thejerkstore

Obama the 44th President: Awesome!

This has honestly been a horrible day.  I've had this project guitar, a 1967 Kalamazoo SG body in rare Pelhem blue, that I've been working on for about half a year.  It has been nothing but problem after problem -- once I found a pickguard (bought it for $20) I found out it didn't fit, and made my own.  Actually I ended up making two of my own because pickguard material is apparently extremely flammable when you're trying to cut it with a Dremel.  Then I had a problem with the bridge alignment and had to route new holes.  The original neck had a lot of s-twisting, which means that it's warped back and forth, and so I had to go and get a new neck.  Then the tuners didn't fit the new neck and had to go and get replacements.  The only part that went well was the wiring, which only took about 45 minutes.  So yesterday I put everything together and it looked super sweet.  I was giddy with excitement to play my new, totally custom guitar.  Today, however, I went out and bought strings and realized that this guitar had gone terribly wrong somewhere.  The neck takes off at about a 20 degree angle from the pocket, and it is pretty much unfixable.  So I've invested tons of hours into this, tons of dollars, tons of sweat, and now it is a total loss.  How terribly depressing.  I know it seems immature to be so upset about something so material, but it seems more like I tried a challenging project and totally failed; it feels very personal and I've had an angry lump in my throat the whole day.  

IMG_9433

            While recently finishing my employ as a long-term substitute at Mounds View High School, I gave a brief encouraging speech about how fortunate these students were to attend such an academically rigorous school.  I said, “You go to one of the best schools, in one of the best states for education.  Think of all the remarkable things you’ll learn.”  I was rather cynically countered by one junior who said, “Yeah right… all this school has taught me in three years is that I need to cheat; it’s taught me how to cheat and not get caught.”  Several other students nodded in agreement.  I found this more than a little unsettling and talked about it with a few of my colleagues.  One said that she had a student turn in a final paper that was a “word for word” copy of an Internet literary analysis.  Teachers throughout the school all had some story or anecdote about cheating and plagiarism in their classroom.

            Recent newspaper articles have been “opening eyes” to this dilemma of those not involved directly with schools.  The Star Tribune recently published an article by Margaret Bernstein, of Newshouse News Service, titled, “How to Cheat, Courtesy of YouTube.”  Ingenious ways of cheating are being proliferated via the internet; student’s are using the internet to help them improve the old fashioned crib sheet into an undetectable Coke bottle, to students using their iPods to listen to self-published podcasts about test content.  In addition to YouTube, sites such as 5min.com and RajuAbju.com, give detailed strategies and tactics to cheat in the classroom.  In Bernstein’s article, on YouTube user, Kiki, says, “I know it's not a good thing to cheat. It's like academic dishonesty and blah, blah, blah. But you know, I think everyone has done it at least once.”  What is more alarming, these sites seem all reflect one attitude: “It’s only cheating if you get caught.”  By conferring a pop-culture status on cheating, it seems to make it acceptable.  Some schools are smartening up by prohibiting electronic devices like iPods and cell phones.  Other schools require the online submission of papers to websites like TurnItIn.com.  For a relatively small fee a school can buy a membership account to TurnItIn.com that intelligently scans the document for plagiarism, recognizing the difference between cited and un-cited material.  Dave Ostrom, an English teacher at Mounds View, believes that TurnItIn.com has been “indispensable in saving me hours of searching for plagiarism and has caught a few kids red-handed.”  Do the creation of a plagiarism-filtering site and the proliferation of cheating methods on the Internet mean that there is an increase in cheating and plagiarism?  That remains unclear, but the media is continuing to pay more attention to this issue. Whether it is stealing test booklets, tax evasion, or steroid use, the media is spending more and more time on the issue of cheating.  Charles Crumpley, Editor of the Los Angeles Business Journal, talks about our modern “Culture of Cheating.”  The Joesphson Institute of Ethics issued a report on a student survey that said sixty percent of students admitted to cheating on a test in the past year.  The grim news is that the sixty percent figure has remained static since 1992.  “The bad news is that nothing is getting better,” Crumpley says.  This is a policy issue whose “window” is opening.  In an era where the heads of industry are “continually skimming off the top” where do we fix the problem?  “Can America afford to let cheaters win?” Crumpley says that cheater in high school will eventually go on to cheat at work – because there is no learned consequence.  This is an issue whose “policy window” is opening.

            Further investigation showed that the student’s handbook, district board policy, and the media all are aware of the seeming pandemic – yet there is little that state legislation has done in this field.  While looking through the Office of the Revisor of Statutes, more specifically under Statute Chapter 121A Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Behavior, there is nothing mentioned about cheating or plagiarism.  It seems that while chapter 121A is lengthy – it is also vague.  Chapter 121A makes no mention of school dress codes, mp3 and cell phone usage, or cheating and plagiarism, leaving those kind of decisions up to individual school boards.  Actually the only mention of cheating or plagiarism is in reference to The Board of Assessors, Licensure, Education, and Conduct (Rule 1950.1090) where “cheating on a test given in conjunction with an assessment education course, or plagiarism of an appraisal narrative of any kind submitted to the board under the license requirements,” results in the suspension of licensure. One could also argue that in cases of plagiarism, copyright law could be cited, which is part of Criminal Code 609.  Obviously cheating and plagiarism are activities that need to be stringently dealt with, but instead of charging students with criminal activities, that responsibility is given over to smaller governing agencies – local school boards.  This means more freedom for the school boards in dealing with scholastic dishonesty, but it also means a greater deal of discrepancy from district to district and school to school.

            The Mounds View School District sets up its framework for avoiding cheating and plagiarism by making “Academic Honesty” as part of its Student Rights and Responsibilities.  According to Regulation EG-3109:

The Mounds View School Board expects that students will achieve success with integrity.  Academic dishonesty impairs a true showing of academic achievement.  Substantiated reports of academic dishonesty will result in appropriate consequences as defined in accompanying regulations and in student handbooks.  Examples of academic dishonesty include, but are not limited to:  theft and use of tests; use of crib sheets or other cheating devices on an exam; plagiarism or representation of a substantial piece of work as one's own without proper attribution.  This policy applies to all manner, including the most current technological advances, systems, or equipment, that may be utilized for the purposes of academic dishonesty.

The regulation goes on to say that, “Violations will be addressed according to procedures outlined in student handbooks.”  In this case, the Mounds View School Board has again left the consequences of actions like cheating or plagiarizing up to individual schools. The school board references Statutes 127.27 through 127.48 for their Student Rights and Responsibilities, which have since been renumbered as part of Chapter 121A: Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Behavior – yet there is no connection to anything dealing with academic honesty or dishonestly.

            My future employer, the White Bear Lake School District, briefly touches on cheating in School Board Policy 506 under its Code of Student Conduct.  It states:

The following are examples of unacceptable behavior subject to disciplinary action by the school district.  Any student who engages in any of these activities shall be disciplined in accordance with this policy.  This policy applies to all school buildings, school grounds and school property, school-sponsored activities or trips, school bus stops, school buses, school vehicles, school-contracted vehicles or any other vehicles approved for school district purposes, the area of entrance or departure from school premises or events, and all school-related functions.  This policy also applies to any student whose conduct at any time or in any place interferes with or obstructs the mission or operations of the school district or the safety or welfare of the student, other students or employees.

Then a long laundry list of possible inappropriate behaviors follows, everything from gambling, hazing, and locker use to weapons and chemical possession.  Number twenty-eight on the list is, “Scholastic dishonesty which includes, but is not limited to, cheating on a school assignment, plagiarism or collusion; including the use of picture phones or other technology to accomplish this end.”  White Bear also seems to know the increasing role of technology in aiding cheating and also added this to its Code of Conduct – the prohibition of “…nuisance devices or objects which cause distractions and may facilitate cheating including, but not limited to pagers, radios and phones, including picture phones.”  The school board also references Chapter 121A in the creation of the Code of Student Conduct.  Also immediately following the Code of Conduct, Policy 506 goes on to include another laundry list of “Disciplinary Action Options” that help to enforce the code.

            I feel that there is an intriguing difference between the two school districts.  While Mounds View includes Academic Honesty as part of its Student Rights and Responsibilities, White Bear Lake places it as a behavior concern.  By placing it in the realm of a right and responsibility Mounds View is possibly tying to make an emotional connection that makes clear the necessity for integrity in academia.  However it also possibly de-emphasizes the consequence that is tied to violating academic honesty.  After all – anyone can waive their rights or shirk their responsibilities; when academic honesty is created in the context of a rule it seems a little more black and white.  Both schools also reference the Student Handbook for the enforcement of this policy, where I believe the greatest discrepancy lies.

            The Student Handbook at White Bear Lake High School North Campus very briefly deals with issue of cheating and plagiarizing.  Under the section “North Campus Rules and Regulations Related to Personal and Property Rights” it lays down a simple equation.  Cheating or plagiarizing results in “Loss of credit for assignment/test, Parent Notification, Wednesday or Thursday School (the after-school detention program).”  This policy seems fair, but also very lax in comparison to Mounds View’s.  Mounds View restates Regulation EG-3109 nearly word for word, but then gives the following consequences:

First offense: Grade of “F” on assignment/test/activity/project on which academic dishonesty occurred.

Second offense: Quarter grade of “F” for the class in which the incident of academic dishonesty occurred.

Third offense: Failure of the semester in the class in which the incident of academic dishonesty occurred. On the event of a third offense, the student will be immediately removed from the class or activity involved and a final grade of “F” will be assigned. A student may not enroll in another class or activity until the semester following the removal.

So why are Mounds View’s consequences so much more stringent than White Bear Lake’s?  Mounds View School District’s other high school, Irondale High School, has a nearly identical policy, but also includes more examples of cheating and student appeal information.  In Mounds View, these aren’t rights one would want to waive or responsibilities one would want to shirk.  Are White Bear’s consequences more lax because it is clearly defined as a rule and not a right?

            It seems that the vast difference from school to school is one possible reason that we have “developed a culture of cheating.”  More accurately it is probably the stress placed not on competition but on “winning,” of getting the “A,” getting the paper done, getting the high score.  Changing the system to eliminate competition is something that a teacher can do in a small way through individualization and accommodation.  But inequalities will still exist and cheating will still have appeal to some over hard work and integrity.  I believe that policy will eventually be introduced at the legislative level that will create equity in all academic honesty policies.  While this will be a dramatic shift from the current school board created policies, the issues of accountability and equity will be addressed.   One student won’t feel a slap on the wrist for cheating while another is reprimanded severely.  However, for now I need keep an eye on my students, de-emphasize competition with in the classroom, encourage “personal-best” produced work, and make sure to encourage and cultivate their integrity.

i don't know if i like you anymore.  look at us -- we used to have a healthy relationship.  now i'm not so sure.  i mean look, i'm writing in all lower case!  i check my three different e-mail accounts probably four times a day. and what do i find? spam -- tons and tons of spam.  i spend hours, literally hours, looking on craigslist for guitars and mopeds i don't need, not to mention reading all of the missed connections.  ebay?  don't get me started.  basically, i think we need a little break.  it'll be spring soon and i'll want to not have you controlling my compulsion to facebook or check my fantasy football message board (even thought there will be hot draft gossip).  as soon as it stops snowing here, we are  on a brief hiatus.  got it?

So it has officially been a little too long and I thought I'd just throw out an update.

1693_1

WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY TELL ME THAT BEARSHARK WAS A SKETCH FROM A FEW MONTHS BACK ON SNL?!?!?  Now I can't use it as a band name... FRICK!

So it's been about a month in process, but my friend Jimmy and I are going the route of The Postal Service and trying to start a long distance band.  We're going to write parts, digitally record them, and then send this information back and forth to each other until some songs are created.  I'm really looking forward to it.  We've been in bands on and off with each other since high school and he is an extremely talented guy.  

The Pete Pulju Twist

NinjaGaiden5

It's official.  I am going to teach for the remainder of the school year.  I am going to be a long-term substitute for an art teacher who is undergoing some major surgery.  I'll be working at my old school -- Mounds View -- which I'm really excited about.  It's a totally odd experience to be back there -- but I've become very good friends with many of the staff so I don't mind it as much.  Plus I'm teaching ART -- the most ballin'est subject ever!