Humphrey Talk Now!

I would like to respond to Jonah's post.  I was going to put it in a comment, but actually, I want to address the entire class for a moment.

Jonah, you said, "i think that this class is a tad ridiculous, ill only say one thing due to a need for other topics to be written, saying that you think we should make our own decision on whether or not to be functionable in the class and then (dont quote me on your feelings) be angry at us stupid teenagers for being stupid teenagers. maybe people would make more sound decisions if we had a little more stability and rule in our life."

You're right.  The class is a tad ridiculous.  It is somewhat absurd of me to allow you to make your own decisions about how much effort to dedicate to the class, and then get angry at you when you use that freedom to make the decision to be silly teenagers and talk too much and blow off your work.  But there are a few things you should know.

One: Not trying to sound all Hulk-ish or anything, but you all have never seen me angry.  At least, you've never seen me cut loose my anger.  It's intentional.  I don't like losing my temper, and it isn't fair to scream at an entire class when only a few people are getting on my nerves, so I don't do it.  I am also, as you point out, trying to give you folks the freedom to choose how serious you want the class to be. 

Two: you have to see it from my point of view.  This is an Honors class.  In high school.  If you folks know anything, you know that a certain amount of attention and effort is expected of you.  And what I see is a number of you messing about, and I bet you're all just waiting to see how far you can push it until I come down on you.  And you keep waiting, and you keep pushing.  But you know you shouldn't be doing that; you know it shouldn't be up to me to tell you when you're misbehaving when you already KNOW that you're misbehaving.  Is it really too much for me to expect you to act the way you already know you should?  Is it really my job to control your behavior?  Am I your conscience, or your English teacher?

Three: I have told you all before, I do not want to be your parent.  I believe that teaching you how to behave and enforcing proper behavior should be your parent's job, and for me to teach you that is stepping on your parents' toes, a rude act that I will not commit.  At this point in your lives, the only other person (This is separate from guardianship issues, of course) who should have a say in how you behave is -- you.  You act how you want to act, however you believe is right for you to act.  And for that choice, those actions, you suffer consequences.  In elementary school, those consequences were a punishment and a lecture from a teacher whose job it was, maybe, to help your parents teach you how to behave.  But now that you know, the consequence (Because a lecture from me is not really a consequence, and I am positive that, were I to give this class a lecture on behavior, some of you would snicker while I was doing it, because that's how teenagers respond to lectures from teachers.  And you're probably one of those people, Jonah.  Wouldn't you think?) is -- a class that's fairly ridiculous.  Presumably, a number of your peers who think you are annoying, or childish, or rude.  And a missed opportunity, at a class that might have been wonderful, that might have taught you a lot, but instead was just fairly ridiculous.  It's too bad, really.  But not that big a deal; there will be other classes that will probably teach you much more than I ever could, and hopefully in those classes, you folks will pay attention and participate and actually act the way you know you should.