Bill in Australia wanted to hear from some teachers. Here you have one with a fighting spirit!

Now you must remember that every profession has good qualified people in it, but that occasionally a jerk or two sneaks in. Also, that by the very nature of any job, there are certain qualities that develop. My husband, for example, is a draftsman in an engineering department. When all the wives get together we laugh at how preoccupied with detail they all are in their private life. That is just a carry over from their professional life where it is important. Teachers often have the same problem. Just remember that we are responsible for EVERYTHING that happens with young people. If they don't know a certain bit of information so they can reproduce it on a national exam, then it is our fault, and usually there is a national outcry about our lack of ability. Therefore, we just fall into a natural pattern of making sure that all information that passes before us is correct to the best of our ability, and unfortunately, that will sometimes carry over into our personal life. Next time you are corrected by a teacher, just have a little more patience. You see, this poor soul who cannot restrain himself/herself (PC is a MUST in education) from correcting a mistake is probably a poor, over-worked soul on the verge of a nervous breakdown from carrying the weight of this enormous task.

On a more serious note, I use a lot of folk music to teach high school students for whom English is a second language. We use it to study grammar, history, just about anyway I can work it in. It is a great teaching tool. Now some of the grammar is not always correct, and we use that to look for errors and make corrections, but we don't change it when we learn the song. There is a poetic beauty and a lot of feeling that is lost in a song when you do that. Historically, too, I think you need to be careful. When we talk about the 60's and the Vietnam War, etc. , there was a lot of profanity in the songs, chants, etc. We discuss the reason for that and the anger that was being expressed at the time, although we don't go around reciting "The Fish Cheer" from Woodstock, it helps them understand how angry everyone was. I guess it just all boils down to what you want to accomplish and how you present it.

(English teachers understand the need for expression and free thought unencumbered by the need for exactness. You must have been performing for a science teacher!)

KickyC