I was given 52 detentions for suspected cheating, almost suspended for it. The principal called me to his office, made some cheesy annoying statement about how this kind of behavior wouldn’t be tolerated.
Okay, I said. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again. It was a mistake.
Already that year I knew three people who were out longterm for mental illness. Already kids were high in classes just to get by them. Already what was tolerated was a bunch of kids having breakdowns.
It was a mistake it won’t happen again. I make sure that my answers are big on the science test. The boy next to me can’t afford medication for his learning disability and hasn’t slept since his parents split and if he doesn’t get a 2.0 he loses his team, the last thing he has left.
It was a mistake it won’t happen again. When I pass her my homework I ask her quietly if her mom was getting better. When the semester ends and we are in different classes, I start doing her assignments on the side. She sends me snaps from chemotherapy.
It was a mistake it won’t happen again. When I hand over the notes, I make sure there’s plenty of marginal positive thoughts. They haven’t smiled all month. I know what it’s like to be too tired and doing nothing at all.
It was a mistake. Your students are resorting to immoral choices because they have no other option. You make grades the be-all and end-all priority, no matter what else might be happening. You force them into situations where they can either fail and definitely have a permanent punishment, or cheat and probably pass – it’s worth the risk. Your students stand in solidarity, not to praise the might of learning: but to gather together in the right of living. You are the one who made the dichotomy of student/human. We are not both, are given “either like it or leave it”, are trained almost like robots. Do the work, don’t ask questions, don’t challenge the authority.
It was a mistake. It won’t happen again where you can see it. But I love learning. And if I can be the one who keeps your student in the classroom by giving them that extra push? Maybe I’m doing a better job than you. Cheating wouldn’t be a problem if we weren’t already being cheated. You can’t set us up to lose and then get frustrated when we rig the game, too.
stop telling girls interested in lit that they need to read these great american classics by violent misogynists in order for their opinions to be valid or for their minds to be developed
Stop telling girls who’ve already read misogynistic pieces that their opinions aren’t valid if they thought the book was shit
y’all know that john mulaney quote “the things crazy people say mean nothing to them but everything to me?”
every time i hear that quote, i think about how i got this light-up pen
i got this pen four years ago when i was working as a barista at starbucks. I was on the registers and taking the order of this woman, who ordered a nonfat latte, because she was “watching her weight”
so this guy behind her, whom no one was talking to, for some fucking reason says “wathing your weight? but what about the wait for your watch?“ (which is a completely unhinged response. like just complete Mad Hatter nonsense)
anyway this lady gets really uncomfortable and of the five people (me, him, her, the other checker, and the customer at the other register) who were now sucked into the uncomfortable silence, i decided that i should alleviate the tension by saying “you can’t wait for a watch; you don’t have the time”
and then he said “oh, quick girl!”, gave me that pen, got out of line, and left without ordering anything
ruby-dear archive 