..Speaking no evil...
Ok, so the problem that caused me to wake up at 3:30 and start worrying was this...
The yearbooks from last year came in and were handed out last week. I love yearbooks and have always bought one for the kiddos for posterity's sake. As I meandered through the book, I was at first annoyed when I found the misspelled words and quotation marks randomly used in any fashion and pretty much incorrectly, I might add. I get to my son's class pages and low and behold! He is not my son but another child, at least in name. I see several kid's photos and names not lining up alphabetically. In all, there were 10 errors on just his 60+ student class page.
Many more elementary pages followed this same pattern.
I moved on and examined middle school pages to find my daughter not listed nor appearing in her band photo which was one of the worst pics they must have taken of any club and tiny in comparison to the athletics team shots (grrr). Luckily, she did appear to have my last name in her class pages. But the middle school pages were pretty unappealing and had many alphabetical line-up mistakes as well.
When examining the high school class pages and clubs, there was a lot of nice pages, not many mistakes and lots of color. Pretty good layout and obvious attention to details, except for those darned quotation marks.
I was fairly irritated by this time. I asked others if they had noticed what I had noticed. They were appalled, maybe not as much as I was. I also found the elementary secretaries had spent a few days proofing the elementary pages when they had been sent over to be checked (as a favor, I might add). The changes were not used.
SSooooo, I sent a letter via school email to the yearbook advisor and the high school principal mentioning that I was disappointed in the many mistakes. I re-wrote it several times so it wasn't too catty(I guess it still was). Was there a way to prevent this in the future? Could she make sure there was proofing done before it was sent for publishing? Of course she sent me an email back and said she was sorry I was so disappointed, it was a student-run publication and I should expect errors, she'd be sure the students knew I was disappointed since she was copying the letter for them to read. She passed the buck to the students instead of taking responsibility for the end result. She is paid to handle the class and publish the yearbook and chose to take the job, and in my opinion, responsible for proofing the pages before they are submitted. The elementary and middle schools make up a large percentage of the total yearbook sales, too, so it's not like they don't deserve a job well done on their pages.
Ok, many times I just don't say much but I picked this to voice my opinion on and I think it backfired. So if I blog about my tires ice-picked or my house spray painted , you'll know why.
By the way, the yearbook cost $29.
I feel really foolish now. I may need to keep my mouth shut next time.
The yearbooks from last year came in and were handed out last week. I love yearbooks and have always bought one for the kiddos for posterity's sake. As I meandered through the book, I was at first annoyed when I found the misspelled words and quotation marks randomly used in any fashion and pretty much incorrectly, I might add. I get to my son's class pages and low and behold! He is not my son but another child, at least in name. I see several kid's photos and names not lining up alphabetically. In all, there were 10 errors on just his 60+ student class page.
Many more elementary pages followed this same pattern.
I moved on and examined middle school pages to find my daughter not listed nor appearing in her band photo which was one of the worst pics they must have taken of any club and tiny in comparison to the athletics team shots (grrr). Luckily, she did appear to have my last name in her class pages. But the middle school pages were pretty unappealing and had many alphabetical line-up mistakes as well.
When examining the high school class pages and clubs, there was a lot of nice pages, not many mistakes and lots of color. Pretty good layout and obvious attention to details, except for those darned quotation marks.
I was fairly irritated by this time. I asked others if they had noticed what I had noticed. They were appalled, maybe not as much as I was. I also found the elementary secretaries had spent a few days proofing the elementary pages when they had been sent over to be checked (as a favor, I might add). The changes were not used.
SSooooo, I sent a letter via school email to the yearbook advisor and the high school principal mentioning that I was disappointed in the many mistakes. I re-wrote it several times so it wasn't too catty(I guess it still was). Was there a way to prevent this in the future? Could she make sure there was proofing done before it was sent for publishing? Of course she sent me an email back and said she was sorry I was so disappointed, it was a student-run publication and I should expect errors, she'd be sure the students knew I was disappointed since she was copying the letter for them to read. She passed the buck to the students instead of taking responsibility for the end result. She is paid to handle the class and publish the yearbook and chose to take the job, and in my opinion, responsible for proofing the pages before they are submitted. The elementary and middle schools make up a large percentage of the total yearbook sales, too, so it's not like they don't deserve a job well done on their pages.
Ok, many times I just don't say much but I picked this to voice my opinion on and I think it backfired. So if I blog about my tires ice-picked or my house spray painted , you'll know why.
By the way, the yearbook cost $29.
I feel really foolish now. I may need to keep my mouth shut next time.
posted by Unknown at 5:20 AM
8 Comments:
I know this frustration you are describing. I have a son in 6th grade and a daughter in 9th. They frequently bring home letters, calendars, newsletters and various papers written by their teachers that are full of grammatical and spelling errors. I've heard an english teacher say, "I seen it...". I've heard many of them say, "Me and Mrs.S..." and constantly using "me" when they should've used "I" and "I" when they should've used "me". They don't seem to know the difference between "their" and "there", or "to", "too" and "two". I think in many of these cases, it was a simple matter of not proofreading their work before printing it out, but that's not any acceptable excuse for a teacher. It makes the whole school system look bad. It makes me wonder, if this is the best these teachers can do, what quality of education are my children really receiving?
I applaude you for doing the right thing! The students may make mistakes, but there should be a responsible adult to proof read and then to have the courage to accept responsibilty for errors. It is far better to get in trouble for saying what needs to be said than to hide in silence.
It is unusual around here to a school with K-12. Is it a public or private school?
Windblownbutterfly, we have a few of those here in the elementary and I cringe when I see their writing or hear their speech.
I'm not sure what the right course of action should be to weed out these teachers. Maybe higher standards for teaching certificates. I wonder why on earth anyone on the school board would think these certain teachers were a good fit for the district.
Mom, it's a public school and smallish at that...about 850 students give or take.
I do agree something needed to be voiced and apparently many others did according to the HS principal. The elementary copy is to have the mistakes marked and then examined to see how wide spread the problem is.
I just feel maybe I was a bit harsh when I contacted the advisor. I keep getting feedback that I was in the right. We will see.
I also think that you did the right thing. I come from a different angle though in my reasoning... I think that if you allow students to publish something that had so many errors, you let them get away with not doing their best. That is what I have issues with. Proof reading is simple. You didnt correct their ideas... or expect more interesting stories, you were asking that they be held to a normal publishing standard. How difficult is it to check spelling of names in a directory? It may be a lot of work, but in life most projects are and the ones that you are the most proud of are those that forced you to put your best foot forth. I think it is even ok that the students will see that someone was offended by the mistakes. You did, after all pay for the book. It was not free. (I think that I would pound that woman if she sent it around your letter in any other manner than anonymous... I would take that issue to her boss if she did...if only for your childs sake and her reputation with her friends).
I think this actually raised my blood pressure! lol
WOW, Kate, you have guts.
I usually talk myself out of complaining but last week I was "emotional" and my filter didn't kick in.
I appreciate the feedback.
You totally did the right thing. $29 is a mess of money to pay for something that doesn't meet a basic standard of literacy. If nothing else the bloody teacher should be impressing up on the yearbook staff the importance of this document...it is a keepsake for years to come and a reflection of the best the school has to offer. You don't manage that without basic proofing. Geez Louise. I'd be upset, too. I'd be even more upset that my concern was shined off by the faculty.
If I were principal of this school I'd be very embarassed about the errors in the book. As an educator, what does this say about the quality of education in my school. What are my students learning if this is the best they can produce? I agree with the rest of what Kate said about proofreading and publishing, also.
Another thing, those students on the yearbook staff could not even put the yearbook in their portfolio as a sample of their publishing skills and expect to get a serious job offer.
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