The MUS Lower School Blog

Screen time questions

FAQs, a.k.a., "frequently asked questions," regularly land in my voice mail and email inboxs around this time of year. Usually, the questions come from inquiring parents who have either applied to or who are considering applying to MUS for their son. Once the formalities of the institutional queries are obliged, the tone naturally switches to more subtle, culture-related questions such as, "how would the MUS school community respond to the new poll questions?"

Well, you tell me, and I'll tell them.

If school is closed, you'll probably read it here first

Since inclement weather is forecast for tonight, I wanted to remind you of the MUS' policy for weather-related closings.

When it comes to weather-related closing decisions, MUS does whatever the Memphis City Schools decide to do.  If they close, we close.  If they are open, we are open.  The decision made by the Shelby County Schools has no effect on whether MUS is open or closed.

Because of this policy, you shouldn't expect to hear MUS on a list of school related closings (though we sometimes show up).

OR, if you prefer to leave it to me, just check here and you'll see a special post if we're closed.  If there's no post saying we're closed, MUS is open for business.  I wake up VERY early, so you'll probably read it here first.

"My son doesn't know why he has a demerit."

This is a common question that I've heard in person several times, but it showed up in Blogmail for the first time this weekend.  :)

First of all, in what I would estimate to be 80% of instances, your son knows exactly why he has a demerit; he just doesn't want to tell you why he has a demerit. 

One of the funnier episodes of last year came when one of our boys received two demerits, and went to Mr. Tyler to ask why he received them.  Since Mr. Tyler is a disciplined record keeper, he told the boy who assigned each demerit, what each was for, and when they were assigned by the teacher.  The following day, Saturday, the boy came to serve his demerits, and his mother confronted Mr. Tyler wanting to know how her son was supposed to learn from demerits when he had no idea what he had done to deserve them.  Mr. Tyler calmly turned to the boy, and asked him whether he knew why he had received his demerits.  The boy, realizing that a trip to the Honor Council was on the line if he answered untruthfully, answered that he did know and told his mother the exact details of the demerit.  Needless to say, the mother retracted her criticism of the system.  :)  Don't worry, a lot of MUS faculty and administration were boys ourselves long ago, so we know what parents have to deal with.

In the other 20% of cases, I do believe that your son doesn't know why he received a demerit, but the reason for that situation is that he was a combination of forgetfulness and laziness.  When a teacher assigns a demerit, the student is told at that moment that they have received one.  I've assigned probably four demerits in the past two weeks, and each one was clearly explained (no socks, no homework, talking in class/rudeness to a fellow students, throwing a projectile in the hallway).

Now, we are all aware that some things, particularly unpleasant ones, tend to slip a boy's mind.  Each Thursday, in assembly, Coach Tyler in his stentorian voice announces that the weekly demerit list has been posted.  He also says each week, seemingly unnecessarily, that anyone with questions about their demerit should come to his office and ask for clarification.  And, each week, after the boys cluster around the demerit list to check their fate, some come to Coach Tyler for more details.  Almost Invariably, the boy leaves the office having remembered the offense and its circumstances.  Some plea for leniency, but Mr. Tyler explains that he is an administrator and cannot offer that; leniency can only come from the teacher who assigned the penalty.

Yet, there are still instances when a boy, upon being picked up from school on Friday afternoon and having to ask their parent for a ride to Saturday School the following morning, forgets why he must attend.  I've seen enough boys to know that some truly have forgotten, even if they were told only the day before or a few hours earlier.  More probably hope that temporary amnesia may shift some of their parents discontent toward the school and away from them.

Sorry, guys!  Now your parents know the whole story.

P.S.  We don't post offenses on the demerit list because we don't want to embarrass the offenders.  I guess we could, but we'd probably get more complaints had we done that.

What's for lunch

Inspired by one of our Blogmails, I realized that some of you may not know that the weekly MUS lunch menu is online.  Some students are convinced that there is a sinister rotation designed to serve all the most popular lunch choices on the same day, so students have to choose between them; they may be right.

The menu's location on the MUS website is completely hidden, unless you realize that it's tucked away on the dropdown list of frequently used pages on the MUS homepage.  It's funny how it got on there; it wasn't originally one of the few locations to be listed on that dropdown, but Perry Dement, MUS Director of Advancement, who reads it each day, made an impassioned request for its inclusion.  Perry may be Sodexho's biggest fan (he's particularly fond of their desserts).   Yesterday, he got a sneak peek at their newest experiment -- deep-fried macaroni and cheese nuggets.  He said it was delicious before running off to check his cardiac treatment benefits on the MUS health plan.

If you'd like us to add the MUS Lunch menu to the blog's list of Useful links, drop us a blogmail and let us know.

Saturday School Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

As I sit here proctoring the first session of Lower School Saturday School for 2006-2007, what better to do than let you know a little more about this MUS institution.

When a Lower School student gets a demerit, that student is required to attend Saturday School the following Saturday.  To give students and parents enough notice, the Saturday School list is posted first thing each Thursday morning; any offenses worthy of a demerit that occur after the list is posted will be served the following Saturday.

Q.  What is "Saturday School"?

A.  Well, it's not really school, though it does take place at school.  Lower School students with demerits are required to come into school on Saturday morning as a penalty for their offense.

Q.  When does Saturday School start and where does it take place?

A.  7 a.m. SHARP.  It's very important for your son to be at Saturday School on time (just as it will be important in his future for him to get his taxes filed on time).  Saturday School takes place in the Dunavant Lecture Hall of the Lower School, where your son goes for study hall and Lower School assemblies.

Q.  What do boys have to wear to Saturday School?

A.  General weekday school dress code is in effect.  Failure to dress properly may result in additional demerits and another visit to Saturday School.

Q.  What does my son have to bring to Saturday School?

A.  He must bring a pencil and writing paper.   Failure to bring the required materials may result in additional demerits and another visit to Saturday School.

Q.  What does my son do in Saturday School?

A.  He sits in silence and writes out rules from George Washington's Rules of Civility.  This is a traditional penalty at MUS designed to be unpleasant while subliminally infusing some worthwhile thoughts about proper conduct of a gentleman.  One of my MUS classmates, bestselling author Hampton Sides, has said that writing Washington's Rules of Civility is one of his clearest memories from his days in the Lower School.

Q.  What happens if my family is going out of town or otherwise committed when my son has to go to Saturday School?

A.  In most instances, that won't be an excuse for your son to be absent from Saturday School.  As Joe Tyler is fond of saying to the boys, "Gentlemen, if you have tickets to the UT game in Knoxville next weekend, then you should be very careful not to do anything that would get you a demerit."  Obviously, if there is some unforeseeable emergency, the school will deal with that situation reasonably on a case-by-case basis.

Q.  What happens if my son is absent from Saturday School?

A.  In general, his penalty is doubled and must be served the following two Saturdays.  One 30-minute Saturday School becomes two 30-minute Saturday School served in consecutive weeks.  Missing two Saturday Schools usually results in an in-school suspension.

Q.  What happens if my son is late to Saturday School?

A.  In general, being late to Saturday School is equivalent to having missed Saturday School completely.  Being on time is part of the penalty, and allowing students to arrive late subverts the disciplinary value of Saturday School.  As I would recommend for any important appointment (job interview, IRS audit, etc.), students should err on the side of being a few minutes early rather than a few minutes late.

Q.  My son received the demerit, but Saturday School inconveniences me because I have to drive him there and waste my time sitting in the MUS parking lot or otherwise killing time.  Why don't you just penalize my son?

A.  The Lower School tried that at one point, but Saturday School is a much more effective penalty.  To be honest, we like our parents, but Saturday School is designed to inconvenience both the boy and his parents; that way, boy, parent and school are all on the same side in working together to encourage proper in-school conduct.

When we just assigned sets of rules for infractions, some boys would toil away on them time after time, but their parents remained oblivious to their sons' conduct shortcomings.  As a result, despite the encouragement of the school and escalating penalties, the student's conduct would not improve because there was no support from home.

Saturday School is an extremely efficient method of encouraging parents to take an active interest in their sons' conduct at school.  We expect that in many cases, improved conduct/discipline at school will translate into improved conduct/discipline at home, so there's a benefit to the family from this process.

Since most Lower School students need a parent's assistance to get them to Saturday School, they need to tell their parents each time they get a demerit.  This provides an excellent opportunity for the parent to ask their son about the infraction and encourage them not to try harder.

As Clay mentioned in Lower School orientation, approximately 50% of the boys finished last year with no demerits and consequently had no Saturday Schools, proving it is very possible for boys to flourish within the rules set out for them.  Many other boys incurred only one or two demerits, supporting the idea that a visit to Saturday School (and dealing with an unhappy parent before and after Saturday School) is a powerful incentive for most boys to achieve proper in-school conduct.

If you have more questions about Saturday School, pass them along, and I'll add them to this post.

Progress Reports, Grades, and You

We've been getting a lot of questions from anxious parents about how they receive progress reports and grades from MUS.  So, after talking with Mr. Rick Broer, our Academic Dean, I'm going to do my best to clarify a few things.

The end of the 1st progress report period this year is Friday, September 8th (yes, tomorrow!).   On Monday, your son's teachers will put together his progress report (non-procrastinating teachers will get a head start on it this weekend).  Each teacher will give your son a letter grade and a comment.  Those grades will be entered on Monday.  You might have noticed an entry in the 2006-2007 MUS calendar that says "Progress Report Grades Recorded".  That is really for teachers -- it has no relevance to parents (which is why it's not on our Lower School online calendar -- it just confuses people).  The progress report grades themselves are then checked over for errors, omissions, or inconsistencies and should be online at the end of that week (September 15th) or the following Monday (September 18th).  That's when you can go online and read them.

OK, now how are you going to go online and read them?  I have been told that there is a mailing going out tomorrow that will contain the username, password, and instructions you will need to access your son's grades.  From personal experience, I recommend that you a) store that password or whatever you change the password to  in a secure place and b) that you do NOT share the password with your son.  There's nothing terrible about following neither of those recommendations, but I do know how boys are, and if you give them the password, then they can also change the password to something else (locking you out); this may prove to be an irresistable temptation for boys whose progress reports don't accurately reflect what they've been telling you about their grades.  You may also want to look at your son's assignment book (where he has been instructed to record his grades in each class) and see if it matches what his teachers report.

Some advice from me: Don't panic!  I know that for my classes, we've only had a handful of quizzes (4) and one test.  The quarter itself will probably have 20 quizzes and 3 tests, and even the quarter only represents 37.5% of your son's semester grade; a progress report grade is a lot like an early first quarter score from your favorite sporting event because there's so much time left.  In most cases, the boys will be a "little ahead" or a "little behind" -- and those young men will benefit from some positive encouragment.  For the few who are far behind, this is an opportunity to encourage your son to see his teacher and talk to us.  It's ironic that the students who need our help the most are almost invariably those least likely to come to see us; you can help your son to help himself by having him come see his teacher.

The other thing to pay close attention to is the comments, particularly in areas where your son is not performing up to his or your expectations.  In many cases, your teacher may point out some areas where he needs to expend more effort or some ideas for him to improve.  If the suggestions are unclear, you can e-mail the teacher and ask for more information, or even better, have your son come to see his teacher and report back to you the key points of their conversation.  It's a great opportunity for you to give your son a little responsibility and independence.

I hope this is helpful.  If you have comments or questions, drop us some Blogmail, and we'll elaborate further.

Clay's Open House Presentation

I mentioned before that this would be made available, and here it is in PDF format.

The original PowerPoint document was very large, so I had to compress the file to avoid your having to wait forever to download it;  As a result, some of the images aren't as sharp as they were when shown publicly.

If you have thoughts on the presentation, please send them along using our feedback form -- I know Clay would be especially interested in hearing them.

Holiday Gift-giving at MUS

We are getting some great questions from our readers, and one prompted this post.

I'm not sure of the MUS stance regarding gifts for teachers. Could you please post on the blog the policy for giving teacher gifts at MUS during the Christmas season? Are gifts typically given to teachers at all? Is it expected and encouraged, or discouraged? If gifts are given, what is an acceptable dollar amount to spend? Any gift ideas? Thank you.

What a good question!  I know there are lots of parents who probably wonder about this, but have never felt that there was a forum where they could ask anonymously.  Now there is...

I'm not aware of any official gift policy at MUS.  Since the U-Book has nothing listed between "Gambling" and "Gum" (MUS is unsurprisingly against both of them"), I believe there is none.  Microsoft, my former employer, had one (no gifts over $50, I think), and Microsoft Japan had its own creative gift policy where all gifts were pooled and then divided evenly among all staff ("you get two cookies, 6 oz. of eggnog, and the four of you will have to use rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets the poinsettia.")

That being said, here's the scoop on gifts at MUS.  In my four years of teaching, I have received a handful of holiday gifts from parents.  Now it's possible that I'm wildly unpopular, but I expect that my experience is reasonably common.  In all cases, these gifts have been modest -- a holiday snack or a $25 gift certificate to a local bookstore.  In one case, parents made a gift to the MUS annual fund on my behalf as a holiday gift.  I haven't received any larger gifts, though I think they are sometimes given -- a larger gift would have made me uncomfortable and it would have been challenging to decide how to return the gift without offending the generous gift-giver.

I genuinely have appreciated all of the gifts, but I have never expected to receive them and they're certainly not encouraged either by myself or the school.  I spoke this morning to Clay Smythe about the issue, and he's firmly in the anti-gift camp. 

That being said, there is an opportunity to do something nice for teachers that is welcome and appreciated.  Every year, during exams, the MUS Parents Association kindly brings in a fantastic assortment of breakfast/lunch foods for the faculty/staff each morning.  I know that the teachers really look forward to this, and it makes the holidays especially festive; it's also nice to get to meet some of the parents who participate in making these goodies possible.

Linda and Hank Hill are this year's chairpeople for Lower School Hospitality, so they would probably be the ones to contact if you're interested in participating -- their contact information is in the U-Book.

Thanks for the question, and if you have others, please feel free to send them along.

Grade Expectations

One thing that I mention to students this time of year that probably bears mentioning to parents is that the MUS grading system is asymmtetric.  "Asymmetric"?  OK, I am a geek, and a math geek at that.

The interval for A's, B's, and C's are all 10 points, but the interval for D's is only 5 points.  The reason why this is important is that it is not particularly hard for a student to slip from a 70 (C-) to a 64 (F).  In fact, a student with a 72 is as close to an F as he is to a B-.

Thanksgiving and thoughts of holiday celebrations, vacations, and the arrival of the Xbox 360 can have a tendency to take a boy's eye off the ball.  You may want to remind your son that he will enjoy his winter holiday much more if he has done his best during the preceding few weeks.  If he does that, your holiday season should be merrier, as well.

Open House Presentation

Coming soon...
Link to Mr. Smythe's presentation for MUS Open House to prospective parents