I don't know how to interact with people, and I take my frustrations out on a group of people I've never met that rejected me because I am personality-free and extremely annoying. I have hours on end to ruin something other people like, because I am a very small person who gets off on being connected to the internet. There, I can be all that I ever dreamed, which isn't much.
The idea that you can never know who I am makes it all the more titillating, and I have to step away periodically (but not for long) to relieve the sheer ecstasy I feel at your frustration with what an asshole I am. This is all I ever hoped for in life: to be an internet troll. My mother, if she would acknowledge me, would be so proud.
I'll keep doing this because you can't stop me, and even if you ban me I know how to get around it because I've dedicated my life to being a miserable loser that shits all over the most random message board in all of internetland, because you don't love me. See? I'll do this forever and die a happy person because I have accomplished the greatest thing EVER. I'm not sure what that is, but it's something. Right?
Carson managed to bring two Bs up to As for her next report card which comes home next week. I checked her grades this morning online, and I guess her A in religion was a low A because her group for some group project (a skit) got her an 82 which is a C+ and now her grade for the trimester is a B+. I'm PISSED. She did A work since November but is getting a B+ for some skit? I asked her about and apparently one girl out of the three of them did nothing and the other girl is a friend of Carson's and I know my daughter well enough to know that, unfortunately, she wouldn't speak up and say that an idea wasn't good or that they were just doing a so-so job. I have a call in to the teacher but if Carson did C+ work, I guess she earned the B+.
When I was like 4 or 5, I was at vacation bible school and my cousins were sitting next to me making fun of a picture of Jesus on the cross. They thought it was hysterical that he was almost naked. I was horrified and told them to shut up. The teacher got up, and gave everyone a candy in the class except for me as punishment for talking. Just to be a complete bitch she held the bowl of candy out to me and snatched it away as I was about to grab one so I'd be extra humiliated in front of all the other kids.
I'm not all the shocked that a grade in a "religion" class would be patently unfair, to be honest.
Similar thing happened to me. First grade. Two girls were chatting in the aisle by my desk. I was not talking. The teacher was out of the room and she was a +1 Bitch from hell so we all knew better. Of course she comes in and punishes all 3 of us for talking even though I was just a victim of circumstance.
For punishment we missed a field trip that afternoon to go get ICEEs. ICEES!!!! And we had to write 100 times "I would rather have an icee but I had to break the rules and talk so I missed the field trip" (something like that). GAWD!
She pretty much said it was bad when I asked her about it. That they didn't work very hard on it and that since one girl said she was too shy to have a speaking part, the other two (including Carson) said "Okay". I told her that a group project doesn't mean you only have to work half as hard AND that maybe it isn't always the best idea to group up with your buddies and goof off and then do half-assed work. (I'm paraphrasing) We'll see what the teacher says...
That's the thing, though, Kath. I always hated group projects. I was a lot like Carson - major over achiever but not willing to speak up or "tell". I got penalized a ton for getting tossed into groups. And this continues into HS and college. I mean, I had better skills to deal with it in HS and college, but the same crap inevitably happened.
Teachers of the Bored? What do you think about this? I am glad Kath brought it up. This group mentality for presentations, papers, etc? It is so hard for shy kids to stand up. I feel that the brightest are always down graded and the weakest links get an upgrade that supports their bad behavior.
Why does this happen? Let's skip the part about learning to work with "there is no I in Team" because I see that. But without supervision, it really is a punishment to the achievers.
Autumn has struggled with group projects as well. I HATE it when she gets them.
My sister called me yesterday to ask my opinion on a project my neice is working on. Somewhere throughout the conversation she told me when my neice's teacher taught the students about slavery, the teacher was pretty detailed about slavery punishment along with killing the slaves. KILLING them. These students are 7 years old.
Too much for students so young?
In grad school this was done to me. We'd have to give presentations all the time. There were usually 6 people in every group, and the day of the presentation, the teacher would randomly assign us all numbers, and then roll a die. The 'winner' got to give the presentation.
It was radically unfair, because we never got to pic our team. We had one woman on our team for whom English didn't even qualify as a 'Second Language.' I never wanted to give them much myself, but I begged that it be me and not her. All that work we'd do, and then our grade would drop at least an entire letter just on who presented (of the six of us, one was great, three were passable (I was in the passable clan), and two sucked) - if the great one got it, we'd get extra marks on whatever, if either of the sucks got it, well, B was about the best we could do.
The argument was that it was real life. You didn't get to chose your teams in the workplace. Man it's been pretty true. But I'll tell you that since employers wanted to know your class rank during the post grad school job frenzy, I complained pretty bitterly. "You are trying to teach me a life's lesson at the actual possible expense of my LIFE with this shit."
Given how controversial I thought it was with full-on adults - it seems almost abusive to kids.
I draw the other conclusion from your anecdote, Squid. You gave the example of something you had to lose as a result of group work (class standing) whereas in elementary school, what have the kids got to lose other than time playing video games cause their parents don't like the grade.
Elementary school seems like the perfect time to start teaching them not to slack off in groups, or let others slack since elementary school grades don't mean anything. At least they didn't for me, which was a good thing, cause I was a C student in elementary school.
