Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Job

Job searching continues. 5 new applications today. Oy.

The current job is, paradoxically, going well. I feel like I'm doing some of my best teaching now that the pressure's off. The AP kids took their tests last Friday and seem to think that they went well, which is nice nice nice. The other section of 11th grade is going well too, finally getting to teach some of my favorite stuff, mid-to-late 20th century. And the 9th grade is winding down in the proper way, with a nice simulation project.

On the other hand, it might be a good thing I'm already leaving, since otherwise I'd be second-guessing my choice to teach about human rights. Connected to that, the kids are completely obsessed with illegal immigrants, as in whether or not a person who is an illegal immigrant is entitled to the same human rights as the rest of us. They seem to be very paranoid about the number of illegal immigrants who might be in the U.S., what services they might be consuming, what jobs they might be doing, how this might impact "their" taxes.

They are also highly suspicious of those receiving welfare, "terrorists," and basically anyone who is not a lot like them. It makes me want to teach only about that, or to take the kids on a little field trip up to the poorer sections of our nation's capital for some community service &/or observations. It's right up the street.

Seriously, do they think that people want to just be on welfare? In the climate where those who need to be on welfare are "lazy" or "drug users"?

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