wjones8637 Loc: Burleson, TX

Another thread had comments about papers and tests returned with lots of red, even on an "A" and I was reminded of a prof in grad school. He had rubber stamps of a longhorn looking over his shoulder and a steaming pile behind. Underneath were the words "BULL S__T!!" When you got a little too creative with an answer it was in black, if real creative it was red. Do you remember any teachers that had ways of sending a message?

Bill

traderjohn Loc: New York City

I graduated from grammar school in 1957. I went to Catholic School in the South Bronx. We had the brothers and the girls had the nuns. There were two separate buildings. Every day we had a test on what was covered the day before and on homework. The passing grade was 70%. Every day. If you got 65 or any number under 70 that was how many smacks with a ruler you got on the palm of your hand. The brothers lived in the neighborhood. They knew it was a tenement immigrant environment. Our parents did not have the ability to help us. The brothers and the nuns took their jobs to heart. They were teachers. I am very fortunate I still see some of my old friends from that neighborhood. Brother Steven always comes to mind when we reminisce. That situation did not exist in Catholic High School.

djclow

I taught school for several years and never used a red pen to correct papers. Growing up, I always hated getting my papers back with red on them. Thus, never used that color. Instead, I had an assortment of colors that I used--just seemed less intimidating. And, always drew a smiley face or wrote a short encouraging comment.

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

When teaching high school physics, one of my very bright students would occasionally write a response that really was fantasy. So he gave me a Christmas gift of a rubber stamper with two letters on it, B.S. And he invited me to use it on his future test anytime I felt his solution was ... truly B.S.

HOHIMER

In grade school I had a male teacher that would throw rubber Socko paddle balls at those not paying attention. When he ran out of balls, he would throw blackboard erasers. His aim was very good....he could pop you right on top of your head from his position at the front of the class. He would do this while talking and never miss a beat.

MrMophoto Loc: Rhode Island "The biggest little"

YIKES! I am still teaching (photography in a public high school) and none of these antics would be acceptable today. At best you would be reprimanded by your principal at worst you would loose your job. But don't talk to me about coddling students today, you'd be preaching to the choir, I still wouldn't lay a hand on any kid or belittle them, they call that bullying today. Today as educators we are here to encourage kids to learn, instill a love of learning, not beat them into submission.

Burtzy Loc: Bronx N.Y. & Simi Valley, CA

As a student at UCLA, I had a philosophy class. The Teaching Assistant gave us a quiz one afternoon after a ten minute lecture on Descartes. (I think, therefore I am.) The question she wrote on the board was a simple one: "Why?" The students around me sat there thinking about and a few wrote page-long responses. I had no clue about what she was getting at, so I simply wrote "Because" and turned it in. She returned my paper a few moments later with "You can do better than that" scrawled on it. I wrote "Why?" and turned it back in. She laughed, but still gave me an F on it. It didn't count towards our grade anyway.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

"Today as educators we are here to encourage kids to learn, instill a love of learning, not beat them into submission."
How is that working out?? I cannot remember the year, there was an article in The New York Times that stated that 3/4's of the incoming Freshman class at CUNY needed remedial classes.
When a student graduates high school what grade level are they at when it comes to education?

MrMophoto Loc: Rhode Island "The biggest little"

That was probably one of those "intelligence tests" that are designed to see who is following the directions. I had a statistics instructor who related a story where she gave a true/false test with the instructions to "indicate which answers are true or false". One student wrote a single line on the test and handed it in. She thought he just gave up but he had written "All of them". She had to give him an A since he followed the directions as written.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I could say lot here, but I won’t--I’d probably make everyone mad. (Forty-year teacher: one junior high, thirteen high school, twenty-six college.)

MrMophoto Loc: Rhode Island "The biggest little"

Like I said don't talk to me about coddling students and how they all need remedial classes, yes it is true the system needs fixing, but beating students, bullying and belittling them by calling their work bulls**t is NOT the answer either. Everyone learns differently, education has never been a one size fits all activity. I believe the educational leaders in this country finally understand that, now it's just a matter of figuring out how that translates into teaching practices and that will take some doing, trial and error, etc. In the mean time do you have a better solution than corporal punishment and verbal abuse?

joehel2 Loc: Cherry Hill, NJ

I was in Catholic grade school in Philadelphia during the 1950’s also. It was an everyday occurrence for a Nun to smack someone across the face for some digression or other. You never told your parents if you were the recipient because they figured you deserved it and would add to the punishment.

traderjohn Loc: New York City

I guess a smack on the hand wasn't the end of the world. Being stupid was.
The key is two parents being involved with their children. That is the major stumbling block. "

clickety

[quote=MrMophoto]YIKES! I am still teaching (photography in a public high school) and none of these antics would be acceptable today. At best you would be reprimanded by your principal at worst you would loose your job. But don't talk to me about coddling students today, you'd be preaching to the choir, I still wouldn't lay a hand on any kid or belittle them, they call that bullying today. Today as educators we are here to encourage kids to learn, instill a love of learning, not beat them into submission.[/quote

But.... Results??

elliott937 Loc: St. Louis

Move over teachers, I'm with you. I'm in my 52nd. year and still loving it. I have to admit, though, I'm not sure I could say that if I were still teaching high school students. I left that arena at the end of 30 years, but new I was not ready for the "fishing poll", so I looked over local universities. Lucky for me, five were looking for an adjunct physics teacher, and I picked the one guaranteeing a class never larger than 16 students. Sorry for the history, but I though you might wonder .... why year 31 to year 52?

That all said, what I was able to do in early high school years became unacceptable in my 20th. year. What? Just think Political Correctness. I'm in favor of it, but it sure kills a lot of "respectful fun" in the classroom. By year 28, I knew I had to move on. I did, and never looked back. On the college level, teaching is fun again. I can't toss erasures at my students, but I never did. And when I mentioned that I had a rubber stamper in my desk with letters B.S., they told me to ... use it. You certainly can do different things when teaching on the college level.

BTW, Traderjohn, is that pick Rome or Florence?