Re: Texas schools using police to ticket elementary kids
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 12:17 am
Ameer, I understand your points and would agree with them completely... if this thread were not about elementary school kids. In Texas, most middle schools start with 6th grade which means that the highest grade level that you have in an elementary is 5th grade. If you use the logic that most kids start 1st grade at age 6, the 5th graders are going to be in the 10-11yo range.
I freely admit that in some places, 10yos can be street hardened punks but don't believe that is the norm. I would also submit that while dealing the an LEO might scare the stuffing out of most elementary aged kids, those that are street hardened are not going to be influenced any more by an LEO than a street hardened 16yo is.
As a certified teacher, I believe that there is and has been an abdication of responsibility by school administrations and some teachers as well as parents. This is the same mentality that provides social promotions and zero tolerance policies. It helps those involved avoid having to try to deal with difficult students. Let's just turn them over to the police or better yet ignore them completely.
I realize and fully agree that there are some kids for whom interaction with the law may be the only solution. But it also should be a last resort. It is almost ironic that another thread running right now shows how making things fun can get adults to do things that they wouldn't other wise do like take the stairs instead of an escalator or use hand sanitizer in a flu epidemic. We've turned many schools into such miserable, totalitarian environments that are almost devoid of the joy over learning because they are run by the same kind of power hungry control freaks that take up positions in our governments. No wonder kids don't want to go and rebel when they are there. A politically correct, one size fits all method of education works for very few kids. The smart ones are bored and the slower ones are lost. From such environments, discipline problems can run rampant. Good teaching is about inspiring the kids, even the tough to reach ones. There are great stories about teachers and administrators in some of the toughest areas our country turning their schools around even at the high school level. At the elementary school level, if you have dozens of kids with no alternatives besides LEOs, you are doing something wrong.
I freely admit that in some places, 10yos can be street hardened punks but don't believe that is the norm. I would also submit that while dealing the an LEO might scare the stuffing out of most elementary aged kids, those that are street hardened are not going to be influenced any more by an LEO than a street hardened 16yo is.
As a certified teacher, I believe that there is and has been an abdication of responsibility by school administrations and some teachers as well as parents. This is the same mentality that provides social promotions and zero tolerance policies. It helps those involved avoid having to try to deal with difficult students. Let's just turn them over to the police or better yet ignore them completely.
I realize and fully agree that there are some kids for whom interaction with the law may be the only solution. But it also should be a last resort. It is almost ironic that another thread running right now shows how making things fun can get adults to do things that they wouldn't other wise do like take the stairs instead of an escalator or use hand sanitizer in a flu epidemic. We've turned many schools into such miserable, totalitarian environments that are almost devoid of the joy over learning because they are run by the same kind of power hungry control freaks that take up positions in our governments. No wonder kids don't want to go and rebel when they are there. A politically correct, one size fits all method of education works for very few kids. The smart ones are bored and the slower ones are lost. From such environments, discipline problems can run rampant. Good teaching is about inspiring the kids, even the tough to reach ones. There are great stories about teachers and administrators in some of the toughest areas our country turning their schools around even at the high school level. At the elementary school level, if you have dozens of kids with no alternatives besides LEOs, you are doing something wrong.