Video from the front lines

Now for some comic relief as we prepare to start the school year.

The Gradebook brings you two clips from a new show, The Principal’s Office, premiering Aug. 21 on the truTV network, formerly Court TV. The program takes viewers inside the worlds of 11 high school principals, each with a different style of disciplining students.

Click here for a highlight reel of the excuses students offer when caught skipping class, fighting or otherwise acting up. Click here for some clips of principals interacting with students. One of our favorites: the boy who says, “Freedom of speech basically says where you can speak any … you know, where you can speak. For free.” We also chuckled at (and were saddened by) the girl who says, “I can’t sit in school for 6,7 hours. I can’t do it.” She later reveals she’s usually out all night.

Two discussion questions for local educators: Given what you see in your world, do these videos ring true? And what percentage of your students are like the kids portrayed?

Comments

[me too]

Sure, we all see this type of behavior every day. When parents are called, they usually either deny it was their child (even if I witnessed the incident), ask who actually started it (then demand that child be punished instead of their own), or just call it kids being kids (even though if it was their kid who was hurt they would be raising holy ****.) That's if we actually even have a working phone number to call or if the school's number hasn't been blocked by the parent. It's refreshing to talk with a parent who immediately supports a teacher/administrator's version of events (of course those are the kids who are rarely in trouble anyway.) We've actually had to get restraining orders against parents because of their belligerent behavior toward teachers and staff.

I love my job. But how am I supposed to get students to respect me and their education when their parents don't? That's the biggest problem in schools today -- parent apathy. I can open a child's world to new information and ideas, but I can't force him/her to pay attention or care. That has to be fostered in the home from an early age.

[publicschoolteacher]

I would watch that show... if I didn't already LIVE it!

Welcome to high school!

Welcome to high school!

[too sad to laugh]

If these clips weren't so realistic, I'd probably find them funny. When you hear students say these kinds of things on a regular basis it stops being funny and starts to sound very sad. I'd say that about a third of the students I teach resemble the students portrayed in these clips. It might not come as a surprise to learn that my school has been branded a "D" school.