TheMudge
The Real Mudge
2410 post s
6-Nov-2007
10:20 PM
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I have this from a teacher. At an elementary school, the children were engaged in some kind of playground activity that involved getting in a circle and holding hands. Two sixth-grade boys (chronic troublemakers) were on either side of a boy whom they didn't like. Before holding his hands, they spit on theirs. The boys' teacher was off doing something else, but the teacher who told this story happened to see the spitting. He strode over to the two boys and asked one, "What's your name?" "Who wants to know?" the sixth grader replied. The teacher who reprimanded the boys reported the incident to their teacher. As a consequence, the spitters were sent to the RTC. "What's the RTC?" I asked.
"The Responsible Thinking Center," he said. In the old days, we would have been sent to the principal's office – a prospect that nearly every kid dreaded and tried very hard to avoid. I wonder what impact the threat of being sent to the "Responsible Thinking Center" (whatever that is) has. Any comments?
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Rich Turner (The Curmudgeon Himself)
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Pogo
101 post s
7-Nov-2007
11:17 AM
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Sounds like a "time-out corner." Have you seen Supernanny (TV show)? Jo Frost does not spank, ever; misbehaving children are sent to the time-out corner or stool. Reminds me of Dennis the Menace sitting in the corner. Supernanny does tell them their behavior is unacceptable, and insists on an apology before they leave the time-out spot. She is really teaching primarily the parents! Before she gets there, the parents have no idea what to do, and the kids are wild. Supernanny establishes routine, and teaches the parents when and how to correct the children. Then she goes away, with cameras watching; she watches the film and then goes back to tell the parents that they do not have it right yet. They have to act on misbehavior right away, not let it go on and on. They must have rules, rather than suggestions. Etc. Do these kids even get a lecture? Pogo
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Brenda
268 post s
7-Nov-2007
5:27 PM
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This reminds me of Farenheit 451, 1984 or Brave New World, but I'll have to read them again to make sure which it is. I hate to sound paranoid, but I think it's a little scary. My dad would have made the culprits spit on their hands again and hold hands with each other. Then he would have told them to quit being jerks, and he would have banned them from the playground. Life is not that complicated.
Last Edited on 7-Nov-2007 5:43 PM
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Pogo
106 post s
10-Nov-2007
11:35 AM
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". . . 'progressive' school . . . amazingly ill run . . . chiefly from excess of pseudo-scientific theory . . ." From Death in Retirement (popular murder mystery), by Josephine Bell, 1956. ("Miss Bell" was actually Dr. Ball.) Pogo
Last Edited on 10-Nov-2007 11:37 AM
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TheMudge
The Real Mudge
2416 post s
13-Nov-2007
7:19 AM
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The label "Responsible Thinking Center" strikes me as another manifestation of "political correctness," which has as one of its functions the removal of stigma from everything. Let's not call anything bad or inferior, it seems to say. So we don't even stigmatize bad behavior. These poor, behaviorally challenged children need only an attitude adjustment at the RTC, and they will "learn to relate in a less offensive way to their peers." We might have fewer disciplinary problems if we called a brat a brat and addressed the problem from the other end, with a few firm whops on the backside.
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Rich Turner (The Curmudgeon Himself)
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John
298 post s
21-Nov-2007
2:02 PM
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Responsible Thinking Center... does that mean if you're not in the RTC, you don't have to think responsibly? When I was in kindergarten, offenders wore dunce caps. In elementary school, we had to stay inside during lunch hour and copy out the school rules. Which, looking back on it, wasn't much punishment. But I was more ashamed at having been punished for doing something wrong. Didn't really matter what the punishment was. I wonder where that sense of shame came from?
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Brenda
270 post s
22-Nov-2007
2:59 PM
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There was an incident at our school that involved straws hitting the ceiling during lunch. Our seventh-grade son David was required to write an essay about what had happened. I remember just the beginning: "This is an anecdote about what allegedly happened in the cafeteria today. I don't feel animositytowards the kids who told on me, but I don't feel much amity either." and the ending:
"I'm not adamant about this being a bad punishment, but I also don't think it will work as an antidote. David used a lot of flexible thinking and creativity to get
20 vocabulary words into a fairly cohesive essay. It was a good punishment. I wish I had kept a copy for his kids.
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