BlogHer - K-12 - Comments

I live in Delaware...

mamalang — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:58:27 -0600

I've sent my daughter's to school with a kiwi spoon...it has a serated edge on one side to cut the skin. Now I think twice about that. Luckily, our school and the administrators have common sense, but what their hands are tied? This situation scares me, as there was the inital cry for justice here, but once things were "cleared up", the whole thing seems to be swept under the rug. I will be asking our legislators to pass that bill this year.

But yes, anything can become a weapon, including fists and words. My daughter goes to one of the top schools in the state, and was still attacked her freshman year by another girl. I appreciated the level of progressive discipline the school provided...suspension until the parents came to school for a meeting, and when she was reinstated, the girl could not be located in any class with my daughter, so had to have her schedule changed. She also managed to do this the first day of mid-terms, so her grades were demolished, as she couldn't take them. I'm hopeful that this was a momentary lack of judgement, and that she learned something from the situation, and I'm happy that my daughter has never had to deal with her again.

mamalang

Issue

Bethany Strickland — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:04:44 -0600

Let's add another issue to this problem. Political correctness. I have lived long enough to know that there are individuals and groups out there who want to run everyone's lives because they think many people are too dumb to understand the problem. Does anyone think a six year old means anyone any harm? Let the principal and the teachers run the school. These do gooders do much more harm than good. casino en ligne

Zero tolerance is stupid

annieand — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:00:17 -0600

I am a foster parent, who ended up having to commit a child to a psych hospital because of zero tolerance, which after much investigating wasn't. She was a deaf 14 year old girl, she ended up stabbing a boy with violin bow. Yes, I know, deaf and in orchestra, it made for some interesting times. But this boy had been picking on her for weeks. Mocking her speech, grabbing her, poking her. The orchestra teacher was in her first year teaching and was not used to dealing with any special needs. This was the only class this girl was mainstreamed in and the teacher did not immediately deal with any of the kids problems, and let her get by with even more because she was deaf. So when the boy grabbed this girl, she hit him, teacher did nothing. When the boy taunted her, she screamed, teacher did nothing. This went on for two weeks on a daily basis we would find out, finally after weeks of being tortured the girl stabbed the boy with her bow. She broke the skin and was immediately expelled, police were called, I was given the choice of sending her to juvi or a hospital that she had been to before, we chose hospital. had I known all the facts before they hauled her off, they would not have. I admittedly was a little freaked that she had stabbed someone, but after talking to her and getting her side of the story translated I was upset that the teacher had allowed this to happen.

The other zero tolerance story I have, also involves another special needs child. He was living with another family, and had a broken leg upon intake. He was given pain medicine and cleared to return to school. His foster parent was not allowed on campus in the middle of the day and told the child he had to go immediately to the nurses office and give her the meds. The foster parent even told the front office that the kids had narcotics on him and needed to go to the nurses office before going to class. Well, the front office did not write on the hall pass, "nurses office" it just said "return to class' so the boy thought he had to return to class first then ask for a pass to the nurses office. Which he did, only to have his narcotics "seized" and was sent to the principal's office for drug possession and had to be put through the court system because the school had zero tolerance. Eventually he got to tell his story in court and cleared of any charges, but the school wouldn't readmit him because he was a drug courier.

He is a foster child and not allowed to be homeschooled, and the district won't take him in any school, so this foster parent has to drive 30+ miles twice a day to another district that would take him. This foster parent also has 6 special needs children that he has adopted and the whole incident has really affected their whole life.

Both of these incidents could have been cleared up with a conversation. But because teachers can't discipline or assess the situations on a case by case basis, good kids get punished, and the kids they are trying to stop from doing these situations are getting around it some other way.

Even a jump rope is a weapon

Elana Centor — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:58:12 -0600

BS report has it right. The fact is a pencil, a pen, blunt scissors and even a jump rope can be a weapon in the wrong hands. Suspending children is simply overkill.

Years ago we were working on a promotion for kids and wanted to giveaway jump ropes. The client, who was from Europe, adamently opposed the idea.

When we asked her why, she did the universal symbol for chocking someone with a rope. Now, every time I see a jump rope......

elana Blogher Contributing Editor,Business&Careers FunnyBusiness

Gah! Zero tolerance policies

Lisse — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:54:52 -0600

BS Report's suggestion is exactly what schools should be doing. It's what was done 20 years ago and what could be expected to diffuse a lot of mistakes made by kids without making them feel like criminals.

What a way to turn a kid off of school!

- Lisse

@ Home in the World: International Adoption and Other Travels

I have vivid memories of

caterpillarmom — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:32:58 -0600

I have vivid memories of high school teachers and college professors who delighted in the fact that they "never gave As.....". It continues to confuse me. If the purpose of a test is to determine what the students have learned, and they fail, who looks bad?

We are choosing to focus on Lauren's accomplishments, rather than her (apparent) shortcomings.

Is my geology professor teaching 4th grade?

9to5to9 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:24:30 -0600

This sounds exactly like what happened to me my sophomore year in college. The professor was a fascinating, riveting lecturer. The test were standaradized and from the text-book publisher. They had NOTHING to do with the lecture because the professor never lectured from the book.

OK, I get that college students are adults and, as such, responsible for reading the book and attending the lecture. But there shouldn't be THAT much of a disconnect.

It's even more disturbing that it's happening to your daugher in FOURTH GRADE. That's truly a time for kids to learn the big picture rather than trying to trip them up on every little detail. I realize that many school systems are all about memorization, but, really? Can a kid memorize the entire text? And even if she could, to what end?

Debra Legg
9to5to9

There is no doubt that "the

trendoffice — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:55:46 -0600

There is no doubt that "the benefits of Internet use to their academic and intellectual development can be substantial" - that is their way of learning. And think for a moment - doesn't this persuit of faster and easier expression develop flexibility and fast reactions? Our children think faster than us, react faster than us.

What some of them lack is eternal values, knowledge about them and that is our fault. We have not spent the necessary time with them sharing our values or have not found the suitable way to convey the importance of spiritual values - our children had to learn fast to be practical, because they have lived in a different society. On the other hand, we have also a lot to learn from them.

And there is another reason for staying on-line all the time - lack of real communication within the families. I know from experience that children need to attract their attention, arouse their curiosity.

trendoffice

Gifts for Teachers

cmg1111 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:12:41 -0600

Thanks for having the guts to tell it like it is! I know a lot of parents (eg, above two comments) grate at the idea of giving a "practical" gift. But most of the teachers I spoke to while researching my article on choosing a gift for a teacher echoed your comments: it's not that they don't appreciate handmade gifts or sentimental gestures, but eventually it's just kitsch overload.

If it's not your style to give something practical like a gift card or office supplies, all teachers will appreciate a heartfelt thank you note (maybe on a handmade card?) -- it's certainly not about spending a lot of money; just about not wasting money on "apple for teacher" and similar kitsch that no one can use!

~Emily
Christmas Gifts for Teachers

PS: Be careful about giving edibles: some schools don't allow teachers to eat homemade foods they've been given as a gift.

I am a huge fan of the writing.

Rita Arens — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:57:40 -0600

I honestly think being forced to regularly write -- using any language necessary -- helps kids format their thoughts better. I am a fan of the written word generation.

Rita Arens writes at Surrender Dorothy and BlogHer and is the editor of Sleep is for the Weak.

Latest Study from Pew says Social Networking ain't too bad

Devra Renner — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:04:04 -0600

I'll be getting a post up shortly about the Pew study regarding social isolation and new technology. Seems things have changed quite a bit in just a few years and social scientists who once determined internet contributed negatively to socialization may have to rethink things.

www.parentopia.com/blog

rocket balloons

Danielle Wood - Education.com — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:34:52 -0600

We gave a rocket balloon kit to a friend of my son's as a birthday present. It actually took over the party. Really funny watching the expressions on all the kids' faces as the balloons spun around!

Thanks!

Danielle Wood - Education.com — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:33:32 -0600

Thanks for commenting :) It was really fun going through piles and piles of this stuff. A lot of it was junk, but I think we really found some gems. I was a little nervous there for awhile-- after we said we'd find so many gifts under $10, but actually, I was pretty surprised by how far it can go sometimes...

I agree with Kiran about the "social" aspect

Stephanie ODea — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:59:13 -0600

I find that when I spend the majority of my day online, answering emails, reading tweets or writing blog posts, I am not as happy as the days when I limit my online usage to purely work, and then go outside and interract with real people. My children are still quite young (5 and 8), but as of now are not playing computer games or texting. They do each have a DS and like whatever that thing is that allows you to send instant messages to each other through it, but I limit the use.

I'm not concerned about their ability to utilize technology when they are older, it'll come, and fast, the same way it did with all of us. I think being able to hold a conversation with people of all ages is a valuable skill, and one I worry will be lost if the day is whittled away from behind a screen.

I'm also one of those whacky ones who cancels the cable every summer, though. :-)

xoxo steph

totallytogetherjournal.com and crockpot365.blogspot.com

Culture of Cheating

Gina Carroll — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:58:56 -0600

Yes, Our kids live in a culture of cheating. I do think that when 50% or more folks admit to cheating, the whole perception of what is and is not cheating has to gotten very blurred! And I do think that inadvertent plagiarism is a problem-- how to give credit properly; how to express a thought in your own words. Kids lift text for convenience and are sloppy about also lifting the correct reference info, etc. The Internet does indeed make it easier to fudge.

And the whole buying papers online... crazy, no?!?!

Think Act: Proactive Black Parenting