Good Monday Morning!

Good Monday Patriot Woodworkers! What did you get done over the weekend, and what have you planned for the week ahead! Inquiring minds want to know. Please tell us what's happening in your shops, your life, and any events going on with you. Thank you for being here folks!

 

Community news

• Clubs! Soon you will have the ability to create your own club here on The Patriot Woodworker. You'll be able to create your club, start a forum within the club, assign moderators to your own club and forums, create your own galleries, create your own blogs for your club members to use, and much more. So stay tuned, there are some fantastic things happening in the back ground around TPW!

 

Featured gallery

We have a wonderful gallery that was kicked into high gear by @Robert McMillan!

 

Welcome our new members

The following members need a hearty welcome from ya'll! Please drop by their profiles by clicking on their names, and send them a message of welcome.

@Charles Waggoner, @Robert McMillan, and @YouDontKnowKev, and you can view more new members at the Member Page.

 

Featured image of the week

Boys at woodwork class, London, c 1895    

Photograph showing boys at a woodwork class with their teachers, in London. Photograph by Walter C. Tyler, ca. 1895. Some of the boys have disabilities. A boy on the left is a dwarf, and a boy to front left has an artificial (wooden) leg.

Source: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/L0035990.html

 

 

Finished turning a small burl dish. Waiting for the Danish Oil to dry so I can apply a top coat.

 

I loved teaching when all of the kids were mixed together- no IEPs, no personal assistants, no stigmas- just a bunch of kids working, learning and helping each other.

21 minutes ago, lew said:

I loved teaching when all of the kids were mixed together- no IEPs, no personal assistants, no stigmas- just a bunch of kids working, learning and helping each other.

Hey Lew, I know you are an educator, perhaps you can shed some light on this.

In reference to our own school district and throughout California, why do we have a principal for every grade level in high school, and an assistant and staff for each of those principals, why do we have one or more teachers assistants in many classes? 

Man I gotta tell ya, my kids brought home their year books before this summer began, and the staff pages were almost as many as the student pages!

Went to the coast this weekend to see my dad. Also, my sister turned 55 on Thursday and her 34th anniversary was Sunday, so spent a little time with them also.

45 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Man I gotta tell ya, my kids brought home their year books before this summer began, and the staff pages were almost as many as the student pages!

Bureaucracy run amok!

John

18 minutes ago, John Morris said:

the staff pages were almost as many as the student pages!

I can't remember a definite "turning point". Little by little, the state/federal governments felt the need to have control over the classroom/curriculum. More control meant more mandates, more reporting and more paperwork. Of course that meant more employees many of which are paid with government grants. Things got worse as programs like "No Child Left Behind" and "Common Core Curriculum"- more oversight, more reports to fill out- hire some more support personnel. I think you would be shocked to see just how few of those folks on the staff pages actually had daily student learning responsibilities.

 

School budgets (paychecks) have been coupled to student outcomes. Students do well- schools get more funds (don't get me started on the accountability of spending those funds). In order to get improved outcomes, teachers no longer teach their lessons, they teach the tests. "Labeled" students get even more assistance so they can pass the tests. This is whole other group of employees.

 

Then of course, there's the discipline aspect. Remember when you got in trouble in school? If the offense was severe enough,  you were sent to the Principal's office (the only one for the entire school, probably). Usually that meant you were gonna get a good a$$ beating- and another when you got home. Today, you get sent to the "Disciplinarian" (additional employee who also has their own secretary) who listens to the students woes and consoles the poor kid. Then the disciplinarian refers the student to the school psychologist (additional employee who also has their own secretary) who tells the poor kid it wasn't his fault and will discuss the matter with the teacher. The psychologist's secretary calls the parents and sets up parent-teacher meeting. The meeting has to occur during school hours. The meeting consists of the Principal, the disciplinarian, a recording secretary, the student, the parent(s) and the teacher (who was pulled out of the classroom and an unqualified subject-matter substitute called in). The gist of the meeting has the parents place the fault on the teacher because their child is a perfect angel. The teacher will need additional "sensitivity/understanding" training- done by an additional hire/contractor.

 

I'd better put away the soapbox

Lew, is that steam coming out of your ears? Frustrating, isn't it!?

John

17 minutes ago, HARO50 said:

Lew, is that steam coming out of your ears? Frustrating, isn't it!?

John

leaking out around the hearing aids!

 

It is really frustrating to see all of the negative press about the public education system and its' teachers. The problems, in the system, are from the top down.

Mondays?   Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

2 hours ago, lew said:

Then of course, there's the discipline aspec

This was the disciplinarian when I went to school although I seem to recall a series of holes drilled in it to reduce wind shear...One meeting with it usually resolved any follow-up meetings. It did require removing a teacher from the classroom, but only for a minute or two. The administration in the hallway kept the classroom quiet and focused. I could be wrong, but it seemed the lights would dim for a few seconds too. The principle took care of making the phone call to the parent(s). The parent/student meeting took place at home..it .would have been better if it had occurred at the school...at least there would have been witnesses. 

 

Lew, you hit the nail(s) squarely on the head(s). 

Is it any wonder home schooling, private academies and charter schools are proliferating? 

Weekend was a bust...cleaned the sink drain/trap in the bathroom, cleaned shower heads and replaced filters, then ran errands all Saturday PM. I did watch "Hacksaw Ridge" during out free HBO weekend. GREAT movie!! Sunday after church & errands, tuned in to the Brickyard 400 Marathon and caution light fest. The cat encouraged me to take a "catnap" during the 2 hour rain delay; cleaned & filled bird feeders.

 

Hoped to start mowing again today, but lack of sun is preventing the yard from drying. Oldest grand-daughter & I are the only ones home today so we've been doing household chores; laundry, sweeping, dishes etc.  Bought a new seat Saturday for the FM mower so going to install it. Also finish up the tiller engine re-power. Hopefully we'll have a few cooler days w/o rain to work in the garden and maybe get some shop time. I would like to finish the small keepsake box oldest grand-daughter & I started a couple of weeks ago.

The Bosch is FIRMLY ensconced in/on its forever spot. Got the stop rail on and level and the chop saw hood in place. 

Ain't purty but it's solid and it all works together. 

Look out, Mesquite. I'm a comin' fer ya.

28 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

I seem to recall a series of holes drilled in it to reduce wind shear..

 

These were mine. Looking closely you can see the signatures. Both sides filled. Even today, when I see past students they ask if  still have the paddles and they tell me that they are glad I handled all our discipline in the classroom.

 

Tried out the Langdon with this bum thumb......works even better than when the thumb wasn'y broke....can't get a "death-grip"  on the saw handle...much easier to just let the saw do it's own thing....couple fingers doing the holding...

 

( Yes, I snuck back into the shop for a bit.....)

1 hour ago, lew said:

 

These were mine. Looking closely you can see the signatures. Both sides filled. Even today, when I see past students they ask if  still have the paddles and they tell me that they are glad I handled all our discipline in the classroom.

 

 

I saw on Friday that there is a school district in Texas who will be starting to reinstate corporal punishment. I like that school district!

Love the pic but obviously staged . Looks like they move all that outdoors to have light for the picture.

Just got back from Asheville,NC with the wood and checked on how many boxes I will have to make for church project. So far will be making 43 boxes and 9 picture frame plaques from old church pew parts so I will have to get busy this week with what I have and 2 weeks from today the rest of the pews will come out so will be harvesting material that day.

 

You are going to be busy, @Gerald

when i was a kid, if you got in trouble at school; you got it worse at home.

 

on the other hand, i recall seeing  pictures of a kid in Florida years ago who had bruising up and down the backs of the legs from the beating he got.   if one of my kids ever got whipped like that the person responsible would have to be replaced.

19 hours ago, lew said:

I'd better put away the soapbox

Thanks for the reply Lew, everything you said, is exactly what I thought, and right there with my personal observance while sending three kids through the public school system.