Goertz Thoughts

So, I was listening to the announcements at the end of the school day yesterday. It mentioned something about the Lady Eagles volleyball team playing the Panthers (or some such team). Why does it need to be the "Lady Eagles"? The volleyball team is exclusively women. We don't say the "Gentleman Eagles" football team. We say Savio baseball, not Savio Boy's baseball. A gentleman eagle I can see some cases where a distinction might need to be drawn between teams (soccer, swimming, track, etc). However, we should then use both modifiers (Gentlemen and Ladies). I know that the problem is bigger than just Savio. It often bothered me while I was at UT as well. Many of my students accuse me of overthinking things like this. I think that as a society, we don't consider them enough. What is the micro-message of this disparity? That male sports are "normal"? That you need to be warned that you're going to see women play sports? This is symptom...

I use my playlists during class and at home. They only contain songs that I like (I don't listen to things that I don't like). Here are a number of them (Only playlists with at least an hour of music): Edit: Google Play Music no longer exists; links updated to YouTube Music (5/27/21) 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s ABBA Beatles Calm Working Catholic Country Crooners Disney Mix Ed Miller Ingrid Michaelson Jackie Evancho John Denver Kristin Chenoweth Love Songs from the Musicals Musical Favorites Piano Guys Voyager Golden Record

Okay, maybe it's because I'm not British, but the education system in the Wizarding world makes very little sense to me (a teacher). Granted, the American system doesn't make sense to much of the rest of the world. Here in the US, we don't have college entrance exams, so I won't criticize things like OWLs or NEWTs. However, I am going to have to criticize the entire theory of education. Primary Schooling A Hogwarts letter arrives on a student's 11th birthday (sort of). What are the options for students before they are 11? Rowling says that they may either go to public schools or they are home schooled. It sure seems like most magical parents choose the latter option (most wizards know nothing of the Muggle world, which should not be the case if they attended public school for 6 years). Here we run into our first problem. What exactly are these children being taught? In the US (and from what I can tell, the UK), parents are not required to fol...

http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Albus_Dumbledore As a teacher, I have known my share of administrators (good and bad). Dumbledore is one of the second class*. Capricious and unpredictable, he protects his friends and appoints to teaching positions those with no prior experience. He chooses to trust his own intellect and refuses to delegate many important tasks (except to children who he loves to put in peril as a test of their loyalty to him), almost leading to the ultimate victory of Voldemort during the Second Wizarding War. (I really hate this guy. If I had a student at Hogwarts, I would join with Lucius to get him removed.) *Disclaimer: Dumbledore at one time seems to have been a great wizard. I am mostly going to focus on the period of time that we know him in the books (the 1990s, apparently). Risking students' lives Dumbledore likes to play fast and loose with the lives and safety of students who have been entrusted to his care. Let's start with t...