Link up with Stasha at The good life for Monday Listicles. It's a different topic every week - follow along and join in. Stasha's a great host and always has interesting things for us to make our lists about.
This week's list is supposed to be 10 Clues You Are Living In 2012. Brilliant. And because my only son is about to start his senior year of high school, my mind is filled with all things school in this day and age.
Therefore, here are 10 Clues My Son Is In High School In 2012:
1. We must pay $75 for a "parking pass" allowing him to park in the lots on campus. No pass = ticket. After, two tickets, they boot the car. Not kidding.
2. Letterman's Jackets cost $600-700. Again, not kidding. Also not buying. Thankfully he doesn't want one. My friends, I have raised a practical child. His reasoning - I'll only wear it a few times this year and I'll never wear it again.
3. Final drafts of all assignments must be printed off the computer. Not penned in ink, in cursive as was the rule when I was in high school.
4. Freshmen are all now issued laptops at the beginning of the year. As in the school district supplies each freshman with a laptop computer to use for the school year. My son missed this by a year.
5. Lunches purchased at school must be paid for by an account that parents fund online. Ahead of time. Remember when we just carried a couple of dollars to pay for lunch? Heck, we all stood in line to get quarters from the Lunchroom Change Lady to get the good stuff from the vending machines. Soft, warm ham and cheese that had been sitting in the machine for a few hours... Mmmmmm... (you'll just have to trust me on this one.)
6. New in our district this year - they've gone GREEN. No paper newsletters. No paper notices crumpled in the bottom of backpacks. Now a notice comes by email to log in and read it all online.
7. Each sports season comes at the cost of $100 per athlete. And the athletic director admits freely that the $100 per athlete, per season, goes into the general fund, NOT into the athletic programs. Welcome to the new world of funding public education. They have to make up the money cut from the state and federal budgets somehow...
8. Elective classes that extend well beyond wood shop, auto shop, home ec and yearbook staff. Now they have things like website design, auto recording and production, video production, business law, marketing, engineering introduction, sports medicine, horticulture, etc. The list truly goes on and on. I wish I'd had some of those choices! My second semester of senior year might have been a little more productive...
9. Report cards are online. Every day of the week. I guess that makes them progress reports. But at any given point in time you can see what their grades are and if any assignments are missing. That's a whole different kind of accountability.
10. Online, online, online! Everything is online. The calendar, the lunch menu, the email and phone number to every teacher and staff member, the bell schedule, the course catalog... The teachers have web pages. The daily bulletin is online! Only a fraction of this was happening even 10 years ago. And today, in 2012, we don't think twice about it.
Just a reminder, if you all are a lot younger than me and had some of these things when you were in high school, just be kind when you make fun of my slightly older era...
***Ally
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13 comments:
I didn't have a lot of these things even when I was in HS. For the most part, I think it's great having so many resources online for parents, students, and teachers.
I understand needing a parking pass, but how about $10 to cover administrative expenses only? Sheesh!
Our letter jackets were about $300 and I thought THAT was bad! Fortunately my son didn't want one so I only had hers to deal with.
And I'm so old school with the paper. I still like the actual notices and report cards to come home!
Girl don't even get me started. What I remember is at the first of the year my mom would have to fill out maybe 2 papers, One was the information from the year before that she would change if it needed it. Now we have 30 forms and signatures and 3 pages that we list with the same information that they never bother to look at anyway.
Well, I'm way older than you and, of course, had none of the online conveniences way back then. I do, however, completely support all of it. And why? Oh gosh, many many reasons. Mostly, however, the saving of trees. Convenience is part of it, too. We have to face it...kids today just don't understand the "paper" aspects of a paper trail. I think the universe is going to have to come up with a new term, right? Maybe 'ComputeTrail or VirtualTrack or PCTattle or 'PuterProof. I kinda like that last one. hehe
Our HS is like that too! I like the online grade monitoring though ;)
They issue the freshmen laptops?! Wow! I don't think that is happening in our school system. My oldest will be a freshman next year. I do love being able to check his grades and assignments online. He, however, hates it because he can't get away with anything!
Wow! I am not ready for my child to be in high school. I won't be able to keep up!
Holy shit! $600 for a letterman jacket????? Mercy!
Crap! These are crazy! My kids are little; I had no clue about all these changes.
Hooray for your child being practical enough not to want to waste money on a letterman jacket! You've done good, momma. The $95 yearbooks kill me.
And I love, love, love the online grades. Does make the whole report card thing anticlimactic,though. Ellen
Wow. You truly cannot make it without being online in this day and age ha? $700???!! Is it Prada or something?
At $600-$700...thankful both my boys are not the athletic types. Haha! Guess the grad hoodie and sweatpants were a bargain afterall.
6-7 HUNDRED dollars!? What the heck! I wonder how things will be when Nate is in school...I'm okay with him getting a school issued laptop!
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