Recent headlinesrave about a juvenile who lured a child with promises of video games away from a playground and subsequently molested and killed the child. There are also claims that the school the juvenile attended is receiving crank phone calls and threats. Symptoms of a school system that agrees to burden itself with jobs best left to families and other social institutions, like churches, temples and mosques. Schools haven't even gotten the 3 R's down, in my opinion. Maybe they had just better stick to those and leave the moral education to families and religion.

Figured out what to do with students who send mail in class. Have them mail their English teacher. Yes, if I see a student sending mail in class now, they have to send me mail within 15 minutes, in English, with a count of 20 words. If I do not receive the mail or am not satisfied with the quality of the writing, they will be counted absent. 4 missed classes makes a retake. Yes, responsiblity for the masses.

I tried it yesterday, the last class of the semester. I got mail from two people. Neither of them had enough English in it, too much Japanese. I'll return it for a rewrite.