Trust us, we're infallible.

[David Schneider-Joseph]

I guess this is what happens when you give people this much control over others' lives. They learn to think of themselves as infallible:

> One of my biggest pet peeves is when I tell a mom something her son did and she turns, looks at him and asks, "Is that true?" Well, of course it's true. I just told you. And please don't ask whether a classmate can confirm what happened or whether another teacher might have been present. It only demeans teachers and weakens the partnership between teacher and parent.

"What teachers really want to tell parents"
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/06/living/teachers-want-to-tell-parents/index.html

Usually it's hard to know where to begin to criticize articles on education because of the large numbers of false assumptions they start from. And in this case, there might even be a legitimate criticism of "helicopter parenting" in this article somewhere. But the overriding, terrifying theme seems to be: "Stand back, we're professionals. Give us unlimited reign over your children."

David

[Mike South]

Here are some helpful phrase translations:

"partnership between teacher and parent" = "united front of unquestionable adult authority comprising, among others, the teacher and parent"

"demeans teachers" = "dares to ask whether a teacher could possibly be mistaken"

Here's another section that blows me away:

My mom just told me a child at a local school wrote on his face with a permanent marker. The teacher tried to get it off with a wash cloth, and it left a red mark on the side of his face.
 The parent called the media, and the teacher lost her job. My mom, my very own mother, said, "Can you believe that woman did that?"
I felt hit in the gut. I honestly would have probably tried to get the mark off as well. To think that we might lose our jobs over something so minor is scary.

"something so minor" = assault and battery

I don't even want to think about what kind of person would scrub someone else's kid's face hard enough to leave a mark that was still there when the kid got home from school.  Try that on yourself and see how hard you have to scrub your face to make a mark that doesn't fade away pretty much immediately.  I just scrubbed about as hard as I was willing to for an experiment, and even though it still stings a little, there is no visible mark ten minutes later.

Did the kid ask the teacher to stop scrubbing?  Struggle?  Cry out?  Did the kid even feel like they could do any of those things?  If they did, did it make any difference?

Nothing in this person's mind but a reasonable teacher and a whining parent, but I doubt that tells the whole story.

And this is not to mention the level of presumption that led the teacher to think it was their job to remove that marker.

mike

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Discuss Sudbury Model" group.
   Discuss-sudbury-model is a publicly archived mailing list with many subscribers; be careful about what you choose to send!
   The rules for the list are available at http://groups.google.com/group/discuss-sudbury-model/web/basic-rules-for-the-list
   To post to this group, send email to
discuss-su...@googlegroups.com
   To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
discuss-sudbury-...@googlegroups.com
   Others can subscribe at http://www.sudval.org/07_othe_02.html
   For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/discuss-sudbury-model?hl=en

[David Schneider-Joseph]

And here's a list by the same author of the "essential 55" rules for children's behavior: http://www.perucsd.org/lchen/Essential%2055/55rules.pdf

Some highlights:

"If someone in the class wins a game or does something well, we will congratulate that person. Claps should be at least three seconds in length with the full part of both hands meeting in a manner that will give the appropriate clap volume."

"Always say thank you when I give you something. If you do not say it within 3 seconds after receiving the item, I will take it back. There is no excuse for not showing appreciation."

"Surprise others by performing random acts of kindness. Go our of your way to do something surprisingly kind and generous for someone at least once a month." (But if they don't thank you within 3 seconds, take it away from them, I suppose. There's that double-standard toward children again, which he displayed in the CNN article by dismissing the possibility that his own claims could be false while saying "there's two sides to every story" if a child makes an accusation.)

"Bread (Always tear off a bite-sized piece to eat. If you are going to use butter, never butter the whole piece of bread; butter the piece you tore off, and eat that before tearing another piece.)"

"I am not going to let anyone in this school bully you or make you feel uncomfortable." (Except himself, I guess.)

This guy's just on a power trip.