Diane Wiley wrote: >Did anyone else reading the paper this week have a fit when they saw >that 20,000 kids were suspended in Minnehappiness last year? We have >about 48,000 students in the district. I know that some of these are >repeats, but still.... Around 400 kindergartners, over 1000 2nd >graders. This is lunacy. > I had two fits. One that kids in kindergarten and first grade were being sent home. Another that the information wasn't really there. Like, was it all the schools or just some of the schools. What were the offenses? Fighting? You mean two kindergarteners can't be separated by a teacher? The whole thing smells. WizardMarks, Central
Dave's Comments: I believe this is partly due to the fact that the school system can no longer effectively punish a child at school due to legal fears. The system has responded with a no-tolerance policy in effect sending the kid home to have their parents institute the punishment. Obviously if the punishment at home is not sufficient this policy also fails. I am not that old, but I still remember fearing getting in trouble at school, not so much the pink slip or detention, but what my father would say/do when I got home... As has been discussed in this medium - the education system seems to be broken. I believe that if you speak to teachers - more than money what they would rather have is control of their learning rooms back. To not fear upsetting one, thereby slowing everyone down. To be able to challenge the students that need challenging, and support the ones that need support. That combined with educating parents how they can be teachers at home would be a good start. Dave Held Bancroft _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
