Good news is there's only one first day of school each year 
by Dan Rzewnicki, Editor in Chief
October 5, 2010
It’s the first day of school. You’re staring at your fourth different copy of your schedule with another copy waiting in homeroom, leaving you wide-eyed, frantic, and clueless as to where to go. That really grinds my gears.
How is it that every year our scheduling seems to go horribly wrong? Some classes seem to be scheduled in such a way that many of us are forced to choose between classes, drop classes or eat first lunch with a bunch of less-than-civilized seventh graders, even when we’re in our senior year.
Some students are even subjected to blank spots on their schedule where they can only assume they are supposed to wander the halls, enjoy a prep period or take a trip downtown to have a tee-shirt made.
Also, the beginning of the year provides almost no educational value. Most students arrive on the first day rubbing their eyes and wearing two different shoes. Furthermore, for eight periods we are subjected to listen to teachers lecture about their rules and everything that we will be doing this year, causing the still drowsy ones to bang their heads off desks while they fall in and out of sleep, dreaming about hefalumps and woozles.
Teachers lecture more on the first and second days of school than they will for the rest of the year. So, the first day of school subjects us to listening to the same rules the teacher has had the last three years while our brains slowly turn to mush.
On the other extreme, some teachers prefer to kick things into high gear right away and hand out worksheets, rules and assignments as if the practice is going out of style. Of course, this phenomenon always occurs with the teacher you have first period when you are still trying to rub the sleepies out of your eyes or with the teacher you have right before lunch when all you can think about is going to the cafeteria to fill your growling stomach with an overpriced chicken or sauce lunch.
Note to the more eager teachers for next year: Seriously, we still have 179 days left. It will be all right to slow things down a bit.
The last thing that grinds my gears about the first day of school is the ridiculous number of papers that need to be signed by parental units. Is it really necessary to have all of those papers signed? The emergency card I can see, but do any parents actually read the rules teachers send home to be signed? No.
The up and down tempo, the paperwork and the general hoopla of the first week of school really grinds my gears. It’s a good thing that the first “week” of school is just three days – too bad every week couldn’t be the same.
[comments]
| Looking for gear-grinding material? |
Posted by "Jacob Iellimo" on November 10, at 1:41 p.m.
Mr. Dan Rez, It's understandable that it's hard to come up with new ideas for a new blog. Well, I'll tell you what grinds my gears. Don't you hate when you remind someone a thousand times to do something, and when the time comes that they have to do it, they forget and mess up all your plans? I freaking hate that. |
| Getting into the back-to-school routine |
Posted by "Jolynn Young" on October 21, at 5:17 p.m.
Ah, to be back in school! More importantly, to be back in school so Dan can write his column--that's the best part! I will take it under advisement, Dan, that after the third year in class, I can skip the rules and get right to the worksheets! I'm looking forward to another great year of great columns Keep up the great work! |
|
