563 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
563 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
The Anarchives Volume 2 Issue 2 Part Two Free
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The Anarchives To get free paper version send
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The Anarchives Snail-mail addresses to
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The Anarchives yakimov@ecf.utoronto.ca
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Anarchy & Education
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The Canadian Student Strike
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This transmission contains: edUcaTIonal chAoS
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Forward, spam, post, print, or send this everywhere...
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###########################################################################
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## d$" "**$eeee$**""^$$. ##l
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## ##9
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###########################################################################
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edUcaTIonal chAoS
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by Dave Troyer
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rmharrop@utoronto.ca
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I am a grade eleven Toronto Board of education High School
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student who has not been to a regular class since about the end
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of November. Sounds good at first doesn't it? Not going to class
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in almost three months not seeing a pencil, book, or a teacher's
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dirty look. Well if you think it's fun, or 'a good thing', it's
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certainly not. I feel as if the same education system that is
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intended to prepare me for my life in this world has done
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nothing more than take my life away. It is really only a
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temporary setback, but I really do feel like I have lost three
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months of one of the best years of my life. And it is all
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accountable to certain administrators at my school who have
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failed miserably to do their intended jobs. It is not by choice
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that I am where I am now, typing on my computer keyboard at home
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rather than listening to a Biology teacher who I actually find
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quite interesting. It is because of a school system that has,
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over the years become very dated. The Toronto Board of
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Education's rules need to be re-written-written, and the whole
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system needs to be examined and evaluated right down to the rats
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running around in the halls, and I'm not talking about students,
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or any kind of rodents.
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My difficulties started very close to the beginning of the year
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when I was travelling about the halls of Northern Secondary
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trying to locate a man who I have now only met once, Mr. Way. He
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is the person in charge of admitting students into Northern
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Secondary's "Enriched" program. The reason why I was searching
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for him was to get a switch to an enriched English class, from
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the regular one that had been scheduled into my timetable. It
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had been recommended by both my grade nine, and ten English
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teachers that I be in an enriched class. The first and only time
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I met Mr. Way was enough for him to realise that I was the
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intelligent, strong English student I had presented myself as.
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To put it simply Mr. Way approved the change, and I was off to
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see my guidance counsellor to make the change in the computer.
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At that point one little problem arose; there were going to be
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too many changes that had to be made to accommodate my switch
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into an enriched class. Because neither I or my guidance
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counsellor felt that it was worth disrupting almost all of the
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other seven classes I was in to make the regular English fit we
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left it the way it was and I went to see my scheduled English
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class.
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My teacher and I had only seen each other a couple of times
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before because in the process of attempting to change my
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timetable, I had missed what to the best of my recollection was
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three classes. Before my first class in my old class I went to
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the teacher to say to her that I was sorry about any
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inconvenience this oddity was to her. I also at that point asked
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if throughout the year we could arrange some extra credit work
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if it seemed appropriate to compensate for my not being moved
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into an enriched class. She seemed to think that was a good idea
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and I went to my seat to get out my books for class. After class
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I went to her again and asked if I could have any assignments I
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might have missed while I was away. She smiled and told me about
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one I had missed which I could do and hand in next class. I
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thanked her and left the class.
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The next class I brought the assignment in and gave it to her.
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Much to my surprise rather than a courteous thanks, or
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appreciation, I was asked why I had not handed the assignment in
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with the others. I was also told that I was not wanted in that
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class if I was unwilling to participate and hand in assignments
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on time because I was going to be an extra bother to her. At
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that point I went to my seat and shut myself in thought until
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the bell rang allowing me to leave for the day. While I was
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thinking about the subject of how I felt about this teacher I
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noticed some of her behaviour towards other students. What I saw
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was a teacher that really had too much on her hands as do many
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teachers, students, and other inhabitants of any school. I saw
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her move a certain group of students away from each other
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because they were making noise, while leaving two other students
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(who I found quite disruptive) to talk their heads off in the
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front row of the class. Today I still believe that there was no
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favouritism (or whatever it has been called by the different
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people involved) on her part. I believe that she was simply too
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stressed because of the overly large size of that class, and she
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simply couldn't keep track of all of her students at once.
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However the simple fact of the matter is that I felt quite bad
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about the way she had spoken to me.
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With a burning feeling in my stomach, I went to see my
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Vice-Principal. I wasn't really sure what to tell him. I thought
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that my teacher might be brought into the picture more than as a
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character in a story that was being told. Because of the
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situation I asked that my confidence be kept; and my
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Vice-Principal said that he would do that for me. I didn't want
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my teacher to get reprimanded because of what had happened
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between her and I, or the way I felt because of what had
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transpired. At that point I wasn't really sure how serious any
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of this was, and that is part of the reason that I went to
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discuss the subject with my Vice-Principal. No matter how
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serious my Vice-Principal thought the teachers general actions
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toward the class were the simple fact of the matter was that I
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needed my timetable changed, and I needed another English
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'environment'. When I went to my Vice-Principal I knew that
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there was more than one other class in the same time slot that
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had empty seats that I could use. I saw this as a simple and
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logical change, as did other people who I talked the situation
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over with. It seemed however that my Vice-Principal thought that
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it wasn't a simple change and that I should go meet with my
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current English teacher and see if we couldn't work things out.
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This meant to me that I had to go and see my English teacher who
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was in no less of an awkward position and tell her to her face
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that I didn't like the way she conducted herself in the
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classroom. In simple terms I was supposed to go and insult her
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to her face, and hope that she still felt like working things
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out.
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As it happened I went to my English teacher and talked the
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situation over with her as best as I could without doing what I
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had essentially been asked, which was to tell her that I thought
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she was a bad teacher. I didn't and still don't feel that she is
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a bad teacher, she was simply too stressed. I would have done
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what my Vice-Principal had asked if I hadn't felt so trapped
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between doing what I was told and doing what was right. I felt
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was right was to let the situation rest for the meantime, change
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classes and go and talk to my English teacher to let her know
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that I was a sympathiser of the inadequate working conditions,
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rather than an enemy as I was forced to present myself as. The
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results of our conversation were nothing more than an increase
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of worry on my teacher's part, that she had done something
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dreadfully wrong. My teacher and I agreed that it was best that
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I not go to her class.
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With the situation unchanged I went back to my Vice-Principal to
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request that he make the change in my English class. He would do
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nothing for me, even though my teacher, guidance counsellor, and
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almost anyone else who had heard the story thought that the
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class should be changed for me. He said I would have to try to
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deal with that class, only giving me the excuse that he had
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"nothing to tell either the new teacher or the old teacher about
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why I was changing classes" and that "he needed something to
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tell them" or he couldn't make the change. He then asked me what
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I thought he should tell them? I felt that if he wanted
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something to tell them he certainly had it with what had already
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transpired. At the same time I felt like he was asking me to
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make something up as he had already forced me to do when I met
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with my English teacher earlier. So without anything resolved I
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left the Vice-Principal's office feeling incredibly trapped. I
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couldn't go to my old English class, and I had been given no
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other choice.
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A couple of days later when I went to see my Vice-Principal I
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was told that he was away sick and that another Vice-Principal
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had been asked to have a meeting with me. When I went down the
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hall to the other office and spoke with the other Vice-Principal
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neither of us really knew why I was there so we decided that the
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best thing was to wait until my regular V.P. had returned. The
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week ran out and my regular Vice-Principal had not returned
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leaving the situation up in the air.
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Over the weekend I developed the flu which kept me in bed at
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home for over a week. During that time my mother received a call
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>from my guidance counsellor, his reason for the phone call was
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to tell my mom that the school wanted a meeting with my her to
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sort out my situation. This phone call immediately told my
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mother that my Vice-Principal had broken my confidence. That
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evening my mother came home and told me about the call, and
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without a moments hesitation I knew also that my Vice-Principal
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had not kept his word to me that he would keep my confidence.
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I could have gone to no one else in this situation, except the
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next higher level up from me. It is almost like the relationship
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between a boss and an employee, my Vice-Principal is the next
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person up the power ladder from me. So without going to a higher
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level I was trapped. As it turned out the higher level came to
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us. My mother had a meeting with the Principal of Northern,
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along with my English teacher and the Vice-Principal. During
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this meeting it was heard by everyone there that my confidence
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had been broken. It was also heard that what my Vice-Principal
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had said caused my teacher to loose sleep, not what I had said
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frightening her unnecessarily. My Vice-Principal also said that
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I could now have my English class changed. When I heard
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the news that night of what had occurred at the meeting you
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might think that I would have been relieved to have my class
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changed and have myself back in school. What must be understood
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however is that at this point I had been out of school for a
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fairly long time and there was only one week left until exams.
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With exams that close I was left with no way of learning the
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material I had missed, and feeling that it was going to be very
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difficult to return to classes and sort things out with all of
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my teachers without having the choice of telling them this story
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I am telling to you right now. Some of the teachers may have
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rightfully said tough cookies to me and not given me the
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necessary work to catch up for my exams. Stuck in a state of
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emotional distress, and confusion as to what to do about this
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whole situation it was left until after the Christmas break. I
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was told that after the break I would be allowed to go back to
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classes and that everything would be sorted out.
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When I returned after the break I walked into my
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Vice-Principal's office to find him looking quite surprised to
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see me, and quite confused as to what to do, even though the
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Principal had asked me to go and see him. As it happened, he
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took me down the hall to the Principal's office where I was
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'read the riot act' so to speak. I was told that I was to be
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allowed to go to my regular classes for two weeks and "if at the
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end of these two weeks I had not missed any of my classes they
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would put me back on the roll". My Vice-Principal was told to
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give me a note to show my teachers that stated just that.
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Here's how the note read:
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"At present David is officially 'off roll'. His mother has
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arranged for a trial period of two weeks going to his old
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classes. If this is successful he will be formally reinstated.
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For this period there will be no attendance and the report will
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probably show N.M.A. Please let me know if he fails to attend or
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profit from your class. Welcome back"
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First of all this note is faulty. My mother didn't make that
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arrangement, and she did not know that these were going to be
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the contents of this note. They have also turned this into an
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issue of attendance and profit even though the root reason I was
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not attending was the breach of confidence made by my
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Vice-Principal. This note has turned out to be the final blow
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>from my school. I have not seen the inside of a classroom in
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three months, all because my school did everything to push me
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out without making the slightest attempt to get me back into
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classes. I question even the validity of this note because I
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don't understand what rule allows them to set these guidelines
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for me. Or did they just make them up?
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I am now leaving my friends and possible new friends and fellow
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Northerners for destination still unknown to me, I hope it's
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something better; or maybe all of are schools are failing this
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badly?
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This situation is one of many reasons I am striking this year, I
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hope you will make it one of yours. We need major changes at all
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levels of our education system whether it's the issue of sexual
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harassment, breaches of confidence like this one, or better
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curriculum.
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____________________________________________________________
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Get with the program. Contact TAO today.
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____________________________________________________________
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--
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/-/\-\ The Anarchy Organization |
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/ / \ \ Free Minds For Free Lives ( | )
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--|-/----\-\-- yakimov@ecf.utoronto.ca \|/
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\/ \/ jterpstra@trentu.ca `_^_'
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