how the Trial of Champions raid works to that weird house on the corner to the ethics of highway driving. We tease each other, make fun of each other, poke and tickle and push buttons. We understand each other.

I want to marry him, buy a house with him and make it a home, have his kids, build a life, fight and make up, do big exciting things with him, do the little everyday things with him, work with him, play with him, retire with him, grow old and die with him.

And yet, I do not feel that my education, my career, or the ability to have an opinion of my very own is in jeopardy. How very interesting.

Dear People At My School,

You are not hot shit enough to text while driving. I'm sorry. You're just not. Please stop now before you run me over instead of ALMOST running me over.

Also, I don't want to hear your music. The fact that I can hear it so clearly while you're wearing headphones just makes me worry for your hearing. But I don't worry too much, because I no longer give a shit about you because GOD DAMN YOU'RE ANNOYING.

I also don't want to hear your phone conversations. No. Really. I don't. No one does. And that stupid freaking Push-To-Talk function? Is not meant for inane conversation about cats and babies. No. Really. It's not.

Lastly, to that chick from last week: The place to take a cell phone picture of a rainbow in the sky is NOT AT THE ON-RAMP TO 1-84 WHERE CARS HAVE TO MERGE TWICE WITHIN A 100 FOOT SPAN. NO. REALLY. IT'S NOT.

NO LOVE WHATSOEVER,
RuLaReJo

(Can we find an island somewhere and put all these drive-texting, music-blasting, self-important morons on it and leave them there? Please? PLEASE?)


Edit at 2:41 PM

Dear Lab Monitor in Mac Lab

It wasn't bad enough that you were 20 minutes late opening the lab for the ONE open hour it has all day (and, I think, only showing up at all because I happened to notify my mother, who happens to be the boss of the computer labs, who happened to text back minutes later with a note ending with "Grr"), but do you now have to entertain the people in here with your cell phone conversation? How are you even getting reception in here when I can't send a freaking text message?

I do not wish to be "entertained" with the antics at last night's "hot-ass party". Not even if I have the imagined hyphen wrong and it was, instead, a "hot ass-party." Not even then.

Signed
Lowly Student Who Just Wants to Work On Her Photoshop Project Before Class