Here's something that occurred to me in the car on the way home from the board meeting tonight.
To the person who said kids need to be taught HOW to use their voice and choice: we have STOLEN their voice and choice from them, from elementary school on up. We took it away.
If someone stole your purse, would they say, "I'm sorry, you're not ready to get your purse back?" Would they say, "Here's your lipstick. Here's your wallet. Here's your car keys. You have to wait awhile for your checkbook, because you're not ready for it yet?"
No, you give the &%$# purse back.
It's not yours! Kids want it back! So just give it back!
Great metaphor. Let's also give them something to put in their purses, like a fair share of the country's wealth. Guaranteed health care. Jobs. There is a grand larceny going on.
ReplyDeleteNo, kids can not be compared to adults. They do need to be taught how to use their voice(s), appropriately and politely.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not adults remember the lessons from their youth is another matter, of course, but the fact remains: adults are supposed to protect children from their own inexperience. There is a reason kids can't drive until they are a certain age; or vote until even later; or drink until even later.
Nancy, you are militantly against ever getting the point.
ReplyDeleteYou think kids go to school with nothing inside them? Nothing worth respecting? That's the way you sound. Because they're NOT being respected right now for what's inside them. And it's harming them. It's a bill that comes due 10 years later, and you are for not even looking at ways in which we can honor and respect them. You go to the extreme of saying that kids will run wild and rampant as soon as we release them from their bonds. You're so adamantly against it that you have not once really understood what I'm saying.
ReplyDeleteLisa, first let me say that I enjoy reading your blog and interacting with you because I believe a lot of the same things you believe. However, I wonder how that administrator feels to be belittled on the blog of a member of the school board. I want to see the kind of change you want to see too, however on a person-to-person level, I want you to realize that your tone and choice of words could be harming our cause.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Thanks.
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