The end of an era

[hiddenmuse]

Out Damn Spot!

Yes, it's the end of Red Ink in schools. Apparently, there are parents that think of it as being "too traumatic" on their sprogs' egos.

Pardon me while I cry a river, and call for the waaahmbulance to pick you up.

What have we come to, that kids are being coddled to this point? That red ink is "damaging" to their fragile self-esteems, and teachers are going to other colors, like purple and blue - because they're more "feel-good" colors?

I don't know about anyone else, but red ink worked for me. It pointed out where I did wrong - and how to make it right. And isn't that the point? It certainly didn't traumatize me - or anyone else I grew up with.

Then again, we also made mud pies, ran with scissors, turned appliance boxes into majestic castles and (sometimes) ate paste in kindergarten for a cheap thrill. Yet, we turned out okay.

Comments

[kathykat.livejournal.com]

what gets me is those parents (and I see alot of them in my career) that are afraid to tell their kid no...come ON!

unfortunately I'm not allowed to grab any of those adults by the shoulders and just shake them....

:/

[hiddenmuse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it would be nice to shake those parents back to reality.

What is wrong with disciplining kids? People are so afraid to lay a hand on their children - so afraid to say NO to their every whim - it's disturbing.

And then, they'll bitch and whine when their kids become sociopaths.

[kathykat.livejournal.com]

exactly! once I was late for a function at the fire station and a parent from my classroom looked at me in the parking lot and said, "I can't get my child to get into the car..." This as I was rushing to get into my own car...I told her to just pick her child up and put her in, and she did! It was like a Zen moment for her!

Sheesh!

[hiddenmuse.livejournal.com]

Oh man - I don't know whether to laugh or cry on that one.

Yes, kids should be given some independence - but at the same time, they do need to be taught limits on that independence and respect for other people!

[kathykat.livejournal.com]

Word!

[among-the-waves.livejournal.com]

When I was in AmeriCorps, on one of my projects I was supervising an afterschool program where kids could stay after, have a snack and play quietly for a bit, but then they had to buckle down and start studying. Of course, some of them had issues with this. One day I was informed that I was allowed to kick misbehaving kids out (as it was after school and the school had no official responsibility for the kids). That was a beautiful, beautiful day. I only had to kick a couple kids out, then they all started listening to me! Funny that they whined about having to do homework, but that getting kicked out was this horrible thing.

[hiddenmuse.livejournal.com]

Strange what motivates some kids, isn't it? They get pissy about having to do homework - but when they're threatened with being sent home, they shape up. Go figure!

[among-the-waves.livejournal.com]

One kid in particular could NOT focus on his homework. Until one day I said, "I bet you can't do all those math problems in one minute!" And then he worked his ass off. I don't know why that was a good motivator for him, but it worked well whenever I tried it.