Corona Virus Quarantine Day #212: What’s up? October 20, 2020:

Corona Virus Quarantine Day #212: What’s up in the world today? October 20, 2020:

I thought it’d be fun to discuss some of the news that’s been happening in the last week as there are some things I almost cannot really believe.

For starters, we are two weeks away from our presidential election. The candidates, Joe Biden (D) and Donald Trump (R) are taking blows at each other left and right on the campaign trail. That’s to be expected I supposed in any presidential election. However, they recently announced that in the final presidential debate they will mute each candidate when the other is talking. So when a question is asked each candidate will get 2 minutes to answer, the other persons microphone will be muted. If this isn’t a sign of the times we are living in…I am not sure what is. I almost can’t believe this is a real news story and that to do something like this in a presidential debate would be necessary. It’s very 2020.

Another doozy I heard about last week was that there were 14 men arrested after the FBI uncovered their plan to kidnap and assassinate Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. These men are anti-government and apparently believe the nation is on the brink of collapse and a new modern day civil war is inevitable. These men shared all different types of beliefs, it’s reported, but they all shared a hate for the Governor. You seriously, cannot make this stuff up!

When waiting to pick up the kids today I listened to news radio. A story came across from San Diego. One of the most competitive schools there has recently changed their policy on late work, absenteeism and behavior. They decided that these factors can no longer have an impact on a students grade. This particular school board goes on to suggest that these “metrics exacerbate racial inequality.”

I am unsure of what demanding attendance (necessary for anyone to learn anything), expecting work to be turned in on time (high school teachers can have up anywhere from 100-150 students at a time…they cannot chase that many kids for their work) and at a minimum expecting proper behavior in a classroom is racist?

Race has nothing to do with any of these things. Am I missing something (this is highly possible)? I’m just confused at the state of the world. I just don’t see what having these expectations in schools has to do with race. You could be white, black, green or orange…regardless of the color of your skin or your racial background these are basic rules of being in school and good life lessons to learn (be on time, do what is expected of you and behave appropriately).

School districts have a hard enough time finding qualified teachers to do their job as it’s done now (even before the madness of Covid teaching). They aren’t paid well, it’s a job that is often disrespected…and now you are making it even harder for them to do their actual job. When did demanding quality work and effort from people become a bad thing? Again, confused.

That doesn’t even go into the important lessons we are denying our kids by removing these metrics from schools. For example, how are we supposed to teach kids the importance of being on time in the real world, you know, the place they are actually headed after high school? Being on time is critical to keeping a job.

How are we supposed to teach our kids the necessary skill of time management, if we cannot expect or demand them to be organized enough to turn in their work on time? Knowing how to manage your time allows you to be successful in all areas of life.

How can we expect to have any classroom management in any way if we cannot deal appropriately with bad behavior in a classroom?

If you are asking if this school district just make it nearly impossible for these teachers to do their job effectively? Yes, they did. 100%

What a world we live in. Seriously.

I was grateful to walk into a gym this afternoon and do something I love with people I love and turn off the noise of our world right now.

The noise is really loud. I think everyone is hoping that when the election the noise will die down, I hope they are right.

Coming home after practice and seeing the innocent, sweet faces of my children made me so happy but also made me a little worried about the world these kids are going to inherit.

So tonight I am going to say some extra prayers for our country. We seem so off track in so many ways.

Tonight I am going to focus on gratitude for my community of people. Our kids are blessed to have a lot of good people in their lives. I am blessed as well.