andrea's spare time

ok.. happy first day of school everyone! lots of new stuff going on at hisd, but there one thing that sticks in my mind more than the others.

the student code of conduct now prohibits students from giving gifts to teachers in exchange for a better grade.

huh? you mean it was acceptable to do that in years past? there are going to be kids that wished they'd known that!

yes, says hisd spokesperson terry abbott. there was nothing in the code of conduct before about that, therefore a student couldn't face disciplinary action for it.  well what about the teacher? if the gift indeed results in a better grade, isn't that a violation of teacher ethics. "yes" says abbott, and that would be dealt with, but there was nothing to punish a student for trying to do so.

good grief. for starters, it's the wrong thing to do. so why can't we just know that the teachers would nip it in the bud and refuse the gift, especially a gift with strings attached.  secondly, i guess it bugs me that the district thought they couldn't discipline the kid (an example of this happened last year, according to abbott) because it wasn't prohibited in writing. what about cheating? that's in writing.  isn't cheating finding a way to improve what do you guys think?