My Corner for Education

If you want to listen to this song, please click on the link below.     

Daniel Powter – Bad Day lyrics

Where is the moment we needed the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to grey
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on

You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee to go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces every time
And I don't need no carryin' on

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Well you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don't need no carryin' on

You had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day

(Oh.. Holiday..)

Sometimes the system goes on the blink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong

So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
You've seen what you like
And how does it feel for one more time
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day

                                                                                          
Bad Day (Daniel Powter) Video Codes by Video Code Zone

I love this song! Honestly, it describes my typical “bad day” very well. Being a teacher, you think you are trying your best to make a difference, but sometimes you do feel like you are hitting a wall and going nowhere. Well, that is exactly how I feel sometimes. Then it came BAD DAY written by Daniel Powter, a Canadian musician, who sings the song for all of us. Once a while, I do like to listen to this song when I have a really lousy day.

My Thursday was just that, a bad day before our Good Friday vacation. In Ontario, we get a long weekend from Good Friday to Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. Schools and government offices get the Monday off. So, we were all very excited about the long weekend in the middle of April, especially when the weather hasn’t been cooperating and continues to snow on and off these days. (Can you imagine snow for Easter? Although it does not accumulate any on the road, but we have been longing for a real SPRING day to come ASAP!)

My school is currently under construction. We finally got the opportunity to put up permanent wings for the classrooms this year. The construction started in October 2006, and probably will not be completed till the end of June this year. We currently have 9 portables, which are like tin trailers, cold in the winter and hot in the summer. They are not better than our old classrooms though. Our old classrooms were pretty much the same except that we had a hallway attached to the school building. Anyway, we are quite happy with the construction, and look forward to finally having brick and concrete roofs above us

Due to the construction, trucks are in and out of our parking lot. Our children and parents have not been the greatest people who follow parking lot etiquette and rules. So, we have to shut down the parking lot during peak pick-up and drop-off times. We made the effort to create a huge Kiss and Ride zone for parents to have a quick traffic flow. Our school does not have school buses because all kids live within a walking distance to the school. It may not be convenient for those parents, who want to park their cars on the street and walk their children to the school playground, but it is way better than having a child killed by the weaving SUVs and Mini vans at the parking lot. We thought we made the right decision to redirect the traffic this way due to many car accidents that have occurred in the school parking lot already. (Some parents even got into a fist fight or a shouting match at the school parking lot. Imagine that!)

On Thursday after school, I was standing at the playground and guarding the gate to the parking lot. I kindly advised one parent that the parking lot has been shut down to parents and students due to construction. I recommended him to walk down the path that was recently paved for children and parents to have a safe walk back on to the street. I was very polite and professional to him. I have established a pretty good reputation at school, so generally parents are quite respectful and cooperative. I don’t easily get intimidated by bully parents either. (My husband always says that I may be short, but I am fast. That’s his Kung Fu talk.)

This parent, however, is someone whom I have never met before. He started raising his voice about my principal. He said he could not understand why this woman (the principal) decided to have the construction in the middle of the school year, and created this hassle for everybody. He went on and on to say that he did not have the time and couldn’t spend the whole day to walk around the school. Basically, I got dumped with all his resentments against my principal and the school rules.

He walked pass me on his way back avoiding eye contact with me. I could only shake my head about these ignorant parents. How ignorant could they be about the school system? A public school principal has no say on issues such as when the funding will arrive for construction, nor the time and duration of construction. Every school board has to reserve funding for each school’s maintenance, and it all depends on priority. Unlike the private sectors, the schools were simply told by the Board about the decision, and then follow the order and construction schedules.

Many parents don’t understand that we are in education business, and we have to abide by the rules within the system. Teachers or the principals are not out there to get those parents on their nerves. We made decision as a collective to solve problems as we have seen and encountered in school. Obviously, some parents still don’t understand that we are putting forth efforts to ensure that our school is a safe place for the students, their children!

People don’t generally like changes. I remember when teachers put up the defense mechanism when changes came upon them. So, I can see parents are doing exactly the same thing. The problem is some parents didn’t even follow regular traffic rules before the changes arrived. Police have been constantly at our parking lot issuing tickets for violations. With the new changes, the matter just got worse, and now we have more resentments than ever. If parents can not respect the school position, they will not be able to teach their children to follow school rules, no wonder that we have so many defiant children with discipline problems!

The first day when we implemented this new traffic route, all students followed the rules. The only delinquents were the parents! It was hilarious and embarrassing when a child told her mother, “We have to follow rules at school, mom.” Education does work! Maybe, it is time for some delinquent parents to start thinking about “family education”. Maybe, the parent I met on Thursday had a bad day too. However, if he does not start thinking about being a rule abiding citizen, his worse days will be ahead of him.