Some people have no business coaching kids!

So…apparently American Studies is the class to watch out for in eighth grade. The teacher doesn’t coddle. He actually expects you to LEARN something in his class. (What a novel idea…that one might actually LEARN something at school…)

Mr. C. held a study session for the first big test after school today. Junior High Kid went. When I picked him up, he said, “Do you remember J.?” Junior High Kid and J. don’t run in the same crowd, but I was a pretty active volunteer when they were in elementary school. I remember J! Apparently J. showed up for the study session. (And from what I remember about J., this was probably a good decision on his part.)

Well, Junior High Kid tells me that partway into the study session, a man came in and politely asked Mr. C. if J. was there. He was. Then he politely asked if this was a “mandatory” study session. It wasn’t…since it was taking place AFTER SCHOOL. It turned out “the man” was J.’s football coach, and he was a little miffed that J. had chosen to attend a study session rather than football today. So he took J. out into the hall and proceeded to YELL at him right outside the American Studies classroom. He yelled, “ARE YOU TRYING TO PISS ME OFF? Because you’re doing it!” Junior High Kid says he heard “slapping.” Mr. Football Jerk BETTER have been slapping the wall and not the kid, but either way, this is WAY out of line, IMHO!

Junior High Kid says Mr. Football Jerk was yelling SO loud out there that the kids in the classroom couldn’t even hear Mr. C. over him. (Mr. C. was TRYING to continue the study session.) J. tried to explain why he was in the study session, but Mr. Football Jerk wouldn’t hear it. He just kept yelling about how J. was “letting down the team.” In the end, J. left the study session and went to football. Junior High Kid says Mr. Football Jerk didn’t give him any choice.

So, FYI…football is more important than academics at Northwest Junior High. Got it. (Except…isn’t there a policy that says if you don’t maintain a C average, you can’t do extracurricular activities??? Perhaps football is exempt from that policy.)

I wondered about Mr. C.’s reaction to all this. (BTW, Mr. C. is also a football coach!) Junior High Kid says he could tell Mr. C. was mad, but he couldn’t really say anything to Mr. Football Jerk. I suppose not…I suppose there’s some sort of code the teachers have among themselves where they don’t challenge each other in front of the students.

I couldn’t believe it when I heard this. If that had been my kid…(well, I won’t say what I’d have done if that had been my kid!). But I will tell you this. If Junior High Kid was in football, I’d have yanked him out immediately. I don’t want my child exposed to crap like this! What is WRONG with some people????