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April 04, 2007 |
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When You Gotta Go
FOUND by Terry W. Owen
I go for walks in my neighborhood every evening and always keep my eyes open for anything I could send in. I found this note near my front door upon returning home from one of my walks. Looks like Stevie's mom didn't get this note.
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Not Quite a Hallmark May 14, 2006 |
Asleep at the Soundboard July 28, 2007 |
The Rainbow ... December 30, 2007 |
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We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework,
to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles -
anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...
Sounds like Stevie is in trouble.
I think the cutest thing with this is that the hole looks like it was pinned to the kid's jacket so the parents would see it.
I love it :)
The best part of this note is the two holes in the center... looks like this Post-It was pinned to Stevie's jacket at the end of the school day! Typical!
dang if the kid has to go shoot let em go!!sheese!
awww, maybe she really had to go. teachers in elementary school are so mean.
I wouldn't say its being discovered on the ground means the parents didn't see it. I'd say it's more likely the parents saw it, threw it out, and it somehow escaped the garbage (in my old neighborhood there used to be free-roaming dogs that would always get into people's trash and rip apart the bags so that everything light enough would go blowing down the street.)
This is the beginnings of anal-retentiveness for poor little Stevie.
Is it just me, or does this teacher have horrible grammar and word usage?
I guess Stevie Nicks was a rebel as a preschooler.
Gosh, maybe it was an emergency! Mrs. Wise sounds really mean!
Lara- I was thinking the same thing. I don't really know a Teacher that would write like that.
Poor Stevie! That teacher must not be very good with discipline if she is sending home notes over something so trivial. I see more time-outs, detentions, and suspensions in Stevie's future.
I think Stevie is too young to have learned that women always go to the restroom together. Let this be a lesson to her.
If I were a parent, I'd rather get this note than one that reads:
May 4 Stevie
11:25 AM
Stevie shit her pants.
Mrs. Wise
I don't think there's anything wrong with the grammar (but i'm no expert) as far as the word usage, it's ultra-banal. three simple decarative sentances. i bet it's intentionally that way, cuz grammar nazi assholes like Lara in Seattle are extra-picky with elementary school teachers.
i got all kindsa sympathy for this teacher. Stevie needs to learn to fucking hold it, alright? here's the thing: elementary school is not about reading, writing and arithmatic, it's about recognizing that you aren't the only fucking person in the world and that all adults and authority figures are not going to treat you the same way your loving parents do. The sooner a kid can recognize this, the better off they'll be.
Good grief. I hope Stevie got to go before she was sent to time-out. Otherwise that's going to be one sticky corner....
I used to be a preschool teacher, so this definitely looks like a preschool note to me, especially with the pinning.
Also, Stevie is a wonderful name for a little girl.
Stevie is already on her way to fulfill her destiny as a inconsiderate bitch and/or stripper who, in 12 years, will be passed out on a pool table at the Kappa Kappa Delta house.
Mrs. Wise is just trying to prevent that.
Wow, it looks like Rex needs some anger management classes!
When I was in kindergarden, my mom told me that if I had to go to the bathroom and the teacher wouldn't let me, I should go anyway. What parent wants a pee soaked kid? Stevie is awesome!
As a parent you teach your children to go when they feel like they gotta go, don't ask me, don't wait just go! It's natural, normal and saves on laundry.
Then a school gets ahold of them and tells then ask first then maybe go with permission. It's against parental training and nature. This teacher is programming children through torture. Stevie just saw through it. Go Stevie! (In more ways than one.)
I think that the issue was more about lying to the teacher and cutting in front of the other kids in the bathroom line. Being such a short note, it looks like Stevie has been in bigger trouble and is now on "probation" which means that the teachers let the parent know even the small (if you call lying small) things that are happening daily.
Exactly, Rex - that's one of the main reasons I homeschool my kids!! I treat them with respect, listen to them, let them go to the restroom when they need to, let them get as many hours of play and sunshine as they need -- WHY would I send them somewhere that only wants to subjugate them? School is NOT about "learning" - at least not traditional subjects. Poor Stevie. FREE THE CHILDREN!!
It looks more like something a child would write while playing school. When I was a kid, we always sent home "report cards" (I was always the teacher) and some of them were about this ridiculous.
I agree with Flargy I would rather get this note.
When my baby brother attended pre school and had accidents he would come home in other kids clothes.
Once he came home in tight polyester pink overalls on a hot spring day.And to top it all off the clothes he had shit or pissed on were placed in a funky plastic bag for us to take home and wash.
In my preschool - back in the day - there were specific times that the entire class went to the restrooms, we had to wait in line. It was torture. I would have cut too if I wasn't so afraid of the teacher (this was before spankings were banned).
Man, preschool can be rough.
But what about the teacher that said she could go sooner? Now they're saying that they DIDN'T let a girl go to the bathroom? Stevie probably had to go real bad!
Pinning the note to her is just like strapping on a scarlet letter - no one's doing that to my kid!
Clearly, I have some problems with this whole situation...
Feeling Sorry- i'd hate to meet your kids once you finally stop breast feeding them and send them out into the world.
Actually, no. i'd love to meet your kids, i'd push em around and scam em for everything they've got. Someone who was never beat up for lunch money as a kid is just primed to be taken for much more later in life.
i'm speaking from experience here, the experience of having been foolish enough to stop and to talk to a couple of muggers about year ago. (grade school bullies never wanted my lunch money, they just wanted to call me a fag and throw me in the mud)
homeschooling is the worst idea ever.
Very true, Rex. Every person I've ever met who was homeschooled has been a complete social retard.
Even if the parents try to involve the kids in other activities, they will either be surrounded by other homeschooled retards, or by regular-school kids who will look at them like they're from another planet.
I speak from experience on the issue of trying to integrate with the "normal" kids. I was forced to attend private schools, and when I had to play soccer or something in the town league, all the kids who knew each other were bewildered by the kid with the funny name who they had never seen before.
I bet Stevie's DAD got it. He turned the car around and marched up to old Mrs. Wise and BLASTED her up down and sideways for sticking such a menial reprimand on his daughter and for humiliating her. He asked Mrs. Wise if she was so wise, then why didn't she have anything better to do then leave stupid notes on little girls making them feel bad for natural human functions and that his daughter was allowed to go to the bathroom whenever she wanted is that understood. And he didn't stop badgering until Mrs. Wise either cried or called security. He tossed the note out of his car on the way home satisfied that this was taken care of and no longer an issue.
Keep the comments civil, people. DON'T MAKE ME GET ALL MRS. WISE ON Y'ALL.
Homeschooling is not the worst idea ever, but it has to have some realism. You have to teach life lessons, not just let your kids run around and play all day.
Personally, I don't get the whole concept of forcing really young kids to hold it. If a little kid has got to go, it's coming out one way or another. Better to let that way be a toilet and not the clothing and the floor.
Now when the kids are getting older, then you start to tell them they can hold it until the next break, because those kids can actually do that.
Sounds like Rex needs a spanking with a wooden paddle covered with nails from Mrs. Wise. 0_o Why are you so angry?
rex and flargy are dead on. i'm a h.s. teacher and have had homeschooled kids dumped in the system so they can get class ranking for college. every.single.homeschooled kid i've ever taught has been a social retard. they have absolutely no idea how to interact in the classroom. no amount of homeschool group activities can change that because the rest of the group are social retards, too. go ahead and think you're doing the best for your children by homeschooling them. you're misguided (and probably a fundamentalist) and your children will pay the price.
LOL! I think m's scenario is the best, and I agree with everyone that the totalitorian ways of elementary school just sucks. Even the social skill "benefit" of it isn't worth it to me, my kids will be home schooled. (Seriously, do you want people who get paid less than a gas station manager dealing with your kids all day? People so disgruntled with a failing system that they take it out on students?)
By the way... I went to public school and got shit so bad from the other kids that I grew up to be a socially awkward adult: a fate far worse than being socially retarded. (I have trichotillomania and no one sent me to a professional for help. Thanks.) I wish my mom would've kept me home and schooled me there, at least I wouldn't have gotten the shit beat out of me!!
I can believe that home-schooled kids might be a bit socially inept with their peer group. I've always wondered how they turn out in college and post-college?
haha I just read Monika's statement. Stand Back Mrs. Wise cuz Stevie's not "standin in a line". You could be standin in... hahahah RIGHT ON!
My experience is that home-schooled kids were just a bit naive, not socially retarded. Still, pretty vulnerable to scams.
The only problem I see with home-schooling (if you're a parent) is you don't meet the hot moms at open house!
Tons of research shows they do very well in college and post-college. Many colleges and universities are now actively recruiting homeschooled students.
Shelly - I am far, far, from fundamentalist. I'm a highly liberal free-thinking woman, with two free-thinking kids. I believe the reason they wouldn't fit in in school, is because school is the unreal situation. We are out and about in the real world every day. No place on earth functions like a public school, except other schools. It's a very unhealthy, unrealistic world. My kids may be "socially retarded" with groups of schooled peers -- but that's because school kids have to develop such strange ways of dealing with people. My kids converse regularly with people of all ages all through our city, very successfully. So, they're a little awkward with schooled groups of kids -- better that than their natural curiosity about life and love of learning quashed by an archaic system -- that IS designed to subjugate the students! It's more about keeping kids in line than it is about learning. Do a little research -- there's a whole world outside of school. And we're in it, experiencing it every day, not just reading about it. www.unschooling.com and www.sudval.org are great resources. Read some John Gatto. This speech by the 1990 NYC Teacher of the Year - his acceptance speech - is even more relevant today:
http://www.naturalchild.com/guest/john_gatto.h
And... my kids have been weaned for quite a few years, now. :)
As a former homeschool high kid, I have to say, there are a whole lot of freaky homeschoolers going around with no clue. However, I'm more social and a partier than most of my friends that went to regular schools. If you homeschool your kids, you better hope they are extroverts.
Dominique, I was also an outcast who got a ton of shit from the other kids in school, and private school kids are ten times worse than public school kids - a bunch of evil, despicable, overprivileged, elitist yuppies-in-training. The last 2.5 years was at a boarding school, where I had the additional pleasure of living 24 hours a day with those little douchebags.
But you know what? Given the chance, I wouldn't change a thing. After those experiences, I went out into the real world completely prepared to deal with any asshole that may cross my path.
I got kicked out of the boarding school halfway through 9th grade, at which point my parents finally gave up and let me go to public school like a "normal" kid. If I had been thrown into that situation as a sheltered homeschooled kid, I probably wouldn't have lasted a week.
Thanks for the comment, FSfS. I've always assumed that what home-schooled kids miss from traditional schooling (peer group, regimentation, those fine school lunches, etc.) gets made up in other places (dealing directly with authority figures, more academic focus, petting the family cat, etc.).
omg I just went to FSfs's link and just realized something spectacular. Regular schooling teaches every subject as if it is "history". You don't need (and why would you even want) textbooks to learn culture, social studies, language or even math (make a quilt, build a garage)- you only need textbooks for history because it doesn't exist anymore!! Screw this, my little Stevie is gonna be homeschooled and maybe I'll send her to Public School #F6374729 to learn the history that Oceana has always been at war with Iraq.
I don't understand the problems people have with this note. It is not about going to use the bathroom, it is about lying.
I teach elementary school, this is not something that would be sent home except for, perhaps, in Kindergarten. More than likely, it is a pre school student.
i have a friend who was home-schooled all the way through school. he is a very talented musician and one of the most popular guys in town. other than him, every homeschooler i've known has been completely awkward and had problems relating to his/her peers. whether the school system is good or bad, it's probably better to hold your piss and go to public school.
I've always found the rule of asking before going to the bathroom weird. I prefer the chalkboard method, where you write your initials in a small corner of the chalkboard when you leave for the bathroom. Then you erase the initials when you come back.
Why would you punish a preschooler for lying? They're little kids, it's what they do. Besides, in my preschool class lying to the teacher was the least of our problems. None of you had Kyle, the psycho boy who always knocked over the blocks (always MY blocks :( ) and threw tantrums. The teachers had to literally drag him kicking and screaming from the room once...
As for the public/homeschooled debate: The Hell that was middle school turned me into an extremely shy person, which I've slowly been overcoming, thanks to my friends. Even if I had had the chance to be homeschooled, I'd have chosen public schools, because otherwise I wouldn't have met any of my friends!!!
~Saki
P.S. Isn't this supposed to be a friendly community? Commenting on a Find just to personally attack other people and spew more cuss words than the movie "Jarhead" is dumb. Lara, I'm a grammar Nazi too. It's nothing to be ashamed of!! :)
Sorry for the long post...
I was homeschooled throughout grade school. I learned a lot and wouldn't trade it, but yeah, the price for that was being socially retarded for a while! I'm over it now (I'm in my 20's though), so it's possible to have it both ways. --But everything I know about the 80's I learned from VH1, since I was sheltered while it was actually happening!
I was homeschooled 2 thirds of my school years, and went to "normal" school the other third, I would agree most with Dillweed that it made me a little naive, but certainly not inept (i know, thats only my opinion of myself :P), however, my parents didn't make the effort to send me and my sisters to any clubs or activities to meet other kids much, and that would have really helped. I did love homeschooling, but i wouldn't do it my kids, it's hard to get it right. (P.S. Eggs1234 WHERE ARE YOUUUU????)
As a public high school student, I just want to say that I know a few homeschooled people and they are undeniably socially retarded. One of the comments said that public school is unrealistic, but it is totally realistic, because these are your peers, the people you will grow up to work with and date, marry etc. So what if you are brilliant at conversing with people twice your age, if you can't be in social situations with people your age, then that is really unfortunate. Sorry this has nothing to do with Stevie, who I totally feel sorry for, I mean, maybe the other teacher is lying to cover her mistake????
I agree with Saki that middle school was hell and that its greatly impacted my life more than homeschooling could. I think that homeschooling a child through their middle school years couldn't hurt, but they should be allowed to be in high school. I know some places to work that act just like an adult high school, so high school really isn't that unrealistic.
Thank you Stephanie for bringing up the fact that the other teacher could be lying to cover her tracks...Poor Stevie got sent to time out for mastering her potty skills from toddlerhood,and Mrs.Wise went on to brow beat many more future school haters.It starts that early.
ugh...some teachers...they take themselves way to seriously! can anyone spell ANAL RETENTIVE? raise your hands!!!
You've all gone waaaaay off the point, which is: Mrs. Wise is a shitty teacher.
Everyone is gonna go through some kind of hell at some point in their lives, a hell most likely caused by other people (peers or authority figures) and most likely related to our biological functions. Hell is other people and people are fascinated by bodliy fluids.
The sooner we get our dissillusionment-experiences out of the way, the less we have to lose when it happens.
Mur- Mrs. Wise is a shitty teacher. But Stevie is going to be a better person for having stood up to and learning how to deal with people like Mrs. Wise.
FSfS- i'm an asshole. you're an idealist. and that's OKAY.
My brother has 4 kids all home-schooled plus they are very religious. I can see they'll never make it in this dog eat dog world & I feel for them.
As a preschool teacher I can say yes, Mrs. Wise is a shitty teacher. Mostly because you do not put a child in time out for lying. Time out is only used in situations where the child needs "time out" to regain control of her/his actions and emotions when out of control (hitting, throwing a fit, etc.). A child should never be put in time out for lying! The teacher should take Stevie aside and discuss lying with her and why it is inappropriate in school. Or perhaps Stevie might miss 5 minutes of recess.
I can, however, see sending a note home for lying, as someone else pointed out, Stevie is probably a habitual offender and every little thing is now being reported in preparation for kicking her out.
kicking her out? What?
NO! Satan does not let the little devils free from hell for bad behavoir, does he? That defeats the whole purpose.
pretty soon stevie will be hanging out with boys on motorcycles, smoking cigarettes, and wearing torn fishnet stockings.
Freaky...the writing looks nearly identical to my own writing. But I'm not a teacher, sooo....
And I also wouldn't put a child in time out for something so trivial! A little chat about lying and appropriate behavior is one thing...
I love a good debate!! i'm all for public schooling! (having never attended private school or being homeschooled) public school is such a part of our culture, even as unrealistic as it is as a starting point for "real life". more kids are in public school! so at least we can all relate to each other based on similar backgrounds! and even though parts of school and parts of puberty and parts of real life are shitty, isn't it fun? i had a couple friends who were homeschooled, i don't even know were they are now.. we lost touch so quickly. i didn't know how to identify with them!
and talking to kids about lying works great, talking is always a good solution.
great find!
Rex is so right!
When I'm Queen of the World- which I'm sure will happen any day now hehe- homeschooling will be illegal. I really think society has a responsibility to be sure that all children receive a certain level of education that meets certain standards and is provided by qualified people. Look around the world- public schooling is a necessary prerequisite for a peaceful, liberated, intelligent society. Countries that lack public schooling (or where education is left up to the parents) have a ton of overwhelming problems as a result! :)
First: Stevie, don't let da man get you down. You go girl!
Second: You don't go to school to learn to get along with your PEERS. You go to learn that you have to work side by side with folks who are NOT your peers. People who are less than you, meaner than you, different than you, smarter than you. None of us have any difficulty getting along with our peers - it's those OTHER people.
Third: For you people who say "I'm going to homeschool" have no idea how much work that is or how you will learn to avoid your kids someday as a matter of survivial. Thank God I have someplace I can send those brats five days a week.
Yeah, why teach children to wait their turn and tell the truth? Why not have a total free for all in society where whoever gets there first just grabs everything they want and screw anyone else?
Yes, time out is a bit much for this situation, but for god's sake at least tell children what they should have done differently.
And by the way, you can't assume this is from a preschool, as many of you are doing.
Karen's right, yo. Why you assumin' I'm a preschooler? I'm seventeen years old, man! And you know what? I can't help it if I had to piss. Mrs. Wise was just jealous because she'd had to take a leak since third period, and she never got the chance. So that's right: I lied, man, and I'm proud of it.
Poor little kid! He just had to go! lol.
Darn you, Mrs. Wise! Daaaaarn you!
To everyone saying "just let the kid pee:"
In many teaching and child-care settings today, it is a mandated policy to not let multiple children go into the bathroom at once, due to the high visibility of child-on-child sexual harassment (yes, a little overboard, but it's a worry you have to take into account if you don't want to get stuck a big lawsuit). In that situation, a child skipping in line, and lying to do so, is definitely grounds for discipline. I'm not sure a lot of people here understand what life is like for the Mrs. Wise's of the world. Give the lady a break.
I can't believe that teacher called a kid a social "retard". She should know better. Shelly from planet reality's post. Don't teachers have to get CEU's and continue their education and training? Aren't they supposed to be experts on childhood development and intelligence? How could she possibly be a teacher and use that word in that context??? Awful!!! That would be like me, a therapist, calling a patient "cuckoo".
I'm not going to say too much on this because this is obviously one of those subjects that everyone has strong opinions about, but,I will say that personally, I agree with Rex on this subject.
I taught preschool for three years until about 4 months ago, and this note is undeniably from a preschool teacher.
I'm also not going to judge her teaching skills based on this note. As the comments prove everyone's personalities and parenting skills are completely different. Who's to say that this note wasn't to a parent who was concerned about their child coming home every day saying they had a time out and wanted a daily report on their behavior. You'd be ignorant to judge either way based on this one note. <stepping off soap box>