Musical Interlude: New song from U2

Wednesday. It's supposed to be warm and sunny-- it'll have to clear a bit for that to happen. It's been a rainy week, to be sure. 

We finished Macbeth, and finally --finally!-- the sophomores are warming up. Who knew it'd be reading Shakespeare aloud that would do it? I hope we can keep our momentum. The APLang kids are fine, and I'm glad. I just don't know what I'd do if I had to pull two classes along. 

My colleague is a second year teacher, and she --and the other veteran teachers, new teachers, and apparently the world at large-- is having a difficult time with the freshmen. I suggested we talk about it today, and maybe I can dig up some ideas. But honestly, kids are not quite the same as they used to be. There is a real attitude among many of them (the ones whose parents "pay [our] salary" and who kvetch about everything they think is too "lib'rul") that they only have to do what they want, and if they don't like it, they have a right to complain loudly. And be really rude about it. That's really hard to listen to, day in and day out. I've had a few over the years, and it's been very damaging. Mostly, the ones who have targeted me have been a/ misogynistic, b/ very blindly "conservative", and c/ good at playing the game. They appear to be nice young people to some, but are vicious underneath. This crop of ne'er-do-wells are not of that ilk. These kids are caricatures who are following a really dangerous playbook. 

And we wonder why test scores (the bane of everyone's existence) crater? Maybe it's because they just don't care. No maybe, really. They see it all as a waste of time. I guess they'll just get by with "Super Intelligence" (as so renamed by the head fed). 

That's a rant for another day. AI is still AI, and the people who are foisting it on the rest of us say so. In the meantime, there's an "honor code" type of agreement that is supposed to govern the development and use thereof. As if that'll work. I swear, this is a hydra that cannot be extinguished. 

And imagine that; I used natural intelligence to make that comparison. 

Go figure. 

I hope your day is a good one. I will come home today, do some house cleaning that has fallen to the side while I've been making applesauce. There is still a mountain of apples to get through-- but seriously, I could use a little break. They'll keep another day. 

Stay safe, friends. 

C