Last night my 12-year-old son informed my wife that several children out of a group of kids in his class were pulled aside by the teachers and told, in no uncertain terms, that they could not hang out with each other.
My ears perked up, I could not help but overhear the conversation, but I said nothing.
It seems they have a group of kids who sit around at recess joking around with each other. They wear no “colors”, don’t get involved in any criminal activity, anyone is invited to join them and they spend recess trading jokes and laughing. They thought it was fun. School officials on the other hand do not. In fact they told the children not to hang out together, talk with each other and not to even have eye contact. The teachers had singled out children they believed were leaders and even removed their recess privileges until the “gang” is broken up.
It seems the kids have run afoul of the schools zero tolerance policy for gangs.
Now I spoke up, despite my child rolling his eyes and sighing loudly. I could not help it; it triggered some thing deep in my core that is always ready to fight back against being repressed.
I despise criminal gangs and their activities just as badly as I despise the current practice of assuming a posture of zero tolerance. In a previous post I came down on the misuse of “tolerance”. Zero Tolerance is the polar opposite and just as bad in my opinion and I told him so.
Instead of observing what was actually going on with these children, instead of intelligently examining the facts, instead of making a common sense judgment call, school officials are taking the “safe” road and crushing the kid’s freedom.
Our Constitution covers our right to peacefully assemble, and schools used to teach children how to work together in teams to accomplish large and difficult tasks. We should be teaching children how to work together and to gather and evaluate facts and come to an educated decision. Instead we are setting a poor example by refusing to use our brains, we rely on an unthinking and uncaring policy to govern our actions. It is foolish and destructive and our kids are learning it.
I try desperately to teach my children to learn everything they can about an issue and to consider both side of argument and to come to their own opinion. I want them to be able to think clearly and to be able to make a good and wise decision based on all the facts. I have always hoped our educators would do the same. But instead of observing these children, determining that they pose no disciplinary problem or threat to the safety of other students and finding out that they were not excluding anyone from joining in their fun and laughter, teachers have elected to forcibly disband this group and label them a “Gang”.
Instead they should have worked with the kids, guided the children’s natural leaders and helped to direct the activities into something more than hanging out and joking around. It could have been a wonderful teaching experience for both the kids and the educators. They could actually have accomplished something positive.
Of course that would have required the teachers to use common sense and to assume liability for their decision and that, my friends, just isn’t going to happen.
Under a zero tolerance policy I suppose if you are affiliated with a political party, a trade union, or even the school’s PTA you could be considered a gang member.
It is another fine example of good intentions taken too far.
I just wonder if being a member in a 6th grade “gang” will go down on his permanent record?
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