Tell me what you really think.
That's just ridiculous. Aren't schools these days trying really hard to make kids not "feel bad" about themselves? How bad would a poor kid feel if they searched for pennies to pay for their lunch, it was all the money they had, and the entire school knew about it because the administration decided to make an example of them.
Of course, their egos are too big to EVER admit it was wrong to so publicly ridicule the kids for having pennies. Even if it was a protest...now poor kids will rather go hungry than suffer the wrath of an indignant administration.
I don't think much of school administrators as group. There are good ones out there, but unfortunately too few to matter when we see decisions and trends like this.
Asinine. Totally asinine.
My first thought was holy crap let's make it harder for the poor kids. I have been so hard up for money that I've paid for things with a bag of pennies. Shame on the school for their attitude.
And, wow, your story about the jeans got my ire up even more. What a nightmare. At MY school, we try to help the families who need extra help in a respectful way -- not arbitrarily pick on them in incredibly stupid ways. Glad you teachers stood up to that moron.
Just THINK people. It's really not that hard!
Truly, we have a disconnect!
On the other side of the coin, there have been stories of persons attempting to pay a court ordered fine, or their income tax with pennies that have been arrested. I understand there is some rebelliousness in handing the court clerk one hundred and sixty dollars in pennies for a traffic ticket...but sometimes, we just gotta do what we gotta do.
I am also aware of different people attempting to get the government to do away with pennies...which makes me wonder what will governments do with things like the "one penny" tax?
I agree with your take on the situation with the children...nuff sed!
I like pennies too. I found one on Saturday and felt lucky all day. I don't know what the students attitude was when presenting the pennies, but actually I think that was a pretty good way to protest. They should have gotten about 50 kids to do it. I haven't read the story, but I am assuming they didn't harm anyone or call names or destroy property in their protest.
On another note, once years ago, when I had no job and no money of my own and was dependent on the man I was living with to give me money- which he didn't often do, I had a freind in the same boat. We gathered up all of our money- most of it change and went to the craft store. I didn't buy much and I had mostly bills, but when it came time for her to pay they gave her a hard time. She was totally embarrassed and at first they said they couldn't take all that change. I threw a fit- a calm one. I was not going to let them get away with that. It wasn't even all pennies. I very firmly told them that it was money and they had to take it. If they took my money they had to take hers. I can see where it would be a hassle, but we were not trying to be a problem and the store was not crowded.
o.O - if it were one of my kids, I'd be raising an unholy fuss. (My students are my kids. I'm afraid I'm somewhat maternal when it comes to them - both in being protective *when they need it*, and giving them a hard time for giving other teachers a hard time. 'You're one of my students - I expect better out of you!' But many of my kids need that.)
As for the clothes... that is precisely why my middle school has uniforms, and HAS had them for over 15 years now. We have kids who's parents DEFINE rich, and others who are just as extreme but at the other end of the scale. With everyone in uniforms, money isn't as big an issue. (We also provide HEAVILY discounted uniforms for those whom money is tight. Also, parents who want to fill their service hours via money instead of time can do so by purchasing extra uniforms, which go to those students who can't afford to purchase them.)
I remember reading when I was a pre-teen, back in the 70's, that federal law explicitly stated that up to 25 pennies was considered legal tender, implying that any retailer could choose to NOT accept more than 25 pennies.
'course, that doesn't obviate any of your arguments, and I've never found a second source documenting that alleged law.
You'd think that adults who work in schools might be adept at dealing with kids' shenanigans and just happily take the coins for a few days knowing that it won't be long before the kids tire of getting no reaction. And now, any kid who has to scrape together pennies for lunch will probably just go without rather than suffer the humiliation. I often wonder how we ever learn what it means to live in a democracy after being raised in schools.
Just a note about attitude though.
It strikes me that their protest was really well thought out. It was peaceful, legal and carried out in such a way that it highlighted the point they were trying to make - the lunch time was to short. What a great display of reasoned and critical thinking.
And then they get punished and are given unreasonable and ridiculous reasons for the punishment. Certainly I'm not against the kids understanding that their protest would have a consequence but it could be at least as thoughtful and intelligent as their protest had been.
I can't help but wonder if some parents will meekly accept the stupidity of the administration's actions because they, in their school lives, had a similar experience where they learned the real lesson behind this type of punishment.
Can I hear an amen? AMEN!
Penniez is munneh and munnneh buyz stuff.
They should be glad the protest was a civil one.
I got a penny harvest that they can contribute those pennies to 
.
I'm with you! (As usual.)
They paid. It's money. They protested. It was polite. Pointed, but polite.
So suck it up, adults.
My mother would give me pennies to pay for milk when I was in elementary school. The lunch ladies hated it. They would make me stand there and put the pennies in stacks of five while grouching about the audacity of expecting them to count the pennies. Meanwhile they would continue to process the lunch line. So I was completely in everyone's way as I stacked the pennies. Not a fun memory. And I had pennies because we didn't have much else at the time.
I am so glad you wrote this post because it has been in the back of my mind since I heard about it. I felt like I was one of the few people on the student's side for most of the reasons you wrote about. I think the children paid for lunches in legal tender and should not have been punished at all. Unless there was some policy written ahead of time notifying parents that pennies would not be accepted at the cafeteria, there was nothing wrong done by these students. If I was one of the parents, I would have fought the punishment just because I feel this was nothing but a show of power by the administration. What kind of example is that for students? They are saying as long as you have power, you can make up your own rules as you go along. Isn't that the same as bullying?
Weird, isn't it, how our school system "encourages" kids? Like another poster noted, this was a well thought-out protest. Peaceful, in fact.
And aren't the public schools fairly well known for THEIR penny drives? What do they intend to do with all these pennies they collect "for causes" if the causes can't use the pennies!?
ARGH!
I'm afraid you are just wrong. The school is under no legal obligation to accept pennies as a payment for goods and services.(Sec.5013 United States Code)
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