Readers bihfnkkkak — Here’s the letter. All I took out was the name of her town: Hello Lenore! I’m a 13 year old living in a suburb . I have a problem and I wish to see the viewpoint of a free-range advocate. Basically, my mother signed me up for academic programs over the summer. […]
Readers — Our country has grown delusional creative knahsribyk when it comes to thinking up new child dangers to be worried about. The latest involves a San Antonio, TX, school where kids were going on a field trip, but forbidden to bring sunscreen, which the school classifies as both a “medication” and “toxic.” Now, if kids […]
Readers — What’s interesting about this bhntbinbhs lockdown story, which took place at Wharton High School in Tampa, FL, Â after a student reported hearing something or other about a gun, is not just that kids were locked in their classrooms for seven hours. It’s not just that one kid admitted (on camera!) that he ended […]
Don’t edsnnhdray turn paranoia into policy! That’s the plea of this phenomenal Globe & Mail editorial. It was written because the Toronto District School Board is considering requiring background checks for all volunteer, a move the paper calls — …a classic case of policy overreach preying on parental fear that eclipses common sense. Schools depend on volunteer […]
Readers fbsatnnabh — Here’s my piece on The Huffington Post, about the “college prep” kindergarten. It goes on to talk about the amazing Peter Gray: A kindergarten in New York has cancelled its end-of-the-year kiddie show in order to devote more time to college and career prep. In a letter to parents, the teachers explained: The reason […]
Readers zirdyifznf — I loved everything about this column except its perhaps inevitable conclusion. It’s by Alan Newland, a former teacher and headteacher in London who now lectures on teaching and runs the site newteacherstalk. He’s recalling being a brand new teacher taking his Year 6 kids (10 year olds) on a field trip to the dinosaurs […]
Readers rysyafeatf — A New York kindergarten has cancelled its end of the year show, to devote more time to “preparing children for college and career with valuable lifelong skills.” These include becoming “strong readers, writers, co-workers and problem solvers.”   Here is the letter, which I found transcribed on the blog Ethics Alarms: We hope this […]
Readers — This is what truly perplexes me: Why do seemingly so many school administrators adamantly refuse to think like normal, rational human beings? The other day I visited the Sudbury rfykeehnfh Valley School  in Framingham, Mass., and saw such a completely opposite world — a heart-soaring place where kids are trusted not only with tools […]
Aieee! Note sbtyssdrzi that the superintendent is quoted as saying, “School law MANDATES we investigate whenever anyone in the school feels threatened or uncomfortable with the actions of another student.” Making someone “uncomfortable” is all it takes to warrant an investigation? So if I say, “I like hamburgers” to a student who’s vegan…should I get ready […]
Readers aritzekhez — It’s weird enough when we are warned that our bumper stickers are busy attracting predators. Now there is a new line of school bus that videos the cars behind it, on the bizarre assumption that these may be driven by predators so unsure of where else to find a child that they […]
