When a millionaire Harris…

When a millionaire Harris Rosen gave everyone in his Orlando neighborhood – Tangelo Park, free college education and free daycare, the crime rate was cut in half and high school graduation rate increased from 25% to 100%.

The Latest in the Fight Against School Shooters? Trained Dogs

Given the lack of action we’ve seen in the face of school shootings becoming an epidemic in our country, educators have been forced to get creative and come up with their own solutions to keep our children safe. There’s ALICE trainingRun Hide Fight, and even an extremely controversial idea of arming teachers. Amongst all these ideas, nothing seems to have really taken hold.

Maybe keeping trained attack dogs in schools – not exactly a new idea, but one that seems to be gaining traction – will be different.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Real Deal Dog Training in Norco, CA, and Active Shooter K9 in Chariton, IA, are two of the companies working to train dogs.

James Greco, the head trainer for Long Island K-9, told the New York Times that “the best trained dogs have an accuracy rate of 85 to 90 percent. This sniffing ability means K-9s could help detect the tens of thousands of guns that are brought to school by students across the country each year.”

To be clear, the idea is that having trained dogs in schools could help prevent a shooting before it starts because the dogs will (hopefully) be able sniff out guns and ammo on students. It is not so much that the dogs will be able to stop a shooter who is already on the loose (although, maybe it could happen that way).

If they are successful, these dogs could mean the difference between happily boring, repetitive days at school and the nightmare that too many American kids have already experienced first-hand in recent years. At the very least, taking this step, in addition to others, could help parents and educators feel as if they’re doing something useful to prevent the loss of their children.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

In this day, when so much is so scary and uncertain, simply feeling less impotent is worth a lot.

The post The Latest in the Fight Against School Shooters? Trained Dogs appeared first on UberFacts.

A school suspended 9-year-old…

A school suspended 9-year-old boy for pretending to be Bilbo Baggins. He brought a toy ring and told a classmate that he would make him disappear. They considered the child’s action to be a threat, under the premise that no threat would be tolerated, whether real or imagined. 00

Teachers Crack Us up with the 15 Best Late Excuses They’ve Ever Heard

Teachers work long hours that they often don’t get sufficiently compensated for, deal with our kids for more hours a day than we do (while they’re conscious at least), and have to navigate through endless red tape. If that sounds like a big headache, that’s because it is.

But they do have some little joys, one of which is that kids say some of the funniest things when they’re lying. These 15 tardiness excuses are proof of that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

And of course, on rare occasion, some of those outlandish-sounding excuses turn out to be true…

#15. Lol, gross

“I remember this from 11th grade. Our history class was right after lunch. The class started with a quiz, so everyone was quiet. This big guy comes in like 15 minutes late. He goes over to our male teacher and whispers something in his ear. The teacher repeats it, but a little bit louder so that it was audible.

And the teacher says, ” The cafeteria lady sold you an all-bread Stromboli ??? ”

Yes, the cafeteria lady had indeed sold him an all-bread stromboli, with no meat and cheese in it. So he had to go back and ask for another one, sit down and eat it, which was why he was late for class.”

#14. For a week or so

“Student walked in and looked a bit shaken. She told the class she had been hit by a car in a calm voice. English was her second language. Some people were confused and didn’t think she had been a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. Not five minutes later, a police officer, paramedics, and the school nurse come in and usher her away. Apparently she got hit, got up off the ground and sprinted into school.

She had a minor concussion and we didn’t see her for a week or so.”

#13. Barefoot and crying

“Not sure if this applies, but a teacher was telling us about how important it was to hand in our essays until the end of the week (we had to hand two essays per week). While she was talking about how she wouldn’t accept tardiness, there was this only one exception when she accepted it on the following week.

Turns out a student was mugged on his way to school. He ended up losing his backpack with everything inside (including the essays), phone, wallet, socks and shoes. The student ended up going to talk to the teacher barefoot and crying, telling her how he tried even to persuade the assailant to let him get the essays out of his backpack, but to no avail.”

#12. To be fair

“Locked in their own house was a good one. To be fair, some really old locks could only be unlocked if you had the key. So if your parents were the only ones with the key and locked the door on their way out, you’re fucked.”

#11. A local euphemism

“I work in South Korea and had a fifth grader say he was late because he “caught a whale”, which is a local euphemism for getting circumcised.”

#10. We were the accident

“I teach at a university, but this was from my high school years.

My sister had just gotten her learner’s permit that week, and was driving to school for the first time, with me riding shotgun (required licensed 18yo family member etc.) We came up to a very sharp intersection — something like a 135-degree hairpin turn, and the light turned yellow.

My sister asked me what to do, and I said to stop for it (not liking the odds of a complete noob driver trying to do that turn at speed with me on the outside).

She stopped, quickly. The Mercedes behind us didn’t. Everyone except the Mercedes was okay, but it snarled traffic up pretty badly for a while.

I drove the rest of the way to school (the crash totaled the Mercedes, but just dented the back cargo door in the Blazer we were in), and waited in line as student after student checked in late at the office with “There was an accident on the way to school.”

Our excuse was “We were the accident on the way to school.”

#9. I teach preschool

“I teach preschool, so most of our excuses are detailed explanations of their bowel movements.”

#8. The parent before me

“I once signed my daughter in late to elementary school, and the parent before me had put “UFO Sighting” in the “reason for tardiness” box.”

#7. Didn’t even have a truck

“Call ins, but still…“forgot to turn off my f***in heater,” “somebody stole my tires and put my truck on blocks,” and “gotta find my damn dentures, those things are expensive” are my favorites.

Edit: the second guy didn’t even have a truck.”

#6. Her dog really did eat her homework

“Not a teacher, but in the third grade I had to give a presentation in social studies class. We got to read our presentations off of a piece of paper. My dog ate half of that paper the morning I was supposed to deliver said presentation. I was hysterical because I didn’t think my teacher would believe the “my dog ate my homework” excuse. My dad wrote a note for my teacher “Please excuse gxminifxxd as her dog really did eat her homework.”

#5. Scans of his head and everything

“Years ago I had a student come in who had missed the test the previous week. He said a while back he had been shot in the head and they were unable to remove the bullet and the previous week it had started shifting and he was in the hospital. Showed me the scans of his head and everything.

Also, right now another student’s friend let me know that he is in jail for a few weeks and asked me if I could please not drop him as he wants to stay in the class.”

#4. Misfit Disney princesses

“I’m a TA and last semester a student emailed me saying he would be late to class because he got bit by a squirrel.

There was also a different student who came to class with a baby turtle he found one day (on time though). It’s possible I was teaching a class full of misfit Disney princesses.”

#3. You have to respect bathroom problems

“Just heard this one last week:

“I’m sorry I was late, I have diarrhea”.

Truth or lie, you have to respect bathroom problems.”

#2. Cool/stupid

“Primary teacher here – teaching 11 year olds, kid comes in 30 mins late because he was waiting for his LED shoes to finish charging.

Turns out he was not lying and proceed to moonwalk over to his chair with his shoes flashing. Couldn’t even be mad it was too cool/stupid at the same time.”

#1. Toronto shooting death

“I was a TA, running twice weekly lab sessions in the evening. Being more than 10 minutes late to a lab usually earned a 0 grade for the day, so you usually needed a medical note or police report to get out of it.

At the end of class, one student who was 20 minutes late came up to me and apologized profusely. He was a quiet, unassuming Chinese guy with glasses and a below average grasp on the English language.

He told me that while he was walking to class, a guy in front of him was shot multiple times by a man in a nearby parked car, which then sped off. He claimed that he rushed over to the man, and attempted to attend to his wounds along with another bystander, but that he died before the ambulances arrived.

My first thought was, that’s ridiculous. But then I noticed his shirt, jeans, and forearms covered in blood. Before I had a chance to really say anything, he beelines it to the exit and leaves. A couple hours later, out of curiosity, I Google’Toronto shooting death’ and sure enough, there’s a 14-minute old article describing a fatal shooting that occurred earlier in the day, not terribly far from campus.

The next day, I get an email from the course instructor, informing me that the student had submitted a police report to confirm his involvement in the incident. Motherfucker held a man in his arms as he died and still made the effort to come to class. I can’t even imagine what that guy was going through, as he quietly sat in the back of that room.

Shoutout /r/UofT, that’s why he made CS POST and you didn’t.”

 

I told you! Gold!

The post Teachers Crack Us up with the 15 Best Late Excuses They’ve Ever Heard appeared first on UberFacts.

Devin Gaines earned 5 bachelor degrees…

Devin Gaines earned 5 bachelor degrees with honors simultaneously at the University of Connecticut, averaging 24 credits a semester and 3 hours of sleep a night. He drowned in 2007 because he didn’t know how to swim. 00

This Is How Much Teachers Make in Each State

If there’s one thing most everyone can agree on in these extremely divisive times, it’s this: teachers in America don’t make enough money.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

We’ve recently seen teachers walkout and protest to demand better wages in Arizona, Oklahoma, and North Carolina, and hopefully lawmakers will pay attention and increase pay for educators across the board. A website called howmuch.com compiled the states from coast to coast and made some handy maps detailing how the average salary for teachers in each state for elementary, middle school, and high school teachers.

Photo Credit: How Much

Photo Credit: How Much

Photo Credit: How Much

The national average for teachers across the board is $49,000 annually. Obviously, wages vary depending on the region where a teacher works. New York leads the way in pay, and Alaska, Connecticut, and California round out the top four.

h/t: Mental Floss

The post This Is How Much Teachers Make in Each State appeared first on UberFacts.

How to Offend Everyone: Create a Map that Compares the Education Level in Each State to a Corresponding Country

We all know Americans like to think they’re number one at just about everything, but the truth is…that’s just not the truth. In fact, perhaps it’s their low education levels that makes them believe such a thing in the first place!

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation, American students rank 28th in math and science scores (for those not good at math, it means there are 27 better countries). The educated people at Home Snacks made a map of the United States comparing each state with a foreign country that is said to have similar education levels, using the United Nations Development Program index. Understanding this map will take knowledge of both United States and world geography, which means you’ll most likely get it if you live in the Northeast.

Photo Credit: HomeSnacks

Here it is zoomed in, if that helps you focus.

Photo Credit: HomeSnacks

The Northeast and Midwest tend to be on a similar track as European countries.

Photo Credit: HomeSnacks

While the Southeast is largely comparable to Central America and Africa.

Photo Credit: HomeSnacks

The Northwest appears to be the most diverse.

Photo Credit: HomeSnacks

Although the Southwest is pretty diverse in its own right.

I guess like everything else in America, there are advantages and disadvantages to living in every nook and cranny of the country – but I’m not placing any bets on people deciding to forgo their home state for better education grounds anytime soon.

The post How to Offend Everyone: Create a Map that Compares the Education Level in Each State to a Corresponding Country appeared first on UberFacts.

A high school in Nunavut…

A high school in Nunavut, Canada takes students on fox trapping sessions, offers polar bear body parts for science class, and has events where students skin seal meat for elders. 10