How has the coronavirus affected your personal life?

[skjl47]

the emotional and psychological stress inflicted upon a student who "fails".

Hello; Allow me to go a bit further on this sidetrack. First back in the 1950's thru the mid 1960's while in public school getting a failing grade for actually doing poor work was the norm. Could even lead to punishment at home. There was a strong desire to pass and the teachers were not restricted from passing out bad grades.
Skip ahead to the current stage of concern over emotional and psychological stress and we have high school graduates with almost no basic skills. It was called social promotion in my day.
Those 17 students who failed my classes one semester. Here is a brief look at the grade system I used. Say I assigned homework with ten questions. The work was worth full credit if ten answers were given even if all ten were wrong. Before I collected the papers we went over the answers so a student could either write the answers down at that time or correct the answers. Some students would not do that.
On a test if a student failed the test by missing too many questions they were allowed to raise the grade to a D by writing the questions missed and the correct answer, which I provided, three times. They could get up to a C by making five copies of the missed questions. Some students would not do that.
I provided opportunities for bonus points throughout the grade period. Some students would not do that.
There were other ways a student could improve the grade. I had many students with well over a 100% average who took advantage of these opportunities.
Those 17 who failed the class just did not make an effort and I could show that. However the principal told me he knew better and determined they would pass. I can go on with more stories but will not.

 

[fishhead0103666]

Disturbing but not surprising.

Up here in Canuckistan there is great concern over the emotional and psychological stress inflicted upon a student who "fails". It is apparently so damaging to those poor children that many school districts no longer issue a fail...rather, the official designation is "deferred success", which allows these students to continue to advance alongside their "immediately successful" peers with no stigma attached.

Makes sense to me...

I could go on for a good solid hour starting with this and ending up on something far ofd topic but with everything leading into one another however I will leave a brief message on the above statement.

This world is getting soft and it will, mark my words, come back to hurt this world.

 

[Ulu]

Well, big natural disasters will probably weed out a lot of that from time to time.

These problems will always move in cycles, as every action is first a reaction to past stimulus.

For instance, the current fad to rant on toxic maleness and seek non-binary sex life will all swing back to an extreme of traditionalist sex rolls.

It's not the first time this all has happened in our history. The folks directly involved never see the forest.

 

[Ulu]

. . . 17 who failed the class just did not make an effort and I could show that. However the principal told me he knew better and determined they would pass. .

We have the same “no tolerance“ educational policy. Failure is not tolerated, and every child will matriculate whether they were educated or not.

Failure of a teacher is also not tolerated, and I read it costs us an average $170k in legal matters to try and fire an unperforming teacher. Also it generally takes at least two years, and in “the age of Covid” getting on the docket is now almost impossible.

Because of this, it basically never happens that you can legally get rid of a bad teacher, and poor quality teachers remain in the system until they leave or retire.

Because of this, the administrators will use every other opportunity. Generally they just find some children who don’t like that teacher will suggest impropriety. Faced with those circumstances a lot of people just leave. A mob of angry parents never hurts the case.

By the way, a lot of low level embezzlement goes on in our public school districts. I hear several cases about it reported every year.

And that’s local cases. Unfortunately a lot of it goes uncaught and/or unprosecuted, because there is such corruption in higher levels.

One guy here was famous because after being convicted and dismissed because of embezzlement he was elected the president to the school board.

The explanation of this was that he was the best fundraiser the district ever had and he brought in several times as much money. I guess if you’re really successful you can be a successful crook and everyone looks away with a wink.

 

[esoxlucius]

Well, it had to happen didn't it? My little lad went back to school on Wednesday for the first time since March. Got an email from the school today informing us that a child in his year group, who he has more than likely had contact with, has been tested positive for the virus. So all the children in his year group have to stay at home until 18th Sept.

Apparently, so the email informs me, I can carry on with my usual activities, work etc, but if my son starts showing symptoms then I will have to isolate for a couple of weeks too!

 

[Hendre]

Stay safe!

 

[skjl47]

This study suggests coronavirus could have hit Los Angeles back in December 2019

Hello; interesting.

 

[jjohnwm]

Best wishes and hopes to you, esoxlucius ; hopefully nothing will come of this. Fingers crossed.

It's too bad you aren't a citizen of Canuckistan. We have so many laws and restrictions designed to protect us from ourselves...and this plethora of regulation is working so well to lead us towards Utopian perfection...that we will probably pass a law soon making it illegal for the Covid-19 virus to spread from person to person. Bingo! Problem solved.

 

[esoxlucius]

Best wishes and hopes to you, esoxlucius ; hopefully nothing will come of this. Fingers crossed.

It's too bad you aren't a citizen of Canuckistan. We have so many laws and restrictions designed to protect us from ourselves...and this plethora of regulation is working so well to lead us towards Utopian perfection...that we will probably pass a law soon making it illegal for the Covid-19 virus to spread from person to person. Bingo! Problem solved.

It's got even worse since my last post. My little lad who has to stay off school for 2 weeks, thankfully, is still his bright and breezy self so the home front looks OK, fingers crossed.

It's work that's the problem now! One lad is on his second week in bed, i've spoke over the phone with him, it sounds quite nasty, it's totally floored him. Another lads missus has got it too so he's at home isolating with her. He got tested because you'd obviously expect him to have it too living with her, but the test result was negative, how the hell does that work!!!

It's getting a bit close for comfort now.

Lol, if this covid virus has a similar attitude to the regulations that us humans do, then i don't think it'll pay a blind bit of notice to your canuck laws!

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I just read this article.

A supercomputer found a promising theory about why COVID-19 cases go downhill fast. It even explains the bizarre range of symptoms.

It is still speculation so more needs to be tested. Two things positive maybe. One is there may be a new effective medication in time. That will not help us now but there is another nod toward the use of Vitamin D as well.
I am spending plenty of time outside as it is late summer here. So likely am getting some D production from sun exposure. I take a supplement D and this reminds me it is time to take one.