Pulling the Lion's Tooth

Today I pulled a few rotten teeth from the mouth of the Lion.
The Lion bit me in anger so I hit it with 7 detentions.


I don't know what it is with this place. I give homework. Like a worksheet or something ONCE a semester. This time I gave them 4 pages of worksheets with the answers on top in a reading section and the questions below. I gave them 3 days of class time to finish. Today was the two week anniversary of the assignment's due date and I had 33 not turned in by class time.

Last spring I gave 2 days of class time for a one-pager and had 13 not turn it in at all. They took zeros.
In talking with teachers around here it seems like these kids just simply don't do their homework. Ever. Our modern society demands that we don't accept zeros in schools. I'm lucky that my superintendent says they can't NOT do the work, but I can give them a zero if it takes way too long.

This is BULLS###

My parents would have found the biggest stick and beat the living daylight out of me if I had just blatantly refused to do homework. You just didn't not do your homework.
ITS FREAKING HOMEWORK.

I nagged to get a bunch more done and turned in by the end of the day and had reduced my naughty list to 7. Impressive nagging skills come from my mother's side. Five of the seven say they aren't going to do it. Ever. No matter what.
So they'll finish it in detention or suspension, whichever comes first.

See detention is a problem around here. Kid's don't take it seriously. Teachers almost never do it because the students don't show up for detentions. Teachers have to create verbal contact with parents to carry out a detention so parents can arrange for transportation. So detentions are often several days after the event which earned the detention.

Again, bullfeces.

You don't NOT show up for a detention. And if my kid got a detention and had to miss the bus that would be fine. Walk your delinquent butt home.

For each detention you skip you get two more. Get more than 5 detentions stacked up and you get an in school suspension. Statistically (according to my administration) about 80% of detentions end up in ISS.

They will do their homework. Someday either now, or in detention/suspension. But it will happen.

"In my day" we didn't even think of not doing homework, or not showing up for detention...

I hope this is a cultural thing around here and not a social construct of the current generation.


Because if my children.... so help me God there will not be a stick big enough...