Hooray for the first day of Spring!!

Like many areas in the US this winter we were inundated by snow and bitter cold, and SNOW DAYS.

At this point schools are scrambling to figure out how to make up for lost time.  This is particularly a problem for teachers of Advanced Placement classes, since the AP exams are not flexible.  Extra days in June will not help with classroom contact time prior to the exams in May.

Ace is currently in 5 AP classes.  Some of her teachers are holding Saturday classes, some are offering before or after school help session.  They're just desperately trying to get all of the material covered before the exam.

All but one.

[warning this is where the rant begins.]

One of her AP teachers chose to use a class period recently to make cards for a local nursing home.

I'm not anti-nursing home.

I'm not anti-kindness.

I'm not anti-community service.

I am anti-"use classroom time for arts and crafts projects with 17 and 18 year old AP Students."

I've wondered for a while if this particular teacher is actually teaching at an AP level?  I'm more convinced now that he really isn't.   He offered students a 10% grade bump if they donated ten dollars each to the "penny war" fundraiser in order to win his class a pizza party.  I think they call that paying for grades in other schools.

I wonder if this particular teacher really should be in an elementary classroom where kids appreciate a chance to do arts and crafts and ARE NOT PREPARING TO TAKE AN AP EXAM in a few weeks. And for whom paying for grades may not actually make a difference.

I don't understand how four of Ace's teachers are so desperate to cover all of the required material that they are holding extra classes and this one is frittering away available classroom contact time on third grade crafts? 

Should I mention that the teacher is also a coach of a high profile sports team at the school?  You know the type, the stereotypical "coach who happens to teach.'"  As opposed to the MANY terrific teachers our kids have had in the past who sometimes coach sports teams as well.

The good news is that teachers such as this one help to keep a thriving tutoring "industry" alive among stay at home moms who are looking to make a few extra dollars and use their college education well.

[end of rant.]