Sub fired after telling students they had atrocious grammar [Iowa]

A substitute teacher working at an Iowa high school was taken off the sub list a few weeks after telling students that they had horrendous grammar during class.

S. Keyron McDermott opened up her piece in a local newspaper saying the high school terminated her last fall for telling students that their grammar skills were subpar – by around 10 years.

“Last Halloween, I dressed up like a teacher – not exactly an alter ego; I have a certificate – went to the local high school, and substituted in Family & Consumer Science,” McDermott wrote in an op-ed for the Des Moines Register. “There was a small ruction in third period; the principal and I discussed it amicably, and I barely gave it second thought.”

Believing she had done absolutely nothing wrong or beyond her limits as a high school teacher, McDermott was shocked any disciplinary action over the “incident” was taken – let alone a termination.

I went to Tennessee’s school for orphans and troubled kids in 1976 and found the template for proper education. Basic English and Math, American History True Version (with Civics), Science with Labs, Art with materials, Phys Ed that all participated in.

Where it excelled was giving the disadvantaged an edge if they chose with a wide variety of Vocational Courses: Auto Mechanics, Barber Shop, Beautician, Butchery, Home Economics, Metal Shop, Printing, Wood Shop and perhaps more I’ve forgotten.

They also offered Drivers Ed and Practical Economics and many part-time jobs like Security, Infirmary, Admin Assisting, Cafeteria and even a small dairy farm in the pasture behind the school supplying milk to that cafeteria.

But those programs began to be whittled away as the powers that be saw no need for all that while they worked to place all children with foster families - the very term “orphanage” dredging up images of Dickensian horror and we can’t have that. They closed the school and promptly lost track of many children in their new and improved foster system.

“New and Improved” is bad grammar itself. How can anything be both new AND improved? LOL! I’m outee homeboyz.

Listening to kids, of any color or ethnicity, nowadays is like listening to a pack of chattering monkeys in the zoo. Their speech is indecipherable, so their writing must be even worse. The ‘smartphone’ has caused this more than anything. Texting in acronyms has ruined common communications.................

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.