Discipline in schools

As many people know, I am an In-School Suspension (ISS) teacher. I think about child behavior and how to make kids act properly in school. I don't think the problem is all the kids. The parents of misbehaving children need to beheld accountable for their children's actions.

I don't know about you, but I only wear my seabelt because I hate those $75 tickets. You have to hit them in the wallet.

My idea: For kids who are constantly absent/ tardy for school, unexcused past 5 a quarter gets a fine to the parents. If a child is a constant discipline problem, and it seems as though the parents are not taking adequate steps to teach their childen to behave, then on the next tax season, the parents won't be allowed to claim the children on their income taxes. Failure to attend meetings for school issues is a warrant-bearing offense just like failure to appear in court.

You make it a hassle for them to not raise their kids and you'll notice a difference.

Also, not disciplining kids seems to make them angry and poorly adjusted. I have seen the before and after both ways.

on child support

Just yesterday, I posted on my concept of a real man. You can tell alot of full grown children made babies from the lack of child support. I don't see what the big deal is, it was so important to make the babies, why not raise them to be good adults? At the very least pay for them so thier mom's can raise them.

Why? Because they can get away with not taking care of the responsibility they made.

I have a solution. Make failure to support your children a felony. You're up for non support? No jail. You're going to PMITA prison. Tell al the other inmates that he's a child molester. If the deadbeat survives about 6 months of that, I'll bet he'll do whatever is needed to get his children what they deserve. If they murder him in prison, the kids get SSI checks and college tution assisstance. At least they'll have a better chance than with Mr. Deadbeat. Either he makes a good example or we make a good example out of him.

give 'em an inch........

I've learned one valuable lesson in my time working with kids: Set the standard of expectations high. There is no other way to prepare students to be achievers. Not to mention middle school students rarely try to exceed expectations. If anything they excel in attempting to fall short, or to see how much they can "get away" with.

This past week our school loosened the dress code for students. They are allowed to wear shorts so long as they are at least to the knee and not gym-style shorts. Today we have gym shorts dress code violations.

My only argument is that as educators, we have a responsibility to prepare these students for their adult lives. Life does not offer compromises. The power company won't "cut you some slack", they'll just cut off your lights.

Middle school prepares you for life. The rules are stict, students are harsh with each other and it's pretty dismal. The people who suceed are the ones that cut a niche out for themselves.

But if you give them an inch, they'll take a mile.

real man.....

I've been saturated from birth by what a real man should be. These concepts that our culture holds dear, that a real man should be tough, strong, protective of his home and family, handy with tools, sports loving, beer drinking, keeps the kids in line, and handles the buisness in general. A real man comes home after all this and doesn't complain about his life.

A real man needs to be then tough one at home too, he's the griller, the carpenter, the landscaper, and the mechanic. The real man is the bread winner and the home provider and would rather be beaten to death rather than have another man handle his buisness. A real man has a wife, not a baby's momma, he doen't have to travel farther than across the house if he wants to see his kids. The real man does things that his kids admire and they want to be just like him. He seems like a genious, taking apart complex things that no longer work and make them function "as good as new".

A real man gives to his family first, himself last. He knows that people see him not by how he looks, but by how his kids look. And he does it all for no reward other than knowing he's doing the right thing, his family loves him for it, and that's good enough for him.

That was always my idea anyway. I don't see alot of those anymore. Daddy's still doing his thing, Mommy is somewhere else struggling to keep it together and the kids suffer. There are a lot of full grown boys out there that never take on the honor of being a real man. Doing so, he never finds his real woman, and if he finds her, he leaves her because it's "too much to handle".

I've seen what happens too often when a male adult refuses to be a man and it's sad the damage a full grown child can do in a man's body. He gets a woman pregnant, creates an obligation, and abandons it. And though he may leave he still teaches his child how to be his version of a man. They learn to run when it gets too tough, never to live up to the full potential they have.

My Mom's first mariage was to a boy, and they had me. Her second marriage was to a man, I call him Dad. He stuck it out over all those years, good, bad, and worse. He taught me what a real man does for his family. He taught me that when you love a woman that has children, they are a part of the package and you take care of them as your own. He's not perfect, but I always knew his values were in the right place and the fact he tried was good enough. I would not be where I am today without his example.

So to John Wilson, thank you.