CNN 2011-03-10

Take a look at some other stories that are making news across the country. A Baltimore community is mourning the death of a promising¹ teen boxer². 17-year-old Ronald Gibbs was stabbed to death over the weekend while trying to defend his older sister. Gibbs was preparing for the Olympics.

And the intern³ honored for helping⁴ save Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford's life is running for office. Political science major Daniel Hernandez is one of six candidates in the race for student government president at the University of Arizona. .

And here's something you don't hear every day. A would-be robber calls 911 because he's scared of the homeowner. In Portland, a man charged with breaking into a house says he was concerned the homeowner might have a gun. The homeowner also called 911 and that's when police found the suspect, 24-year-old Timothy James Chappic, locked in the bathroom.

And a couple is crossing the country themselves by horseback. We caught up with Richard and Jeanette McGrath in southwest Arkansas. They left California one year ago on their 4,000 mile trek⁵ to Washington. They're going -- they're doing this to raise awareness⁶ for a group called Hearts Up Ranch⁷ that helps people with emotional problems. Good luck to them.

A little later today, President Obama heads to a Boston high school that's really cranking out the graduates. He'll say its proof that government business and philanthropy can work together and that it works.But here are two school stories that the President probably will be talking about. One, being a Florida teacher who stapled⁸ a 7-year- old's embarrassing progress report to his shirt to make sure mom and dad would see it. And also this story, texting lingo⁹ like LOL and OMG creeping into kids' school work.That's where Steve Perry comes in. Our education contributor. Steve, you're a principal. What would you do if -- what would you do if you saw a term paper turned in with a little BRB, LOL, any of the above?

Correct it. One of the biggest problems that our kids are facing right now is they are not learning what they need to learn in the classroom, they are not learning how to write. And unfortunately, they are communicating primarily through text.And unfortunately, what you see is that kids are writing entire papers like a page of just one paragraph because there are no text breaks within -- I mean, there are no paragraph breaks within texting.

From your view when you -- when you're hearing about this creeping into kids' schoolwork do you see this more of a school/teaching problem or a parenting problem?

I think it's a -- it's a school/teaching because just like Morse code before it or any other -- any other form of written communication that wasn't the written -- traditional written language, it's just an expansion of language and that's ok because there are only 145 characters you get on Twitter so you couldn't use the full word even if you wanted to in many cases.When we get in the classroom, it's our responsibility to make sure that we teach children exactly how to write. That's what we're being paid to do, that's what the expectation of the community is and that is what we should do.

And what about this other story, this Florida teacher stapling¹⁰ a -- a progress report to a 7-year-old's shirt to make sure that his mom and dad would see it? Apparently¹¹, he wasn't taking home this, I'm guessing, not a very good progress report.

Does this work or is it just kind of serve as humiliation¹²? I don't know.

It's ridiculous. It is -- it is a ridiculous lapse¹³ of judgment¹⁴ on the behalf of the teacher. And if the teacher really very badly wanted to communicate with the parent, there is this thing they call the telephone. In addition to that they also have the cell phone, and they also have e-mail. And, of course, text. They could LOL this all the way through.So we know that there are other forms of communication. The objective here was, in some way, I believe, the intent appears to have been to show the child that what he was doing was not appreciated by the teacher. Unfortunately, though, what gets lost in this is that this is apparently a child who does need some correction. So I'm hopeful that while the parents are upset about the way in which this teacher communicated the information that the information itself is not lost in the communication.

Yes and hopefully, it doesn't backfire. Because you're right, the child's work which clearly needs some help, is --

Yes.

That's being completely lost in this debate at this point.

Which it should not be. It's very easy for parents -- and parents do this all the time. They call me and they're all fired up about something in the way in which one of my teachers expressed it to the child but the fact remains¹⁵ that there was a reason why an expression needed to be made. You're calling and you're angry at the teacher for embarrassing your child, but there is something that your child did that is embarrassing.

Right.

And let's focus on that.

So while the teacher was wrong, no doubt the parents definitely need to come together for a conference. And my hope is this principal puts everybody in the room and that they all like women and men have a conversation about what's most important here which is the child's performance because as a 7-year-old, if they're having that much trouble, then that could be a sign of things to come.They need -- they need to correct this right now

1 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

2 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

3 intern   

v.拘禁，软禁；n.实习生

参考例句：

• I worked as an intern in that firm last summer.去年夏天我在那家商行实习。
• The intern bandaged the cut as the nurse looked on.这位实习生在护士的照看下给病人包扎伤口。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

6 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

7 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

8 stapled   

v.用钉书钉钉住( staple的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The letter was stapled to the other documents in the file. 这封信与案卷里的其他文件钉在一起。 来自辞典例句
• He said with smooth bluntness and shoved a stack of stapled sheets across his desk. 他以一种圆滑、率直的口气说着，并把一叠订好了的稿纸从他办公桌那边递过来。 来自辞典例句

9 lingo   

n.语言不知所云，外国话，隐语

参考例句：

• If you live abroad it helps to know the local lingo.住在国外，学一点当地的语言自有好处。
• Don't use all that technical lingo try and explain in plain English.别尽用那种专门术语，用普通的词语解释吧。

10 stapling   

n.网衣装网法v.用钉书钉钉住( staple的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I was quite taken with your line of photocopiers with collation and stapling capability. 我被贵公司能够自动整理和装订的系列复印机吸引住了。 来自辞典例句
• Bariatric surgery includes procedures such as gastric bypass, stomach stapling and banding. 手术治疗肥胖包括胃绕道、胃吻合和胃带等。 来自互联网

11 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

12 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

13 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。

14 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

15 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。