"subtitle by peritta [clock ticking] [ominous music]" "♪ ♪" "Ugh!" "[knocking at door]" " Hi." " Where's the bathroom key?" "Sorry." "Did they not leave that open for you?" " Clearly not." " It's in the top drawer." " Hi." "How are you doing?" " Hi." "Anna." "Oh!" "We spoke on the phone earlier." "Natalie Johnson." "I brought my daughter's homework." "We need to talk." "We'll take a look." "Guys, we've got coffee." "And my mother made some cookies, so eat at your own risk." "Hi." "I spoke with my friend, and she told me that her son..." " Hi." "How are you doing?" " She told me that at New Designs, Skylar, Sophie's friend, is already reading "The Odyssey"." "We're not up to "The Odyssey" just yet." "Yep, but that's what they're reading now." "Okay... yeah." "New Designs is a charter school." "It's a little different curriculum than we have here." "I don't think Sophie's ready for "The Odyssey" yet." "[background chatter]" " The lunch program." " Yeah?" "Why is Matt eating tater tots as a meal?" " Uh-huh." " They're serving him tater tots, apple sauce, and a juice?" "I have him on a special diet." "He comes home, tells me he's eating tater tots." " I don't know how to respond." " Right, Donna." "Sorry, Ms. McMannis." "I don't like the lunch programs either." "All starch and sugar." "They crash by 1:00, but..." "I don't get a say in the lunch programs." "They did send out a mailer because a lot of parents were complaining..." "Uh, were concerned about the lunches." "It was a blue sheet." "It had a number on there." " Shoulda gotten that." " I didn't get no blue sheet." "Okay, um..." "Yeah, uh..." "I'll get one for you." "Oh, have a cookie." "I was saying earlier that my mother made them, so eat at your own risk." "Actually, there are nuts." "No, wait, no... there are no nuts in that batch." "If you have any allergies, you're fine." "I've been seeing such an improvement in her." " Exactly." " She just keeps learning and taking everything all in." " And she's happy." " On season one." "On season one, yeah." "Have you been watching "Intrigue"?" "No." "I don't really watch a lot of television." " It is my life." " Yeah?" "We are all obsessed." "You've gotta watch." "Sorry." "I don't really watch a lot of TV." "Sorry, I thought you were talking about something." "Oh, hey." "I'm sorry." "I need to talk to you for a second." "I hear my son, Russell, is getting picked on." "What's going on with that?" " What?" " My son, Russell." " Yeah?" " What's going on?" " I hear he's getting bullied." " Whoa!" "Wait." "No, Russell's not the one getting picked on." "Okay." "Everybody..." "Switching gears." "Everyone just..." "I can't do this right now." "I can't have that conversation." "Everyone, let's just all take seats." " Where do we sit?" " I don't care." "Sorry." "Yeah, wherever." "Just take your seats." "We're sitting down now." "We're all just gonna be..." "We'll just do it this way." "We'll just..." "I think I swallowed my gum." "Hi." "My name is Mr. Zahn." "[door opening]" " Sorry." " Mm-hmm." "Hey, Laura." "O-M-G!" "Hi." "My name is Mr..." "Sir, please don't lean back in the chairs." "Thanks." "My name is Mr. Zahn." "Hi." "Um..." "This is my first semester at Fosters." "I am competent." "[silence]" "And I can assure you guys that your child's education is my number one priority." "Okay?" "That's why we're here, right?" "For the kids." "Great." "So, we're still gonna keep it casual." "I just want to make sure that we kind of do this kind of in a more organized fashion." "And so tonight is all about... questions and con... cerns." " Go ahead." " Lunches." "Why is my Matty eating tater tots as a meal?" "No." "No." "Nobody should be eating tater tots as a meal." "That's why we call the people responsible for that." "We got the blue sheets here." "Raise your hand if you got a blue sheet at home." "One, two... great." "I printed out more, so when we're all done, come up front of the class, grab a blue sheet for any questions or concerns about the lunch program." " Go ahead." " Why does Brendan keep getting" "Bs in the history homework?" "A lot of kids are struggling with that." "All:" "Mm-hmm." " Okay, that was originally an in-class history quiz, but I got the feeling a lot of kids were getting nervous, and the policy here is that we never make any of the children uncomfortable about their education ever." "So I made that a take-home quiz, and they were able to do it whenever they get to it." "Hey, Zahn." "Maya got a C on your homework take-home quiz, which is ridiculous, because we studied for it." "She says you're not covering everything in class." "Maya didn't finish the assignment." " This is crazy." " She didn't answer four questions, so Maya gets a C." "She should've gotten an F. Not being condescending." "Does anyone else look at the take-home history quiz?" "My kid says he never pays attention because it's boring." "Who's your kid?" "Sorry." "Don't answer that." "Guys, it's very difficult to keep kids' attentions nowadays." "[phone vibrates]" "There are a lot of distractions." "[phone chimes]" "And I do my best to keep things fun and interesting around here." "I'm the fun teacher." "I'm like the cool, young, fun teacher around here." "So I don't really know..." "I'm not a parent, but I feel like that might be an excuse because they're not doing the work at home, and their grades are reflecting that." "That brings me to a larger issue:" "cell phones, okay?" "We're not allowed to take their cell phones away anymore." "So when your kid is playing that candy game, she's not paying attention, and everybody behind her is distracted." "Not talking about anyone in particular." "I think our kids should be reading "The Odyssey."" "I would love for Sophie to read "The Odyssey,"" "but we're not at that level yet." "If you want Sophie to..." "If you want your kids to read outside of class, that's great." "We just don't have the time." "We have a well-stocked library here at the school." "We have plenty of copies of "The Odyssey."" "I know how to get my daughter a library book, but Skylar is studying something else," " and that's weird, right?" " Who's Skylar?" "All:" "Yeah." " Right, Sophie's friend." "The one that..." "[overlapping chatter]" "Hey, guys..." "[louder chatter]" "We've already discussed that." "Guys, let's just settle down." "[loud chatter continues]" "I really want to do this one at a time" " 'cause it's easier." " I thought Mrs. Miller was speaking here tonight." " Am I in the wrong class?" " Oh!" "You are in the wrong class." " She's in room four." " Oh, thank you." "Hey, guys, let's all just take a minute and talk with each other and figure out what we want to accomplish tonight." "Right?" "'Cause we're all adults." "Not being condescending." "I want to stay a little bit more organized." "I'm gonna grab a quick glass of water." "My mom made some cookies." "What I was saying earlier is that my mother had..." "Just eat the fucking cookies." " What?" " Oh, my Gosh!" "Ugh!" "Room four?" "Yeah." "This is six." "That's five." "And that's four right there." " Great." " Yeah." "Great." "[muffled chatter]" "[sighs]" "Hey." "Yep." "Mm-mm-mm!" "[chattering]" " That is not okay." " Oh, here he comes." "[overlapping speech]" "What are you doing?" " We have a lot of questions." " Go sit back down." "Give me the marker." "You made us come here to address these concerns, and I don't think you're addressing our concerns." "Could you tell us how you would like us to submit these questions?" "All of this could've been handled over email." "[overlapping speech]" "I'm not staying here all night." "I mean, I have a ton of stuff... [chatter quiets, then stops]" "What is this about?" "I've only had to do that once this year." "Now, what have we decided..." "Can we just finish the lunch questions real quick?" "Sure." "Your kid's on a diet?" "Make him lunch." "Grab your gluten-free bread, throw it in a paper bag, throw it in his knapsack, and have a ball." "That is the best way to ensure your child is eating the food that you want him to be eating." "I pack a lunch too." "But if you give him money and Matty loves tater tots," "Matty's gonna eat the tater tots." "Blue sheet." " Ahem." " Yeah?" "I don't have time to be making lunches." "I came here to talk about the soda machine." "Stop it right there." "Blue sheet." "There's a number on that sheet." "You'll want to give it a call." "Hi, yes, I'd like immediate gratification." "Thank you very much." "Call the number." "This is not an education." "Donna, you just lost cookie privileges." "Now you can't have a..." "Where's my mug?" "Who took my mug?" "Hi." "My name is Mr. Zahn." "And my job is to make this work." "And your job, apparently, is to not make this work." "You don't have time." "I don't have time." "I get six hours in my day, if I'm lucky, to teach these kids one test." "One test at the end of the year." "We get a test that comes from the state, one in which none of the faculty actually agrees with, and we hope that something gets through." "That's not learning, okay?" "We don't do that here." "We coddle them." "I can't give them an F ever." "That grade doesn't exist anymore." "Because they're so soft, and we're so terrified that one day one of these kids might kill themselves." " Oh!" " Oh, my God!" "I'm sorry." "But honestly, that's a factor." "You want to go, go." "These aren't my kids." "These are your kids." "I get them for a year, and I'm trying to help." "But you don't talk to me one-on-one." "No, you send me emails." "Hundreds of fucking emails." "This is what I do." "I go home, and I sit on my computer, and I look at your emails, and I try to reply them so I don't offend one of you." "Because I know what that's gonna turn into." "And you ask me if I have time to watch a TV show?" "I barely have time to get a haircut." "'Cause of this bullshit." "And that bullshit." "We got these iPads in the classroom." "We show off in our brochure." "I hate these things." "That is not a learning tool." "That is a distraction." "That is a wedge between your child and education." "All they want to do is play games in that thing." "I don't blame them." "It's tater tots!" "So that's what tonight's all about, right?" "So we set up the parent-teacher nights." "It's twice a year." "Nobody is happy about it." "And I feel like it's a witch hunt." "You read "The Crucible" lately?" "Jesus Christ." "So what do I do, right?" "What am I supposed to do?" "School gives me a test." "I give out the test." "Kid fails the test." "Kid tells their parents." "Parents tell the teacher." "I give out the test over and over until they all get As." "Or they don't, and I pass them anyway." "That's not an education." "That's cheating." "I feel like that's a weird form of cheating." "Right?" "Education isn't something that caters to you." "It's not a restaurant." "It's not Yelp." " Put your phone away." " What?" "This is your kids." "Jesus Christ, you're worse than your daughter." "And your daughter is fucking terrible." "[all groan]" "I am not a babysitter." "I am an educator." "Babysitters actually get paid more." "You think there's a reward in what I do?" "I live in a 24-hour guilt trip because I'm one of the teachers here that actually still gives a shit." "My day doesn't end at 3:00." "And I come here early every morning, and I design this whiteboard to make it fun and interesting for your children." "And you listen to your kid when he says that my class is boring?" "Fuck you, your kid is 11." "[scattered gasps] Sit down." "There is a difference between raising good memorizers and raising critical thinkers." "And we don't do that anymore." "You want your kids to be doctors?" "They're not gonna be a doctor with this education." "Seth isn't gonna be a doctor." "We can't have hamsters now because of Seth." "Actually, I would love to have a sit-down conversation with you and your husband about Seth... separately." " Are you getting my emails?" " Yes." "You are." "Great." "Yeah." "What I mean to say is that sometimes in life, you fail." "You fail, and that's okay, as long as you learn something from it." "This meet and greet, all that cookie shit, all of that's a failure, this is a failure." "But they need to learn that sometimes in life, you don't do well, you don't always get As, you lose." "I've lost..." "Growing up is hard." " Excuse me?" " Yeah." "Sorry, real quick." "My last question." "About the cafeteria... [gasps] Oh, my God." "She's gonna ask me about the lunches again?" "Really?" "Oh, okay." "This is you." "This is her." "She's got the blinders on, and all she sees is one thing, and it's lunches, and she goes through life, and all she wants to know is Matty's eating too many tater tots, "Mr. Zahn?" ""Mr. Zahn, I'm worried about my son's health 'cause he's eating too many tater tots."" "[softly] Blue sheet." "Here's the situation we're in, folks." "Let me just spell it out for you." "Right now, you pass a test, and you go to high school." "Or you don't, we give them the test over and over again, we give them the answers, and they all get to go to high school." "Everybody gets a trophy." "You all get trophies just for showing up." "Yay." "Is that what we have to look forward to?" "Is that the future of all this?" "Right now, we are raising poor decision-makers who think that they have received an education." "And that's scary." "And I'm worried that that's what's going on in high school." "And I'm starting to think that's what's going on in college." "But you know where that all starts?" "Right here." "Room six." "You're absolutely right." "These kids aren't failing." "We're being too easy on them." "We are failing these kids." "You all know exactly what they're doing with your children." "I'm giving them all As." "Good luck in high school." "Mr. Zahn, can I see you in the hallway, please?" " I don't like him." " Mm." "Mm-mm." "Huh." "subtitle by peritta"