Ahh, Children.

Well, I am no longer teaching any more drama classes here in the Ton of Farming. I am currently finishing up my last Speech Class -- spent wonderfully by watching "What About Bob?" What a great way to spend the last day of classes. Watching a movie that has nothing to do with the class I'm teaching. Ahh, I love the last week of school.
Tomorrow is my last day period. I am so excited to be out of this place and on my way to new horizons. But before I may part with these children, I must add just a clarification of my previous postings.

There are two kinds of expectations I'm talking about here. There are academic expectations and there are overall lifestyle expectations. Let me break it down.
Academically speaking, America has absolutely no expectations at all. Our schools suck -- that's the bottom line. We don't expect any kind of actual learning to occur in our young people, but rather we just expect them to keep pushing the right buttons, keep spitting out the correct answers that have already been programmed into them. We don't teach critical thinking, we don't teach students to have any opinions, nada. In fact, we don't even teach them how to spell. I have had several students write in my own little yearbook this week, and EVERY SINGLE STUDENT, 8th or 9th grade, cannot figure out that "you are" should be spelled "you're" and not "your." It's pathetic. And these kids should know.
Overall lifestyle expectations. This is where our school system has decided to throw all of our time. We have respect retreats, we have advisory periods, we have all of this time in school which is put towards character building curriculum. Academics -- no longer important. This is where all the pressure is put on our students, in my opinion. They have to be in several extracurriculars each season, accelerated classes (which I think we all know are not truly challenging unless you end up with a gem of a teacher) as much as possible, volunteer time is a must, and things of this nature. That's the responsibility pressure that I am referring to.
I have more to say, but sadly it is now passing time. No more speech! Hooray!