Kindergarten is the easy grade to try out public school, right? The kids are to young to really corrupt each other and kindergarten teachers are sweet people who love little kids (why else would they choose to chase them), right? Not so much.
So here is our first situation. First imagine an adorable 5 year old boy (and I do me cute!) who has some discipline problems so mom takes him to outside doctors (as recommended by the principal) and they start the process to get him officially diagnosed with Aspberger’s. Some 5 year old boys can have discipline problems to begin with but pile on Aspberger’s and I am sure it can be rough. But how rough would it have to be for a teacher to pull this kid up in front of the class, have every student say what they don’t like about him and then vote as to whether they want to keep him in the class. That is exactly what what Wendy Barton did in Florida.
If that isn’t bad enough here is the second situation. So your five year old comes home and complains that his teacher doesn’t like him and that he kids don’t either. While your child is saying all this you are getting progress reports that are well mixed in the good marks and the bad. The teacher says sometimes your child is disruptive and can’t keep his hands to himself. But when you ask the teacher if you should set up a “behavior plan” with the teacher she says she doesn’t have time. So it must not be that big of a deal. Well, many times you would say that the kid is being to sensitive to limited correction and isn’t really reading the situation properly. Well, what if that kid started acting out at home? The parents of Gabriel Ross decided to send a tape recorder in his pocket to see what is really going on. The results were shocking.
What they heard over four hours of tape shocked them. Woodward can be heard telling Gabriel that he had “tortured and tormented” her and other teachers all year.
“I’ve been more than nice to you all year long and you’ve been ignorant, selfish, self-absorbed, the whole thing! I’m done!” Woodward says to Gabriel on the tape. She continues: “Something needs to be done because you are pathetic! If me saying these words to you hurt, I hope it does because you’re hurting everyone else around you.”
Gabriel can be heard crying on the tape.
Now I am hearing some people say this is evidence of a bad school system and that is why you should homeschool. I am looking at it a little differently. Apparently all the training these teachers got didn’t prepare them to actually deal with kids. I think this should be empowering to any parent who has ever doubted that they can teach their own kids. Do you think the home environment will be healthier than this? Now, I am not saying that all teachers are like this because they aren’t. But, all the training can’t be the end all and be all to teaching your child so have a little faith in yourself, your intelligence and your love. You can do it!
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