Putting people first

Another thought on Earth Day, from the Great White North.

Summary: when teachers scream at full-throat that learning multiplication tables is "dull, rote learning," then what the hell is screaming slogans about "saving the planet" and "reducing your carbon footprint?"

And I wonder why these same kids, when they reach college, are so underprepared that half of their freshman year is spent in remedial learning - you know, the lessons the idiot teacher should have prepared but was too busy watching An Inconvenient Truth for the eighteenth time.

And kudos to the first smart high school kid who says, "I think your statistics are hogwash, and you don't deserve the union-mandated salary to teach this environmental Inquisition. I'd like to learn the law of Cosines and Shakespeare, not the Gospel According to Al Gore and his Marxist buddies."

Cursing to the Choir, middle school edition

Kids: if you're going to do Chris Rock monologues, find the clean and non-controversial ones, not the ones with abundant amounts of deleted expletives.

On the other hand, the girl who let loose with her Andrew Dice Clay rendition did a great service: since no one would listen to the complaints from teachers and other students about the choir teacher's litanies and tirades, what better place highlight your teacher's shortcomings than after a Rogers & Hart song!

Hey, it might cost you a ten day suspension and make you miss your graduation ceremony and party, but the best thing is that it forced some of these administrators with their hands on their ears to finally listen!