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<p>Selective enforcement??? Whoever would think that was a good idea??? So only punish those that will “accept” the punishment. Yeah, right.</p>
<p>Detention is a stupid punishment. Those kids who live near the school and can easily walk home don’t particularly mind, so it doesn’t serve as a deterrent to misbehavior for them. But for those kids who live far from the school and travel to school by bus, it is a huge problem – mostly for the parent – to arrange safe transportation home. So for these kids, detention, which leads to extreme angst at home, is a huge deterrent – more of one than it should be because detention is intended as a punishment for minor misbehavior.</p>
<p>I suppose this is part of the rationale for choosing punishments that teachers can easily enforce, such as lunch detention or missing recess – although I suspect that some kids who are bullied or ostracized during recess may deliberately misbehave in order to be excluded from recess, which is not what the school had in mind.</p>
<p>youdontsay
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<p>My kids also went to public schools and never had the situation anxiousmom describes. However, for people stuck going to a school which is underperforming or is in any way fubar, giving them a choice is the right thing to do. Do unto others… Charter schools are, by the way, pubic schools as well.</p>
<p>Kids who are a handful in the classroom usually need MORE opportunity for verbalization and physical movement, not less. For example, many of them would benefit from sitting on a huge rubber ball instead of a chair, and would perform better if given tests verbally. </p>
<p>Yes, all kids need to learn to sit still and be good readers and writers. But some children are hard-wired differently, and may be visual learners or some other kind of learners. The one-size-fits-all approach to school doesn’t work. I personally really value these uber quirky kids, since there are a few health problems in my family for which one of them may find a cure. Rarely is the well behaved, perfect child destined to be the future Einstein or Edison.</p>
<p>When I was a kid, we had 35 in a classroom and everyone was expected to behave. Some say why isn’t that ideal possible today? I say it didn’t work back then, so let’s be honest with ourselves. Most kids with learning disabilities or behavior problems were pushed to the margins and came out of childhood with emotional scars. When it comes to learning differences, we don’t yet have perfection, but it is certainly a much better world.</p>
<p>Often in the winter the lunch monitors would decide it was too cold to go out on the playground so they’d have the kids watch movies. They were so wiggly my son’s first grade teacher would take them out herself. Most of the disruptive kids need a safe place and way to be disruptive not silent lunch. (My son’s best friend had a wonderful teacher who used to let him prowl around the back of the classroom - he was a wonderful smart curious kid, I adored him, but more than a little ADHD.)</p>
<p>Schools usually have gyms- and they can stagger the time so that the classes still have gross motor play.
My younger daughters school however- went outside, every single day- period.
( but we live in Seattle- not North Dakota)</p>
<p>Our elementary schools have wimpy rainy and inclement day weather policies. If the hint of precipitation is in the air, they bring the kiddoes inside for movies. Ridiculous.</p>
<p>This thread just further convinces me that IF (and that’s a Big if) I ever have a child, I plan on sending them to a democratic/integral school, such as one that follows the Sudbury model. I want my children to study what they want and to do it on their own timetable.</p>
<p>My parents were told with both my brother and I, that we should be held back in Kindergarten, which they didn’t do for either of us. Neither of us learned to read in Kindergarten. Neither of us learned to read using Phonics; we both had trouble with that. However, we both had excellent memories and our mom working with us on memorizing words is what got us started on reading. We both can read, but neither of us read books for fun - we both read for informational purposes, and newspaper/magazine/internet articles are more our cup of tea for entertainment. </p>
<p>When I entered first grade I was in remedial reading and advanced math - I had a clear strong set. A few years later and I was in the advanced group for both math and reading. I eventually scored equally well on the math and verbal sections of SAT, and pursued a major in college that was reading and writing intensive. Now I’m working on the math-intensive course of study. I really just needed to learn things in a way that worked for me and on my own schedule.</p>
<p>Both my brother and I are living lives that make our parent’s proud. He’s an excellent father and husband, who is respected as a leader in his work life, and is financially sound. I graduated college in 3 years with honors, spent 2 years as a FT Americorps volunteer, and now work for a company that wants to promote me faster than I’d like.</p>
<p>Doing poorly in Kindergarten does not doom your nephew for life. He’s probably all of 5 years old - let him be a kid. When he feels the need, he will learn to read.</p>