The World of Stuff .com

They’re desperate

Next week is FCAT week. This is our school’s chance to prove, once again, that we’re one of the best in the state. The school’s reputation is riding on the performance of the 9th-, 10th-, and 11th-graders on this test, and there’s apparently a lot at stake. This afternoon, the principal, who is new this year, made a special announcement on the school’s TV system about doing well on the FCAT. He seemed very anxious about it, which is a departure from his usual demeanor. He’s probably nervous because if the school’s scores fall, everyone’s going to blame the new principal — him.

What about us 12th-graders? In the past, while the other students have been taking the FCAT, seniors have been herded into classrooms and left to pass the time (with the supervision, of course, of a teacher reading a book or doing a crossword puzzle). The obvious course of action, then, for non-test-takers would be to skip school in the mornings, arriving on time for classes to really start later in the day. But you know, the school administration doesn’t like that because… well, they’re not skipping class, but they are skipping school even though they’re coming back for their actual classes… but… they’re still skipping, and they just shouldn’t do it, okay? So the obvious course of action for the administration is to make the seniors actually want to go to school. Hence what they’ve come up with for this year.

I can’t even begin to describe how stupid their plan is. Well, maybe I think it’s stupid because everyone else has said it’s stupid. But they’re trying to engage the seniors during the three mornings of testing rather than leaving them to their own devices. Activities will allegedly include watching a movie and making a presentation for incoming freshmen about what to expect at our fair school. They were actually asking people today whether they would want to use a PowerPoint presentation, a movie file, or a podcast. (Psst — hey, guys. A podcast is when you say stuff into a microphone and maybe add some music and put it on the Internet for people to download. Why not just call it an audio recording?) But yeah. crazy. And if we go on Monday and Tuesday, they’ll take us on a field trip to the mall (probably a shopping center) on Wednesday and we can buy our lunch?

That is pretty ridiculous, and it seems that the school’s attempt to encourage attendance during those meaningless mornings is actually doing the opposite. I’ve heard from lots of people who say that they’re not going to go to school during those days. Personally, I’m not keen on missing school for any reason (I hate having the feeling that I’ve missed something, and I’ve achieved almost four years of perfect attendance), but suffice it to say that I’m looking forward to the weekend.

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