Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
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Lipstick in Schools
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Author:  Sarah_Concra [ Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Lipstick in Schools

My mom sent me this email, just thought I'd share:

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem.

A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Every night the maintenance man would remove them and the next day the girls would put them back. Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man.

She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night. To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.

He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.

Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers.... and then there are educators.

Author:  Charlene Leonard [ Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:59 pm ]
Post subject: 

Haha! That me makes me laugh a whole lot. I think that even behind the all of the humor that email makes such a good point. It is one of those tough love situation. The only sometimes to make somebody learn is if you relate it to them of put into a perspective that they can understand.
This also brings up a another teaching method I was thinking about to help students become more invloved. It is one thing to make learning fun but I think it is even better to ake it humorous. I think it is important for students to think that their teacher is insane because this way they will always have something to say about them.

Author:  doug_blaney [ Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:10 pm ]
Post subject: 

This principal's response to the problem can only be described as "absolutely brilliant."

I agree with Charlene about the benefit of having students see their teacher as being a little bit crazy. If nothing else, they're probably more likely to listen to you. 8)

Author:  Emily_Hartnett [ Fri Apr 20, 2007 5:20 am ]
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HAHA I like it when people have a sense of humor!

Author:  Dustin Hull [ Fri Apr 20, 2007 8:55 am ]
Post subject: 

To me this just shows an example of how we as teachers have to be able to put information into many different languages in order to reach our students. The principal got the result she was after by relaying her message to the students in a different way than they were used to. It was a way that all of the students understood and was an extremely good technique considering he result was exactly what was asked for.

Author:  Katie_David [ Sun Apr 22, 2007 11:04 am ]
Post subject: 

HAHAHAHA! This proncipal is a genius! I love the sense of humor, but with this job, you've got to have one!

Author:  Allison Sawicki [ Sun Apr 22, 2007 5:15 pm ]
Post subject: 

Ha! I thought that was pretty funny too... though totally gross. I think that goes back to perhaps the "hidden curriculum" we discussed earlier in the class? Thanks for sharing that e-mail!

Author:  Matt Cobb [ Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:17 pm ]
Post subject: 

Hilarious! But God, I hope that was just a joke and not really how the custodian cleaned the mirrors!
Don't you just love it when Mom sends you little jokes like that? My mom still sends me newspaper cartoons that she finds funny and she thinks that I'll find funny.

Author:  Rachel Sigmon [ Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:28 pm ]
Post subject: 

wow -- that is so funny -- like matt said -- i really hope that is not the way the custodian actually cleans the mirrors -- is so --ew -- I love the sense of humor the principal had to pull this off ...

Author:  Adam B [ Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:26 am ]
Post subject: 

That is an amazing response to a somewhat difficult situation. Not only did he correct the problem, but he validated the frustration of the maintance man. The problem was quickly solved and no one felt singled. I only wish i could think of something as genius as this when i teach.

Author:  Scott_Feldmann [ Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:49 am ]
Post subject: 

I definitely agree, this was a great way for the principal to handle the situation. I think a lot of administrators would just ban lipstick from school, and this one showed that the problem can be fixed without punishing the entire student body.

Author:  Diana Zong [ Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:10 pm ]
Post subject: 

What a great idea! I wish I could have been there to see the look on their faces.... wow. I hope when I am a teacher I can think of things like that.

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