the "things you wish you could say" thread

[Vkw10]

My friend just wrote back.

It's Federal.

M.

But it's not quite automatic; she found out she still has to apply.

Sorry for any misinformation.

M.

Thanks, mamselle. I encouraged employee to ask, and he learned that his husband will be eligible if he doesn't go back to work because childcare programs are still limited by enrollment caps. Once he told me that, I had a chance to suggest some flexible scheduling options that might help with the childcare issue, too.

[kiana]

Don't try to feed me your conspiracy theory bullshit that you picked up because you can't handle reality.

[FishProf]

Doing this course online in the summer was a huge mistake.  We are stopping now.  You all get an A

[polly_mer]

I finished the accreditation report today!

(Instead, I'm promising myself not to pend the entire weekend on it.)

I had those years.  Hang in there!

[polly_mer]

You know, I don't want to see Trump re-elected any more than you so.  But could we stop with the demonization of Trump supporters?  I can't help noticing that it's not them who are burning and looting in our cities right now.

Some of us are watching bemused from our tiny villages in the middle of nowhere and congratulating ourselves on our life choices.

I have no idea how to apportion blame by political party, but I have a whole lot of thoughts on related topics that I've been keeping to myself.

[fishbrains]

Please stop requiring training that employs every technique/pedagogical modality y'all tell us to never use with our students. Good grief!

[AmLitHist]

Starting a conversation that seems to be aimed at being helpful for a number of people, then turning that conversation into yet another "it's all about poor, poor me" party isn't surprising, and it's why a lot of us don't really give a rat's behind about your problems.  Oh, also:  it's not like the rest of us are all so stupid that we can't see what you're doing.

Finally, for reference:  everybody does NOT spend every second of every day thinking about you (you do that enough for all of us, anyway) and plotting how we can be mean to you.  Grow up and get over yourself.

[polly_mer]

Dear Community College,

Those summer online classes for middle schoolers look pretty interesting.  Good on you for subcontracting with a real service provider who seems to know how good online education and picks something great.

Best,

Polly



Dear Service Provider,

I was really happy with how well set up is this week before the course begins.  You communicated appropriately on timing.  The materials to get set up prior to Monday's class were clear and it was a nice touch to have both video and written instructions for most steps.  The organization of your webpages are wonderful and it's very clear how to proceed through the steps to get set up.  It's clear you are a professional online learning provider that put a lot of resources into what normal people need.

My complaint is that the classes that logically go together (i.e., my kid is signed up for all of them across the summer) require different versions of the necessary software.  Thus, I just spent two hours detangling the various versions of Java.  Were I a less techy parent, I wouldn't have even known anything was wrong because I wouldn't have known to check the error console to discover that what looked like the Minecraft screen I expected and that allowed interaction was not actually the Minecraft that was supposed to launch on successful completion.

I am not happy that the first course we were set up to do uses the most modern version of Java while this course requires such an outdated Java version that you had to provide it.

I'm really, really, really unhappy that the absurdly old version of Java didn't also come with clear instructions on how to manage the fact that we have multiple Javas now installed and your freakin' program refused to pick up the right one, despite all the indications on the rest of the machine that we had indeed defaulted to the correct version for this program.  That indicates to me that your program saved a default that we were unable to change except by complete uninstallation and reinstallation.

I suppose I could thank you for my new knowledge in the intricacies of JDK and JRE along with parts of my machine I had never before visited.  However, my professional life that involves substantial programming never needs Java.  This would have been much more useful as the gory details of Python, you know, the actual language used when the kids get programming in these courses.  We only need Java for your tools--tools that could have been packaged as standalone executables that didn't need a Java installation, as some of the courses had.

I have to get some work done today, but I know this saga isn't done because it's very likely that my kid will want to use all these tools after all the classes are done, so I have spend even more time to figure out the way to make all these tools work together while having multiple JDKs installed, switchable, and usable with your tools.  It's possible that I'm going to have to hack your tools so they work as my kid needs them.

Having content experts work independently instead of as a logical curriculum has created extra work for me.  At least I can do the work.  I don't know what happens for the kids who were really excited and then don't have adult help for the other parts.  My bet is that this is again a situation where the kids who would benefit the most from a formal experience get less out of it because the formal experience doesn't go far enough.

Not a happy camper,

Polly

[fishbrains]

For f*ck's sake, not this again. I don't love my students any more than my mechanic loves me or my doctor loves me or my barber loves me. I offer a professional service to my students in what I hope is a professional manner. If I like most of them (which I generally do), then all the better; but if I don't particularly like some of them, it doesn't really make a difference. I'm not taking them home with me, after all.

In fact, if we are truly "having a difficult discussion" here, my guess is that you don't really deal personally with many students because you would then have to admit that some of them (not many, but enough to push our syllabi out to 8-10 pages) are loathsome, ignorant, sociopathic jerks--just like the general population.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Student:

For the love of all that is holy, please stop emailing me every 15 minutes! I will get to your emails when I can. Sheesh!

BTW, this person started emailing me at noon today.

[OneMoreYear]

NO NO NO! I do not have the capacity to transition this class to online AND deal with that student in this class. Pick one.

[fishbrains]

I believe the phrase, "I'll bring it on like Donkey Kong" applies to this situation. See you in the dean's office.

[polly_mer]

Only reading the summaries written by those who are against the endeavor is how people ended up surprised by the last several successes.

Perhaps attending the meetings and reading the reports themselves would be more enlightening.

[AmLitHist]

<not directed at Polly/others on the thread>

Oh, FFS. It is not all about you!  No wonder "nobody has time" for you and "everybody is so mean" to you--you suck the life out of everyone who has to deal with/listen to you. Get over yourself.

[FishProf]

Dear Provost.  Stop Talking.  You confuse everyone when you try to explain things and get them wrong virtually all the time.  Are you trying to become a President?