The Education Wonks
Back when my children were small, we were so poor that I often sent the school pennies in a baggie. Sometimes it was a scrounge to find ENOUGH pennies, too. If they had been punished for paying for their lunch with pennies, they would have been devastated, and so would I.
The last time I checked, pennies were legal tender. How could the school refuse to accept them?
I think these kids' manner of protest was fantastic.
It does bother me, though, that the aides who had to count these pennies were so slow they held up the line. How long does it take to count coins? Hire faster people, ya dumb school.
Yay, kids!
The only mistake the kids made, in my opinion, was not to complain about the shortened lunch period before taking this action. Not that administrators would have paid any attention--we all know that they wouldn't.
Yay for those kids. Our schools are doing kids a grave disservice by cutting back on recess & lunch break time. It's ridiculous; they're not robots. Take it from a teacher--trying to teach kids who are expected to stay on task all day long without enough recess/lunch time is crazy. I personally found out at the beginning of this year that many kids at my son's school were spending all of their lunch period last year waiting in too-long, too-slow lines, and had no time left to eat, much less play, once they finally got their food. It took them a whole year to add another lunch line, and there's still a problem.
Those kids found an excellent, peaceful way to protest. If I was the parent of one of those kids, I'd be proud.
Good for the kids here. The principal overreacted and made a one-day civil protest-- an nice teaching opportunity--into a national story.
If I were one of the parents, you're darned right I'd be proud--and that I'd be at the next school board meeting demanding that the principal be admonished--or at least receive his next paycheck in pennies.
These comments make my point! You adults are as screwed up as the children>
Sounder, don't you have to HAVE a point before you can claim someone made it???
Sounds like an Andrew Clements story. Someone should give him the heads-up.
There are plenty of ways to have handled this "protest"--I like the "teachable moment" method myself--but detentions? Talk about administrative overreaction.
Some principals need to learn or relearn that they're not dictators. Too many certainly seem to have that bent, though, however slight.
I'm a teacher who doesn't take crap from kids, but this is one protest I can get behind. I think it's wonderful--fully within the rules, not violent or damaging, and designed as tight as a laser to pinpoint their displeasure. I can hardly think of a better protest for their complaint.
Very clever of the kids. And Sounder I looked at your comment and saw no point that was actually made.
Then you are a true Vegas boy! The point is that the adults are mas estupido del chicos.
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