Add one part compliment, one part insulting anger, blend well...

...and you've got the morning I'm trying to slouch my way through.

See, it's parent-teacher day here and this glorious academic entity know as Where I Work. So far today, I've received one very sweet and uplifting stream of compliments from one of my former students and his parents. It was almost enough to make up for the crap I've been taking from other students and parents who find my grades to be too harsh and my methods "ekki nægjan nóg gótt".

Mostly this comes down to my "vinnueinkum" (where the students are graded on a scale of 1-4 on things like "turns in homework on time" / "doesn't disrupt class" etc). Much as I disagree with the whole process of grading people, I figured if I had to do it, I should at least try to be fair. So if I didn't have a record of students turning in the two home work assignments I gave them, they got a zero in "turns in home work on time". This made logical sense to me. 0+0=? You guessed it, 0!

But apparently that's not how math should be done over here. 0+0= "at least 2 and should be raised even higher if a parent comes to complain."

I hate grading. I hate that assignments are graded on a scale of one to ten but behavior is graded on a scale of 1 to 4. I hate trying to numerically quantify the complex and singularly individual process of learning. I hate that said quantification is all the kids and the parents really seem to give a shit about.

All things considered, I like the library a lot better. I like the fact that at the library, information is there for you, but no one is forcing you to read it, no one is telling you to read it faster, demanding reports on it, or grading you on it.

Schools ought to be like libraries. Teachers ought to be like interactive books, full of knowledge and capable of showing you how to apply said knowledge.

That way, when you want to learn something, you could come and check out a few books, read up on it a bit, and then sit down with a teacher and figure the rest out. Freely, independently, without coercion of quantification.

That's the kind of school I want to teach at.