I Miss You, Jeff Spicoli
Rumination from a thirty year teacher
Do you remember the scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High when Spicoli and his bros spill out of the van and take off in an effort to make it to class?
That scene couldn’t happen today because students couldn’t relate. While I am sure that students still engage in the kind of recreation the boys were engaged in in the van, the concept of rushing to class is no more.
Imagine if your boss just let you show up to work whenever you wanted and maybe got annoyed but never penalized you. That is the situation we have created for kids today.
You cannot fail classes for attendance reasons. Skipping gets a phone call to your parents, and nothing more. Back in the day, three unexcused absences equaled failure and three unexcused tardies equaled an unexcused absence. Now, tardies equal….nothing.
If you teach a high school class the first period of the day, especially if you teach juniors and seniors who can drive, you will start the day with around fifty percent of your students and the rest will meander in when they feel like it, rendering your taking of attendance useless and forcing you to repeat any opening activities or instructions.
I don’t blame students- hell , I am lucky that the 50% who DO show on time have some sort of compulsion to do so that has nothing to do with wariness of punishment.
I DO blame whoever comes up with these stupid, ignorant, non-sensical policies. I can’t fathom how they get them implemented in the first place, how they STAY in place, or who could POSSIBLY think this is beneficial to kids’ futures in any way, shape, or form. In a veritable cornucopia of idiotic educational policies THIS one has to be one of the centerpieces. It is the Yugo in a field of AMC Gremlins.
If we keep allowing every whine to become policy, and if we keep making school resemble the “real world” less and less, how can we possibly expect the citizens of tomorrow to embrace even a modicum of the most fundamental precepts of success- like showing up on time?
The ONLY people who can face any sort of reprimand for tardiness are….the teachers!
I used to laugh at Spicoli but now I think “Hey, at least he made an effort”- and the rest of the class was there!