It's Always Easier to Ask Forgiveness than Permission

I've long lived by those words. A few weeks ago a kid asked whether she could plug her cell into the classroom outlet to charge it. "Of course not," I replied. Kids aren't allowed to have cell phones in school. Of course we all know many if not all have them anyway. If they don't use them to text, or pick them up and talk (that freaks me out), I ignore them and all things are as they should be.

On the other hand, I saw a girl pull her phone out of the wall at the end of a period on Friday and said nothing. This kid plugged it in when I wasn't watching and simply assumed she had an absolute right to do so. So how could I argue with her? Is it unfair? Am I lazy? Or is it that I just don't give a golly goshdarn?

All of the above, I suppose.

I like things as simple as possible. Do you think I should have said something to the girl I saw charging her phone? Am I encouraging her to do things behind my back? Or am I teaching her to keep her mouth shut and avoid trouble whenever possible?

On the other hand, Maybe Mayor4Life will take a gander at the electric bill, close a firehouse, fire another thousand teachers, give his rich buds a tax break, and declare himself even more of a financial genius than he felt he was last week.