Comments on: Reform school for a 6-year-old http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/10/reform-school-for-a-6-year-old/ Free-linking and thinking on education by Joanne Jacobs Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:05:40 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Richard Aubrey http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/10/reform-school-for-a-6-year-old/comment-page-1/#comment-101343 Richard Aubrey Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:13:34 +0000 http://www.joannejacobs.com/?p=11554#comment-101343 mom. wrt your last. Told privately? I thought it was public policy. mom.
wrt your last. Told privately? I thought it was public policy.

]]> By: momf4 http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/10/reform-school-for-a-6-year-old/comment-page-1/#comment-101340 momf4 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:42:39 +0000 http://www.joannejacobs.com/?p=11554#comment-101340 Richard, I think that is part of it. Both schools and teachers have become progressively less boy-friendly over the past decades. Normal boy behavior has been redefined as abnormal (ADD,ADHD), probably needing medication (ritalin). I could see the change clearly, since there are 11 years between my oldest and my youngest, but the changes are also unpopular with girls who have no desire to focus on emotions and artsy-crafty projects most of the time. There is also the desire on the part of schools/districts to have racial/ethnic equality across disciplinary actions. I have been told, privately, that there is often pressure to ignore inappropriate, sometimes even threatening, behaviors from favored minorities and magnifiy minor infractions from whites and Asians. Richard, I think that is part of it. Both schools and teachers have become progressively less boy-friendly over the past decades. Normal boy behavior has been redefined as abnormal (ADD,ADHD), probably needing medication (ritalin). I could see the change clearly, since there are 11 years between my oldest and my youngest, but the changes are also unpopular with girls who have no desire to focus on emotions and artsy-crafty projects most of the time.

There is also the desire on the part of schools/districts to have racial/ethnic equality across disciplinary actions. I have been told, privately, that there is often pressure to ignore inappropriate, sometimes even threatening, behaviors from favored minorities and magnifiy minor infractions from whites and Asians.

]]> By: Richard Aubrey http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/10/reform-school-for-a-6-year-old/comment-page-1/#comment-101336 Richard Aubrey Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:56:30 +0000 http://www.joannejacobs.com/?p=11554#comment-101336 Miller. They have, and recoiled in horror. Miller. They have, and recoiled in horror.

]]> By: Jim Miller http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/10/reform-school-for-a-6-year-old/comment-page-1/#comment-101325 Jim Miller Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:32:48 +0000 http://www.joannejacobs.com/?p=11554#comment-101325 Ben - Legislature's fault or school boards's fault? After putting up my comment, I read other articles and decided I may have been too one-sided. The legislature apparently took discretion away from the schools, and then the school wrote a rule with punishment for the worst case. (Interestingly, one school board member said that school officials should have ignored their own rule!) So, my guess is that both are at fault. Finally, I wonder whether many of the people who make these laws and these rules have observed any normal boys. Ben – Legislature’s fault or school boards’s fault? After putting up my comment, I read other articles and decided I may have been too one-sided.

The legislature apparently took discretion away from the schools, and then the school wrote a rule with punishment for the worst case. (Interestingly, one school board member said that school officials should have ignored their own rule!)

So, my guess is that both are at fault.

Finally, I wonder whether many of the people who make these laws and these rules have observed any normal boys.

]]> By: Folio Weekly's Best Of » Urban Jacksonville Wins Best Jacksonville … | Skateboarding Leisure Knowledge http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/10/reform-school-for-a-6-year-old/comment-page-1/#comment-101324 Folio Weekly's Best Of » Urban Jacksonville Wins Best Jacksonville … | Skateboarding Leisure Knowledge Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:20:49 +0000 http://www.joannejacobs.com/?p=11554#comment-101324 [...] Reform school for a 6-year-old « Joanne Jacobs [...] [...] Reform school for a 6-year-old « Joanne Jacobs [...]

]]> By: Richard Aubrey http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/10/reform-school-for-a-6-year-old/comment-page-1/#comment-101322 Richard Aubrey Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:32:23 +0000 http://www.joannejacobs.com/?p=11554#comment-101322 david. You're probably right. The goons who got the high school kid got an Eagle Scout, a National Guardsman and a West Point candidate all in one. A lib educrat's wet dream. A trifecta. david.
You’re probably right.

The goons who got the high school kid got an Eagle Scout, a National Guardsman and a West Point candidate all in one. A lib educrat’s wet dream. A trifecta.

]]> By: david foster http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/10/reform-school-for-a-6-year-old/comment-page-1/#comment-101316 david foster Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:19:11 +0000 http://www.joannejacobs.com/?p=11554#comment-101316 Here's the end point of this kind of thinking: http://www.bookwormroom.com/2009/10/14/britain-yet-again-reveals-the-danger-of-allowing-regulations-to-sap-initiative/ Here’s the end point of this kind of thinking:

http://www.bookwormroom.com/2009/10/14/britain-yet-again-reveals-the-danger-of-allowing-regulations-to-sap-initiative/

]]> By: david http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/10/reform-school-for-a-6-year-old/comment-page-1/#comment-101315 david Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:13:31 +0000 http://www.joannejacobs.com/?p=11554#comment-101315 maybe the school bureaucrats suspended the kid b/c they were worried that the next time they suspend a kid for bringing a genuine weapon to school--and the suspended kid happens to be a racial minority-- they would be vulnerable to charges of racism if they aren't draconian w/ all kids. that's the best explanation for their brain death that i can come up with. maybe the school bureaucrats suspended the kid b/c they were worried that the next time they suspend a kid for bringing a genuine weapon to school–and the suspended kid happens to be a racial minority– they would be vulnerable to charges of racism if they aren’t draconian w/ all kids.

that’s the best explanation for their brain death that i can come up with.

]]> By: nadine http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/10/reform-school-for-a-6-year-old/comment-page-1/#comment-101314 nadine Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:09:06 +0000 http://www.joannejacobs.com/?p=11554#comment-101314 I hope the mother reconsiders and quits her job as PTA President and uses the time to continue home educating her son. Why do we parents continue to put our children (and ourselves) under the authority of such ridiculous, incompetent people? It is good these cases come to the public's attention. The sad thing is the thousands of other little tyrannies public school children must suffer daily at the hands of these people. No wonder children learn to hate school and lose that love of learning they all start life with. Death by a thousand paper cuts! I hope the mother reconsiders and quits her job as PTA President and uses the time to continue home educating her son. Why do we parents continue to put our children (and ourselves) under the authority of such ridiculous, incompetent people? It is good these cases come to the public’s attention. The sad thing is the thousands of other little tyrannies public school children must suffer daily at the hands of these people. No wonder children learn to hate school and lose that love of learning they all start life with. Death by a thousand paper cuts!

]]> By: Margo/Mom http://www.joannejacobs.com/2009/10/reform-school-for-a-6-year-old/comment-page-1/#comment-101313 Margo/Mom Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:50:58 +0000 http://www.joannejacobs.com/?p=11554#comment-101313 "Suspending a 6 year old is a joke- what is he possibly going to learn at his age from it? He’s going to view it as a few days off from school. If he was my kid, I would take him to the movies or something- make it fun day with Dad." Dawg--you just won the bad parent of the year award. I know, I've been there. My six year old was suspended (maybe he was only five) for playing "hot hands" on the school bus with someone he wasn't even supposed to be sitting with. The expectation that comes with this silliness is that "it's up to the parents" to produce kids who are pre-equipped in the behavior area. This is not the school's area. So--the days off are designed to give a "wake-up call" to the parents, make them run around making arrangements for child care, or take time off work, oh and BTW, don't make it FUN, and fix the kid before they get back. “Suspending a 6 year old is a joke- what is he possibly going to learn at his age from it? He’s going to view it as a few days off from school. If he was my kid, I would take him to the movies or something- make it fun day with Dad.”

Dawg–you just won the bad parent of the year award. I know, I’ve been there. My six year old was suspended (maybe he was only five) for playing “hot hands” on the school bus with someone he wasn’t even supposed to be sitting with. The expectation that comes with this silliness is that “it’s up to the parents” to produce kids who are pre-equipped in the behavior area. This is not the school’s area. So–the days off are designed to give a “wake-up call” to the parents, make them run around making arrangements for child care, or take time off work, oh and BTW, don’t make it FUN, and fix the kid before they get back.

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