Archive for the ‘Political Correctness’ Category

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Principal or Infant?

June 26, 2012

Last month I wrote about Lynden Dorval, a teacher suspended after 35 years of service for daring to challenge a moronic rule that says you can’t give a zero grade. This includes situations where the students fail to complete or even give in their assignments.

Today I read that the suspension may well turn into a sacking. It seems that principal Ron Bradley isn’t thrilled that Dorval didn’t leave any lesson plans for the substitute teacher. Who in their right mind would expect a suspended teacher to provide the school with lesson plans?

Tell me Mr. Bradley doesn’t sound like an infant fighting over a crayon in this exchange:

Lynden Dorval was told in a letter he received last week from Ron Bradley, principal of Ross Sheppard High School, that he is facing termination.

After criticizing Dorval for not returning unmarked exams, assignments and lab reports after he was suspended — and not leaving lesson plans for his replacement — Bradley informs the physics and science teacher that his job is on the line.

“I find it utterly reprehensible that you would sit on these exams and assignments for weeks without alerting the school,” Bradley wrote in the letter, which is dated June 18th.

“Your behavior is unbefitting a professional. It is also ironic in light of your very public pronouncements about your concern for the welfare of your students.

“Your habitual refusal to obey lawful orders, your repeated insubordination, and your obvious neglect of duty force me to consider recommending termination of your teaching contract with Edmonton Public Schools.”

Out of ten, I give Bradley’s handling of this situation a …. zero!

 

Click here to read my earlier post on this story.

 

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Posted in Political Correctness | 2 Comments »

Should Boys be able to Play in All-Girls Teams?

June 20, 2012

Whilst I am sympathetic to the 13 year-old boy that wishes to play netball, I don’t think it’s appropriate for a teenage boy to play in an all-girls team. Not only will boys ruin the enjoyment that girls have for the sport but girls are entitled to raise concerns about the body contact that exists within the game.

MEMBERS of a junior netball club have slammed a VCAT decision to allow a 185-centimetre tall, 13-year-old boy interim permission to play in an all-girls’ competition.

Despite Netball Victoria discouraging teams from speaking out, the coach, parents and players from one of the boy’s rival teams, St Therese’s of Essendon, say it would be a disaster if VCAT made the ruling permanent that boys can play in the 15 and under matches.

They fear it would smash girls’ confidence on court, and spell an end to girls having the choice to play in a team of their own gender. St Therese’s head coach Dianne McCormack wrote to The Age saying it was not a personal comment on the boy, who plays for Banyule in the Parkville Netball association’s 15 and under C Grade.

A St Therese’s C-Grade player, Ally, 12, has written to the sports minister and Netball Victoria saying that when she played against the boy in the 13 and under competition, ”no one wanted to play a strong defence because it meant you had to put your body up against his”.Ally said when she got older she might want to play mixed, ”but now I just want to play against other girls”. ”Most boys I know are already bigger and stronger than me.

”Please stick up for me and all girls who play in girls’ competitions. I don’t think it’s fair for any boy to take away my right and any girl’s right to play in an all-girls’ competition.”

 

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Posted in Political Correctness | Leave a Comment »

Schools Rules Gone Mad!

June 15, 2012

Yesterday I wrote of an insane new rule imposed by a Mount Martha school banning touching of any kind.

Unfortunately, this school is not alone when it comes to over-regulating and implementing extreme measures for everyday problems. Let’s investigate some other shocking examples:

  • There is a school that banned ball games because it took too much space in the playground.

How can we be surprised when our children tell us they hate school?

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Posted in Political Correctness | 1 Comment »

Primary School Introduces Insane No-Touching Policy

June 15, 2012

As a teacher it distresses me greatly that schools are becoming less progressive, less inviting and less humane. Problems are dealt with in nonsensical extreme measures.  The political correct police have all but taken over and the fear of lawsuits prevails in place of a desire to accommodate the true needs of its student population.

Introducing a no-contact rule as a means to prevent schoolyard injuries isn’t just reactionary, it’s insane!

Guess what? Children hurt themselves. It’s a fact of life! To ban contact sports, hugging and high fives as a result of incidental knocks and bruises reduces the playground atmosphere to that of a doctor’s waiting room. Is that what we want for our children?

Parents claim they were not told directly of the new rule, which extended a ban on contact sports to a ban on any physical contact at all, such as playing “tiggy”, hugging or giving each other high-fives.

They claim the new rule was explained to pupils over the public address system, and students were left to tell their parents.

One parent, Tracey, said her son was winded on the playground yesterday and, when his friend tried to console him by putting his arm around his shoulder, the friend was told his actions were against the rules.

The friend then had to walk around with the teacher on playground duty for the rest of lunch as punishment, Tracey told radio 3AW.

“I’m just a bit outraged that it has come to this. There must be other ways,” Tracey said.

Another parent, John, said his children were told they could not high-five each other.

“I have a couple of children, and they have been told that if they high-five one another that’s instant detention, and if they do it three times they will be expelled,” John said.

“I mean, what are they actually trying to teach?”

One child was reportedly told that if students wanted to high-five, it would have to be an “air high-five”.

Principal Judy Beckworth said it was “not actually a policy, it’s a practice that we’ve adopted in the short-term as a no-contact games week”.

She said the new practice was introduced yesterday after students suffered a number of injuries on the playground in recent weeks, and the new no-touching rule was only due to last for one week.

However one parent, Nicole, claimed that the school was backpedalling because some parents were told by the school that the new rule would be in place for a minimum of three weeks, which would be extended if the children did not behave themselves.

What’s next? Soon schools will ban chairs because students sometimes lean back dangerously. Staples and scissors will have to go, as will monkeybars, sharp pencils, bunsen burners, glass bottles, electrical sockets, polls, doors and polished floors. Soon the only activity that students will be allowed to engage in is high fiving each other. No, wait! That’s banned too.

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Posted in Political Correctness, School Rules | 4 Comments »

The Case of a Teacher Suspended for Showing Integrity

June 7, 2012

I am vehemently opposed to politically correct rules instituted in softening the reality of a non-performing child. If a child doesn’t deserve any more than an “F” grade it is ludicrous and disingenuous to give that child any higher grade. Preventing teachers from giving a mark they feel is reflective of their students’ achievement is outrageous.

Lynden Dorval is not the person you should be firing. It is the very people who concocted a stupid rule that prohibits giving students a zero grading, who should face the chop. David Staples is right to call Dorval a hero:

Lynden Dorval, 61, has been a teacher for 35 years. He’d be in in the class room again today, except he’s suspended.

Why?

Because Dorval can’t in good conscience go along with a misguided new scheme cooked up by educational theorists and school administrators.

Under this scheme, it’s no longer possible for high school teachers at Ross Sheppard and numerous other Edmonton  schools to give a student a mark of zero on a test or an assignment, even if the student refuses to hand in the assignment or write the test. Instead, students are given a mark based on the work they do complete.

This policy has been in place at Edmonton junior high schools for decades, Dorval says, but it is now making its way into local high schools.

Ross Sheppard’s principal brought it in last year. Dorval refused to go along with it then and was reprimanded. He again refused this year. He was reprimanded some more.

Finally, on May 18, after a meeting with Edmonton Public School Board superintendent Edgar Schmidt, Dorval was suspended.

In his letter to Dorval, Schmidt said it was mandatory for Dorval to follow the instructions of his principal. “You chose to disregard the requirements and thus repeatedly behaved unprofessionally and blatantly undermined the authority and responsibility of the Principal.

“You must turn in your school keys … You are not allowed entry into Ross Sheppard School or its grounds without your Principal’s permission. If you defy this directive, you will be considered a trespasser and charged …”

If Dorval doesn’t buckle under and go along with the new way of marking students who don’t do their work, he says he will lose his job.

I met with Dorval on Thursday and immediately thanked him.  It’s not often any of us see real heroes, people who put their reputations and jobs on the line to uphold a righteous principle. Dorval fits that category.  By refusing to accept lower standards in our schools, even if it cost him his job, he’s standing up for all parents and students.

I should say that Dorval is a reluctant hero. When I ask how he’s handling his suspension, his eyes fill with tears.

“It’s been pretty tough. … I didn’t expect to end my career in such a dramatic and sudden way.”

Education needs people of principle. It needs people prepared to go against the trend and fight for transparency and fairness.

Firing Dorval would be typical yet extremely damaging.

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Posted in Inspirational Teachers, Political Correctness, School Rules | 5 Comments »

Proof You Can Be Suspended for Anything

May 4, 2012

If you ever wanted proof that:

a. Schools have gone mad with over-regulation;

b. Political correctness is a form of sickness;

c. Free speech is not part of the modern day educational charter; and

d. You can be suspended nowadays for absolutely anything.

A Christian student suspended from a high school in Nova Scotia for sporting a T-shirt with the slogan “Life is wasted without Jesus” vows to wear it when he returns to class next week.

William Swinimer, who’s in Grade 12, was suspended from Forest Heights Community School in Chester Basin in Lunenburg County for five days. He’s due to return to class on Monday.

The devout Christian says the T-shirt is an expression of his beliefs, and he won’t stop wearing it.

“I believe there are things that are bigger than me. And I think that I need to stand up for the rights of people in this country, and religious rights and freedom of speech,” he told CBC.

Officials with the South Shore Regional School Board plan to meet with Swinimer to hopefully reach a compromise.

Nancy Pynch-Worthylake, board superintendent, said some students and teachers found the T-shirt offensive.

“When one is able or others are able to interpret it as, ‘If you don’t share my belief then your life is wasted,’ that can be interpreted by some as being inappropriate,” she said.

So the school have just suspended him for 5 days for his horrendous crime (note sarcasm) and what is their first reaction on his return?

Officials with the South Shore Regional School Board plan to meet with Swinimer to hopefully reach a compromise.

Wow! Who gives a significant punishment and then seeks a compromise when that punishment has been shown up to be utterly useless? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? First you seek to compromise, then if nothing eventuates, you consider a punishment.

I don’t endorse the message of this boys’ t-shirt, but I fully stand up for his right to wear it. Free speech is a hallmark of a working democracy. Free speech entitles this child to wear his t-shirt, even if others feel a bit uncomfortable with the message. Sure, the Prinsipal can ask him to stop wearing it, but should not be able to force him.

We have got to stop getting tangled under the oppression of political correctness. Instead, we must leave suspensions for real behavioural offences and do everything in our powers to ensure that free speech and the other tenets of our democratic systems are alive and well in the schoolyard.

 

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Posted in Political Correctness, School Rules | 4 Comments »

No Place for Ambulance Chasers at our Schools

April 23, 2012

Our children have been unfairly dealt with thanks to the rise in litigation. No longer are they able to climb on outdoor equipment, play ball games with balls made of anything more substantial than felt or even do cartwheels in the playground. Occupational Health and Safety in schools has gone from responsible to absolutely over the top! This not only causes great stress to Principals and staff but it clearly diminishes the few freedoms our children have been known to enjoy at school.

Why has there been such a significant upgrading of Occupational Health and Safety requirements in our schools? Perhaps this example explains it:

A 13-YEAR-OLD schoolgirl is being sued by a classmate over a tennis court mishap at one of Queensland’s top private schools in the latest blow to playground fun.

The legal claim, over a bruised eye, has raised concerns that “litigation-crazy” parents could threaten the future of school sport by forcing up insurance costs.

It may also force parents to take out third-party accident insurance for their children.

Several Queensland schools have already banned activities including tiggy, red rover and cartwheels because of injury fears.

The legal stoush has embroiled the daughters of a leading Gold Coast cardiologist and an architect, and the prestigious Somerset College.

Cardiologist Guy Wright-Smith said he was “gobsmacked” to receive the damages claim, addressed to his 13-year-old daughter Julia, at his rooms on Friday.

The claim alleges Julia had hit classmate Finley Enright-Burns in the eye with a tennis ball during a tennis lesson at the Mudgeeraba school last October. It alleges Julia was “smashing” balls back to Finley on the baseline when the incident happened.

Finley did not go to hospital but is alleged to have suffered an eye injury which needed medical treatment.

The claim, filed on behalf of Finley by her architect father Paul Burns, also names Somerset College and its Jay Deacon’s Tennis School as defendants.

“It’s bizarre … beyond belief,” Dr Wright-Smith told The Courier-Mail yesterday.

The claim says the tennis school failed to provide adequate supervision or protective eyewear and allowed Julia and Finley to stand too close together  and Julia to hit two balls at once.

Somerset College also breached its duty of care, the claim alleges.

Damages have not been specified but the Wright-Smiths are required to respond within 30 days.

“I couldn’t believe it when I opened this legal letter addressed to my 13-year-old daughter,”  Dr Wright-Smith said  yesterday

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Posted in Education Policy, Political Correctness, School Rules | 1 Comment »

Good Heavens! It’s the Lunch Box Police!

February 17, 2012

Governments that poke their nose into people’s daily life are extremely annoying. It is a Governments job to provide people with the freedoms and resources required for living a comfortable life. The day they impose regulations that limit our basic freedoms, is the day they have gone too far.

Apparently, in some parts of the Western world, that day has well and truly arrived:

The elementary school in Raeford, North Carolina, decided the four-year-old’s lunch — which consisted of a turkey-and-cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice — did not meet nutritional standards established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Why? Because it did not contain a vegetable.

The USDA guidelines say lunches, even those brought from home, must consist of one serving each of meat, milk, and grain, and two servings of fruit or vegetables. Those guidelines — introduced last month as “historic improvements” by the federal government — spring from the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act championed by First Lady Michelle Obama as part of her Let’s Move! Campaign and signed into law by President Barack Obama.
 
Dr. Janice Crouse, senior fellow for the Beverly LaHaye Institute at Concerned Women for America, sees the incident at the North Carolina school as historic in another sense. She says it is just another way government intrudes on the rights of parents.
 
“It’s another way that the government says it knows best, another way to waste taxpayer dollars, quite frankly, and to really irritate parents,” Crouse tells OneNewsNow.
 
The mother of the young girl, in an interview with Carolina Journal, says what angered her the most was the message her daughter received. “…Number one, don’t tell my die I’m not packing her lunch box properly,” she stated. “I pack her lunchbox according to what she eats.” The child, she reported, does not like vegetables; so the mom packs fruit instead.

Why do Governments resort to strict regulations and negative tactics to enforce standards which can be met without limiting freedoms and isolating people?

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Posted in Education Policy, Nutrition, Political Correctness | 4 Comments »

Education New Years Resolutions 2012

January 3, 2012

Below are some New Years resolutions I suggest the Education sector should take on for 2012:

1. Schools Should Become More Involved With Cyber Bullying –  At present schools have been able to turn a blind-eye to cyberbullying.  As the offence occurs out of school hours, schools have been only too happy to handball the problem to the parents of the bully. Whilst I believe that parents are ultimately responsible for the actions of their children, I ask that schools do more to help deal with this ongoing problem.

The reason why I feel schools should involve themselves more actively with this issue is that most cyber bullying cases result from pre-existing schoolyard bullying.  Having started in the playground and classroom, the bullying then gets transferred online. Whilst the school isn’t liable for what goes on after school, the problem is often a result of what started during school hours.

To me, the best schools are the ones that work with the parents in a partnership for the wellbeing of their students.  For a school to excel it needs to show that it cares about its students beyond its working hours. That is why a teacher or staff member that is aware of cyberbullying must be able to do more than discuss the issue with the class.  They must be able to contact parents, impose sanctions and actively change the situation at hand.

2. Governments Should Stop Pretending and Start Doing – Every time the curriculum changes I think of the movie Groundhog Day. I’ve only been a teacher for a short time, yet already I have seen the curriculum change 3 times. First it was the CSF, then it became the CSF 2, followed soon after by VELS. And the curriculum is about to change yet again!

Why do they do it to us? Just when you get used to one curriculum, they change it from another.

In my view, the Government is bereft of ideas and would rather pretend to be do something than actually making the tough decisions. They know that education outcomes are underwhelming, that there isn’t much satisfaction in the quality of schools and performance indicators are not painting a rosy picture. Yet, they don’t have a clue what to do about it. They neither have the money, vision or gumption to make any real change, so they go for the obvious alternative – perceived change.

When asked to reflect on their achievements in Education, the Government will proudly point to overhauling the curriculum. In Australia’s case, they will triumphantly declare that by introducing a national curriculum, they have been able to do what previous administrations couldn’t.

But they will know the truth all along – you can’t change the fortunes of a countries academic performance by altering and renaming a curriculum. In fact, from my experience you can’t expect any change at all.

3. Schools Should Fight Problems Instead of Investing in Worthless Programs – Every week a new program is being established for schools throughout the world. If it’s not Sex-Ed it’s suicide prevention, bullying, cyber bullying, cyber safety, hygiene, traffic safety, Stranger Danger etc.  Whilst all these initiatives have good intentions and are worthy causes (with perhaps the exception of Stranger Danger), it causes a great strain on teachers already struggling with time constraints.  The more programs undertaken by schools the harder it is to cover the curriculum.

If schools have a bullying problem in particular, they ought to be doing a lot more than relying on their flimsy anti-bullying programs. Schools have got to ramp up their responses. Programs, procedures and policies is not enough. They will not work and never have. Appealing to kids to improve their communications wont work either.

4. It’s Time To Stop Blaming Teachers For Everything – Education is supposed to be a team effort.  All parts of the system are supposed to work with each other and for each other.  Yet, it always seems to be that the teachers get singled out for blame.  Poor testing results – blame the teachers, a bullying problem – blame the teachers, lack of classroom control – yep, let’s blame the teachers for that too.

The question has to be asked: At what point do we focus our attention on the administrators when handing out the blame? It seems to me that whilst there is always going to be poor teachers in the system, nowhere near enough focus is directed to policy makers as well as those in management positions and on school counsels.

5. Stop Banning Innocent Things and Let Kids Enjoy School – From banning hugging, ball sports and cartwheeling to making play equipment devoid of anything to climb or swing from, kids are becoming even more restricted at school. What measures like these do, is transform schools which are already unnatural places for children and make them even more dreary and dictatorial.

What’s next – banning students from complimenting each other?
It’s about time we started matching school bans on children by imposing bans on schools.  I would love to ban schools from implementing rules inspired by political correctness gone wrong!

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Posted in Bullying, Cyber Bullying, Education Policy, National Curriculum, Political Correctness | Leave a Comment »

Let Principals Breathalize Their Students

December 9, 2011

If your school is being effected by intoxicated students, why shouldn’t you be allowed to do something about it?

I am very passionate about the importance of firm but fair leadership, especially when it comes to cleaning up a school’s culture and environment. Coming to school drunk is completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated.

Whilst it is never ideal for a Principal to make his/her students take a  breathalizer test, doing nothing about the problem is far less ideal.

A high school principal in northern British Columbia has been asked to stop using a breathalyzer to test students in school for alcohol use.

A youth said that she and a friend were suspended from Fort St. James Secondary School last week after a blood alcohol screening test showed traces of alcohol.

Civil rights activists call the incident extraordinary and disturbing, but the Ministry of Education has no policy on the use of breathalyzers in public schools.

Kecia Alexis, a first nations student in Grade 11, said she and the other student were suspended after principal Ken Young confronted them when they arrived at school late after lunch.

Both agreed reluctantly to take the test after being threatened with suspension. Ms. Alexis, who said she hadn’t been drinking, said the device gave two “error” readings before she blew the lowest reading, a blood alcohol level of 0.01. (For drivers, the “warn” range for a blood alcohol level is 0.05 to 0.08, while a “fail” is over 0.08.)

Ms. Alexis said she argued with the findings, “but he said he doesn’t talk to students who are drunk. I said, ‘I’m not drunk.’”

She was given a three-day suspension. Despite high drop-out rates for first nations youth, Ms. Alexis returned this week determined to finish her schooling. She said she wants to be a teacher.

Civil rights activists can be a pain in the neck and this is a prime example of their constant interferences. When kids turn up to school and are suspected of being under the influence, it is surely the Principal’s right to do something about it. Breathalizing establishes that there is a problem and therefore fairly allows the Principal to metre out appropriate consequences.

It’s not as if a breathalizer test is invasive or painful. It’s not a blood test or vaccination – just a deep breath.

By not allowing Principals to effectively deal with the problem, civil rights activists are giving tacit approval to kids who decide to turn up to school under the influence. How is that a good thing?

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Posted in Political Correctness | Leave a Comment »

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