Left Seater wrote:So rather than teach your child a lesson that words have consequences and he needs to own up to what he said and be a man, you are going to allow him to transfer? Excellent parenting there, but hardly surprised based on your previously posted parenting actions.
There is the root cause of so many issues with today's kids. Parents don't discipline them for their actions, instead they point the finger at the authority figure and coddle their kids and tell them it isn't their fault. Sadly, these parents are just hurting their kids in the long run. I sadly have first hand knowledge around this and have seen it first hand. I was invited to speak to two 3rd grade classes and incorporate a math lesson into a discussion about flying. One boy was loud and disruptive and wouldn't pass along the show and tell items I brought. After a warning I told him he would have to go sit in the hall and miss the rest of the time if he didn't pass the items along and stop talking. He didn't and I sent him outside. The teacher backed up my discipline and I thought nothing more of it. Problem was the mom was pissed her kid missed out on the rest of the lesson and talk because her kid loves planes and wants to be a pilot. Next thing you know I am in a meeting with the teacher, principal and mother. I listened to her jump the teacher and principal before I read her the riot act and told her exactly what I thought of her and how I was sorry for her kid in that he had her as a mother. I also threw in that I knew the school employees couldn't say what they wanted to say less she run to the school board and try to get them fired.
Lefty, I agree with this in general principle. That being said, however, any discipline has to be reasonable. I happen to think that what you did to that kid was reasonable, and that what Schnick's kid's coaches are doing to him in consideration of Schmick's kid's behavior -- insubordination and instigating a fight with a teammate -- is reasonable. If it is not, however, I will speak out in support of my kid, and sadly, I have plenty of experience with that.
When my son was in fourth grade, he acted out, and his teacher made him stand in a corner with his back to his class, and asked the class whether they'd ever felt threatened or intimidated by him. Mind you, this was in 2007, not 1947.
Another time, my kid was stumped on a math problem, and went to the same teacher for help. She showed him a way to answer the problem, then told him to return to his desk and write out his work the same way she told him. He went back to his desk, thought about the problem some more, then figured out a different way to reach the correct answer, and did it that way. The teacher wrote a referral on him for insubordination due to the fact that he didn't follow her instructions. Thing is, one of the major problems with education in our country is that we graduate far too many kids from high school who don't have a clue how to think for themselves. And that's exactly what my kid did that time, albeit in a minor manner. But he should have been praised for that, not punished.
Another time, he punched a classmate and received a three-day out-of-school suspension. I didn't have a problem with that, until I found out that another of his classmates did the same thing, and the only consequence that classmate received was that school officials notified his parents. Of course, the other kid was viewed as a star athlete. My kid is a good athlete but wasn't viewed as one of the star athletes.
Things got so bad that when it came time for his sister to start school, we put her in a Catholic school, mostly because we were afraid that she'd walk in with a label before she ever started, and that she'd be punished for minor things that they wouldn't even bother punishing other kids for.
I wouldn't wish the school district I live in on my worst enemy, and I honestly think that the best thing for both my kids would be to move to a different school district and give them a fresh start. Unfortunately, my wife grew up in this town, has lived here all her life, and thinks that it's a little slice of heaven here on earth. Getting her to move would be like pulling teeth.
Rant over.
