Comments on: Picture Proof: The Last Two Weeks of School in Prince William County Are a Joke

By: admin

admin — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 14:42:18 +0000

I agree – having the teachers comment is huge. One thing should be clear – this is not an indictment of the teachers or the students. Some teachers do, in fact, make a real effort to keep the kids engaged and learning, but just like Cristina said (above), the kids know which classes (teachers) do push more work at the end, and which ones don’t.

Also – some classes have both juniors and seniors – because of testing schedules and other class-specific priorities, some classes can end up with only a couple of students. That is, it’s not necessarily skipping. But this just makes the point – the administration and Board create situations where this happens.

By: ChristinaMarinaMaroo

ChristinaMarinaMaroo — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 14:29:44 +0000

Thank you for writing what I see and think myself. I also appreciate the comments by the teachers on here. I have a Freshman and Junior at Patriot, and for 2 weeks they have been begging me to come pick them up, let them stay home, or go in late because they aren’t doing anything in class. My daughter reports napping, watching “Finding Nemo”, and playing on her phone all day. Only a handful of kids were showing up to class. Due to the rotation of classes (even and odd) days, they know which classes the teachers are still doing work in and make it a point to be there. Otherwise, it is a huge waste of time so I’ve become one of those parents who don’t make them go unless they have to, and although it kills me to do it, I see their points about how bored they are all day long. The battle over recess and adding minutes to the day to ensure they make the required hours of learning is ridiculous when the last few weeks of school are spent this way. I would much rather have them go back early to actually receive instruction and end the school year after SOLs.

By: MomOfBoys

MomOfBoys — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 10:21:58 +0000

My sons were told to turn in their textbooks the day after the SOLs. Although they did have further work in some classes, they had not text book to look in if they got stuck. They have watched so many movies in lieu of teaching. Some examples, Pride and Prejudice, Lawrence of Arabia, and “I don’t know…” That last is my favorite. It was so inconsequential that he couldn’t even remember the name. I didn’t get it, since they still have finals this coming week. Why were they wasting time with movies rather than reviewing materials? Even if only 5 show up, those 5 should be taught.

By: Seth Lewis

Seth Lewis — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 06:07:17 +0000

I’m a student at the school these pictures were taken, and while the article is 100% accurate on what we’ve been doing in gym, I’ve been actively getting work done in all 6 of my other classes. in World History we’ve improved on our writing skills and have worked on timeline projects without skipping a beat since the SOLs. In my CTE based class, we have already completed the first part of the final and are preparing for the written portion this upcoming week. In English class, we just finished “To Kill A Mockingbird” and have had a seminar for it, as well as many text-based activities, and we’re now preparing for our final. Spanish class has been very busy lately with us preparing and taking the many sections of the final, which has been stressful and we’re using every minute possible for. The most fun I’ve had after the SOLs has been in Biology, and not because we’ve watched any movies, but because we have gotten many opportunities to do hands-on labs and projects, such as a life-sized diagram of the many systems in the human body, and the dissection of a frog, something I’ve never done anything like. Algebra 2 has been the most stressful, as we weren’t able to take 3 of the unit tests before the SOLs, pushing them to after, which meant I’ve had 3 TESTS over the past 2 weeks in Algebra 2, a class many don’t enjoy due to its difficulty. So to answer all of your questions.. no, this article is not entirely accurate, because in 6 of my 7 classes I have been very busy and haven’t had much time to relax even after the state-mandated tests. But, who knows, maybe I just got extremely unlucky with my classes this year, but as for me and all of my friends, we still have had many projects and minimal downtime in these last few weeks of the year. Remember, this is coming from a student of the very school these pictures were taken, and while the ones in gym were accurate, nothing else I see is. I’ve heard of teachers showing movies this past week, but none of them have been ones worth enjoyment, but instead something with educational value. After all, Patriot is under a lot of turmoil for many different reasons, and readers believing this article will only add to the mess, which will eventually trickle down to more pressure on the students making it harder to learn and get by on this last home stretch of the year.

By: Nog

Nog — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 04:26:15 +0000

You people think too much about secondary education. Most of the crap people learn isn’t even used in the real world. And what they really need, to be able to write professionally and coherently, to know basic and applicable math, is glossed over for Shakespeare, Goethe, advanced trig, chemistry (when did you use that class?) , and everything else that is of no value.

Two types come out of the educational system. Those that can jump through hoops and obey by getting good grades and learning worthless crap rarely used in the real world, and those that don’t jump through hoops and don’t learn much. The hoop jumpers are rewarded with college. The hoop deniers end up going to college eventually.

In the end, they all find themselves mostly in the same positions. Job, mortgage, car, kids, wife, telling people at parties the gee whiz knowledge they learned in the 11th grade. And they learned to write on the job. Learned accounting on the job. Went to college and studied chemistry that led to med school. Graduated bottom 20% high school with a C- average, went to junior college and studied engineering, transferred to UVA, now they work for Boeing.

And every single thing they learned and did in high school amounted to nothing, from the straight A kid to the D student.

Ta ta!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 12 Jun 2016 01:24:54 +0000

Totally agree. My son is a junior. Out of all his classes, he has only 1 class where they are doing busy work, with no grades. Every class is either a movie (he is currently watching 2 different movies during the school day) his other classes are at least music based where he can practice his instrument but other than that, school was “out” a long time ago.

Teachers encouraging the kids if they have any tests to make up they can do them early so they don’t “really need to come to class on (fill in the blank)
day”. It’s sad really.

My kid enjoys school except the last several weeks. Once SOLS are over, so is school. It’s sad .

By: Lauri

Lauri — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 23:38:40 +0000

In reply to Sam C. It's not about what they're teaching or not, it's about making the kids accountable for being at school. Since when is it OK for students and parents to choose when and if to send the kids to school???

By: Patriot Teacher

Patriot Teacher — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 22:20:19 +0000

In reply to Evelyn. I teach at PHS and this is not every classroom and this sis definitely not my classroom. SOL classes may be finished but some classes have an actual final exam, foreign languages and elective courses all do. We are spending this time reviewing and preparing for these tests. Yes, it does happen in some classes, but not all. Where are the pics of those classes? Wait a minute, there aren't any because I don't allow cell phones in my class, even though these same parents who are complaining are the ones texting their kids during school! Seriously? ! Get your facts straight!

By: blc

blc — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 21:41:48 +0000

The whole school year is a joke. Day off after day off then teacher workdays then after a teacher workday another day off for “meetings” my kid went to a private montessori kindergarten and was 2 years ahead when she got to first grade nkw I think she is 2 years behind. And they didnt give 2 weeks off the holidays and workdays and meetings days. Oh then the schools spend millions paying subs because teachers have other meetings or vacations. The whole system is a joke.

By: Teacher33

Teacher33 — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 21:13:35 +0000

I understand the point of this post and agree the school year should be bumped up to start earlier in August for testing timeline/preparation purposes, but as a teacher whose classroom is shown in this post, I believe the caption on my photo is unfair and misleading. There appear to be only 3-4 students in my classroom photo and these are the remaining juniors in my mostly senior class. Everyone else in the class had graduated the day or two before this photo was taken, therefore these are the only students left to attend class. The remaining juniors were provided two activity opportunities on their final two days with me. Again, I understand the point of the post, but feel that using a photo of my empty classroom with a misleading caption is unfair and hurtful.