"You're late."
I tell my students that on a regular basis. I told them the only acceptable excuse is, "Boy, this place is hard to find." But after a while I tired of that, and let them know that is not acceptable either.
Yesterday, Brenda walked in 5 minutes late.
"I used to have another student who did things like that."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Educator," she says.
"One day, this girl was walking out of the school, right there in front, just minding her own business, when suddenly, she was eaten by a polar bear."
"Come on. It's hot outside. We don't have any..."
"And everyone said, boy, it's too bad about that girl. But remember, she was late to English class a lot."
My little fables get tedious after a while, so sometimes the kids come on time so as to avoid them. But in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, teachers and administrators have got far more imagination than that. They take kids on sleepover trips, and tell them there's a gunman prowling around, ready to kill them and stuff.
Cute, huh?
The teacher and administrator were suspended. I'll bet the kids' parents would just as soon have them fed to polar bears, and I don't blame them at all.
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