Dr. Id. There was no joke. The joke was Bush's daring use of the term: The New York Times. This is what produced the laughter
You miss the point. The joke is the guy standing there pretending to be the President and ridiculing a paper that he probably has trouble reading without moving his lips.
You should read these posts a little more carefully. It just might prevent you from revealing your biases despite the evidence.
I don't try to hide my biases. And obviously neither do you.
You should try to have more of a sense of humor, though.
Maybe you'll find this funny:
====
Dear Mr. and Mrs. G.H.W. Bush,
Once again, it is that time of year when we update the parents of our
students on their child's progress, and we regret to inform you that
your son, Georgie, is not doing as well as we'd hoped and expected when
he embarked on his four-year program at our school.
As you are well aware, Georgie was installed as class president at the
start of the school year, despite the fact that the majority of his
fellow students did not vote for him. We foresaw problems immediately,
but were assured by several school board members (who, as we understand
it, are friends of your family) that this would not result in any real
difficulty. Unfortunately, they have been proven wrong.
In the area of scholastic achievement, despite our best efforts, Georgie
is still reading and speaking at a grade level far below our usual
standards. At this point, we are not sure if his failure to learn is due
to laziness and a lack of ability to apply himself to his studies, or if
he simply lacks the intellectual capacity to improve in these areas.
His oral presentations to the class are particularly troubling; it is
apparent that Georgie has not read the necessary materials, and he often
simply fabricates facts to hide this shortcoming. In oral exams, he
tends to repeat the same answers over and over, e.g. "The economy is
good; jobs are on their way," indicating a profound failure to keep up
with the Current Events portion of the curriculum. He has a tendency to
mispronounce words and often his word usage and choice of words is,
well, creative.
Georgie also tends to fabricate elaborate stories about himself - which,
admittedly, can sometimes be very amusing. During a school celebration
last May, he delighted his fellow students by coming to class in a
little "flight suit" just like the grown-ups wear, and had everyone in
stitches with his story about the family dog having eaten his report
card from military pre-school!
On the whole, however, Georgie does not play well with other children.
His "leadership" in the classroom continues to divide many students, one
against the other. Other study groups, such as our French and German-
language classes, are no longer willing to co-operate with Georgie's
group, even though they have traditionally done so in the past.
Your son also displays a lack of taking responsibility for his failings,
and seems unable to appreciate the consequences of his actions. Although
he was provided with the best textbooks on the subjects of the Economy,
Job Creation, The Environment, et cetera, these books were damaged or
completely destroyed within a matter of months. Georgie insists that he
"inherited" these books in poor condition, despite all evidence to the
contrary. (In fact, these same textbooks were previously used by one of
our very best students, who actually returned them in better condition
than he found them!)
During his first few weeks with us, Georgie quickly became part of a
group of other "problem students." Despite warnings, he has consistently
befriended children whom we consider to be "bad elements," such as
Little Kenny Lay and a foreign-exchange student named Chalabi. Both of
these youngsters have been expelled from other schools due to their
involvement in cheating other students out of their lunch money. We feel
that these kinds of relationships can only lead to no good, and hope
that you will advise your child accordingly.
Georgie often displays aggressive behaviour in the school yard, and
recently assaulted a student in another school district, completely
unprovoked. When asked about this incident, Georgie insisted that the
other child was armed and dangerous. When investigation into the matter
proved otherwise, Georgie changed his story several times: he was just
trying to "democratize" the other child, the other child's school was
harbouring gang members, and so on. Quite frankly, his story on this
topic has so changed from week to week, we simply can't trust his word
at all anymore.
Georgie's friends, while not great in number, are very loyal, but tend
to be overprotective. If any of the other students point out Georgie's
failing grades, these friends simply shout them down and tell them not
to speak at all. When Georgie was summoned to the principal's office
several weeks ago, he insisted that his "best friend" come with him. We
feel that it is in Georgie's best interest to learn to stand up for
himself; failure to do so could seriously damage his ability to handle a
leadership role in his adult years.
As you are aware, final exams will be held in November, and Georgie's
past performance leads us to conclude that he will not be able to
achieve the grades necessary to continue on with another four-year term
at our institution.
Yours Truly,
Ms. J. Q. Public
Assistant Principal
== |
