Fool me twice, shame on me. I hate to be shamed. I promise there won't be a third time.
There is a commenter on this blog that doesn't agree with some of the things I write, which is fine. I almost never agree with his comments. But, this commenter is slick. He manages to divert the dialog away from the posting topic to a topic of his own. He managed to convert a posting on Suit's award night pontifications to one about Suit's virtues and my shortcomings as a teacher (although in a later comment he did try to deny implying he said anything negative about me. True feelings do tend to come out when one is writing anonymously. I'm guessing that he is putting his personal feelings about me here.) There was even a post about the contradiction of not giving kids too many exams on the same day (a school policy) so as not to overwhelm them verses a thirteen period day to push them out of school (also a school policy) with no worry about overwhelming them. The commenter managed to change that discussion to a discussion about the virtues of credit recovery.
It took me a while to catch on to you, Mr. Commenter, but catch on I did. (I never claimed to be all that sharp.) I'll be watching and waiting before I engage in that sort of debate with you again. You won't be able to trap me again.
23 comments:
Whoah whoah whoah. That wasn't me on credit recovery. Truth be told, I don't even know what credit recovery is. Don't give me more credit (no pun intended?) than I deserve. I told you every comment I made on this blog. Go ahead and get someone to track IP addresses or something if you don't believe me.
And how did I write about your shortcomings as a teacher? Please enlighten me.
I know this is not about me since I think your posts are great and I usually agree with you. As for the commenter from Tweed or suit, consider the source.
After rereading, I assume it is rooted in this post?
"And for the record, I'm not doubting your successful AP classes and work with other students--considering many of my friends had you for AP Calc (including some who have been written about on this blog). I was almost in that class due to the strong-arming of Mr. AP, but ultimately had my parents go over his head and to guidance to get my program with AP Calc (which I never consented to) changed.
I know that you're a good teacher, and I know that many people love you. Yet also take into account a former teacher in your department, (I'd make a pseudonym but can't think of a good one, so I'll trust you can figure it out) who the entire school hated and feared, yet after having him for Math B, despite struggling in the beginning, I began to respect his teaching style and learned that his toughness was in our best interests. The Regents was a complete joke after dealing with his no partial credit tests, memorizing the formulas that are given to you on the regents, daily hours of homework, and boatloads of stress. There's no doubting that past all the negative stigmas, this man was an excellent teacher. The same might be said for Suit, although not in your opinion, which I respect."
Maybe my syntax there wasn't great, however, the math teacher in the second paragraph was being used as an analogy to Suit, not to your teaching capabilities. The first time I said anything about your teaching ability was in that post when I commended you for your successful classes such as AP calculus. In fact, I only mentioned it was in reponse to your assertion that "I am far from the best teacher in the school." I was trying to give you credit for being better than you give yourself credit for.
Accuse me of loving Suit. Don't accuse me of posting about your alleged "poor teaching ability" which I never wrote about. Don't accuse me of commenting on another post that I didn't comment on. The puzzle isn't so complex. I liked Suit as a principal, case closed. After seeing him get constantly dumped on on this blog, I finally felt the need to stand up for him.
But then there have been so many contradictions from reading your comments.
I did say that while I understood a "student's" relationship with a principal may be good, that is NOT enough to make him/her a good principal. A principal's relationship with his staff has to be in that equation too. While it's not hard to understand that Suit had a good relationship with "certain" students and "particular" parents, you cannot defend that as the total picture here because he also forced students into classes they weren't ready for just to move them on.
Had you just originally posted that you had a good relationship with Suit, that would have been fine. But you go on to accuse this blogger of being "unfair". That word prompted me to reply. This blogger has given very specific points of his actions over the years and has offered proof from memos to pictures.
Keep in mind that this blogger had more than your few years at Packemin to observe a lot more than the fact he brought back some extra curricula activities. I have tried to show you the "balance" of an argument to what makes a good principal that you desperately want to ignore--respect for the staff and collaboration being 2 of the major points.
So why offer your congrats and keep up the good work if you consider this blogger "unfair" and accuse her of "dumping"? That's so disrespectful--but then so was Suit.
Schoolgal
And I understand that Suit had his weak points. That was my use of unfair. That all this was about was negative after negative after negative. Even the worst people in the world had some positives.
When both you and PO'ed referenced the trailers, I remarked that Suit wasn't very good in that regard. I acknowledged that he wasn't perfect, because he wasn't.
The extracurricular activities were one point along the way, and they fit in with his entire philosophy of principalship. I discussed this with him at multiple occasions and was surprised with how they could actually be part of an educational philosophy. They are, however, far from the only reason I viewed Suit as a positive principal.
Did he have faults? Of course. We mentioned the trailers. He had a tendency to disrupt classes by forgetting to hang up the loud speaker. He walked around like he ran the place (in all fairness, he did, but still). He obviously was unfair to Pissed Off.
However, he was more than just bad. That's where unfair came in.
As a history major, I can recognize that although Adolph Hitler committed atrocities and was by far the most disgusting person in history, he was also one of the smartest and most powerful men in history. Although communism is generally frowned upon in America, Karl Marx had some valid ideas about the alienation of the working class. Everyone has their good and bad sides. It is unfair to only focus on one side.
As for keep up the good work, I find this blog interesting. It's my most checked site, which means PO'ed is doing something right. It's quite an accomplishment to maintain a blog for three years. I've started a few and never been able to keep them going. Although I disagree with her opinions, she deserves congratulations for being able to continuously voice them for three years. Recognizing that is part of being fair on my part.
And, once again, you are trying to turn this into a debate about Suit and my merits. I'm not joining in and I request that no one else does either.
How am i trying to turn this into suit and your merits? I'm responding to the allegation that Schoolgal made about me using the word unfair, that I wished you congratulations, etc.
So let me get this straight. It's okay for schoolgal to call me out but not okay for me to respond to her points? That makes no sense at all.
and re-reading, forget me responding to allegations, I'm actually asking a question posed directly at me: "So why offer your congrats and keep up the good work if you consider this blogger "unfair" and accuse her of "dumping"?"
You really hate to give up! Since you never answered questions directly before, I don't see why you need to worry about answering them now. And, no one really knows who the Suit Lover is. You lost this round.
I always responded to points made against me. Maybe I didn't answer every single question, but I got to the general ideas.
And no one really knows who Pissed Off is. Your point?
Dear Pissed Off,
I certainly hope this "lover" (and I am beginning to understand that reference) works for someone with Hilter-like qualities. I for one am glad he used those "dictators" as reference points. They fit Suit perfectly.
So when "Lover" was just a "student", "Lover" had "numerous discussions" with Suit on "educational philosphy"????????
Oh this just gets better and better.
Schoolgal
Suit Lover is what Pissed Off called me, I didn't make it up so don't look for any symbolism.
and yes, I did have those conversations. If I revealed why I had those conversations, I would be revealing my identity. However, I've been leaving some clues along the way.
So now we're playing "Clue"?
You chose to call yourself "Suit Lover" when you responded, so if the suit fits...
For someone who stated you had no other relationship with Suit other than "student", the lies keep piling up.
If you really have been following this blog, you know that many people are aware of Pissed Off's identity so you lost that argument too.
Schoolgal
I only had a relationship with Suit as a student. I never said that I had anymore of a relationship. So there's no lie.
And I know who Pissed Off is too, but it was the general idea as opposed to actually knowing. She chooses to remain anonymous for certain reasons, just as I choose to.
Suit Lover-give up already
Giving up would be conceding that you're all right about my identity. Since it's not, I'll never give up.
You are too funny. I hope your spouse, if you have one, appreciates that quality about you.
Whoa! I always thought the luxury of having one's own blog was that you didn't have to deal nonsensical arguments distracting from the real issues. Mr. Suitlover and his ilk are trying to play in your court -- why don't you take his ball away? That is, ignore him and delete his posts. He doesn't deserve a voice on YOUR blog.
A day without reading you is a day without, well, without the Times Crossword? I enjoy you so much and it's idiots like Suitlover that you and others are blogging about as self-therapy and as therapy for those of us who relate so well to all you write about.
Hmmmm...suit obviously reads your posts....this guy/gal we now call 'suit lover' shows up and defends him and claims improbably that he knew him as a student and discussed educational philosophy with him and thinks suit, minus a few minor flaws, was terrific....hmmmm
LI Educator
Let Mr. Suit Lover have his fun. It doens't hurt me or anyone.
It is fun watching him tie himself up in lies.
find me one lie. i don't understand where all this is coming from. I'm on the verge of actually revealing myself just to make all of you feel dumb for spending all this time arguing with an 18 year old.
And when burntoutteacher wrote that he/she enjoys reading you, why wasn't he/she accused of enjoying to torture small animals? At least be consistent.
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