Schools have the responsibility to ensure a safe environment. If they abdicate that responsibility it sure doesn't make sense to punish a child for protecting himself! If Falcon Talon's son was the bully then you might be right, but you appear to be way off base here. And I'm not sure how my point either makes schools suck or taxes higher.
talon...with all due respect...if you had already decided what you are going to do...and had a teachers point of view that they need to supervise the kids and they should be responsible for preventing fights....then why ask anyone for their opinion as to what you should do? its almost as if u were baiting someone into that answer
I haven't decided what I'm going to do. I need to talk it over with my wife, but I like seeing all perspectives before I make a decision. As of now, I am still not sure what I will do.
So you know what it's like when parents complain everytime their kid is punished for breaking the rules. (or worse threaten to sue) I would support the school.
He was proud of his kid standing up for himself which is very understandable. I just thought I would do my part to support teachers, but I was tricked.
To each his own. If the school personel were doing their job, I believe I would too. Just like when my 17 yr old got caught having a drink and got sent to boot camp for 18 weeks. He did wrong, and I supported the school. As for my son defending himself, if nobody is going to watch out for him, then he will have to take care of himself. As a matter of fact, hearing your point of view is helping me decide to fight this.
fyi - i owe you an email...i havent decided if i am going to do what i was talking about but if i do, i'll definitely let you know
You should fight it, but I imagine schools don't really deviate from basic guidelines (fighting wrong, always). They'll probably tell you that he should have alerted a PE teacher to what was happening. Still, the reason I say you should fight it is to obviously lodge your complaints against the PE teachers and defend your son's reputation from the faculty and administration. Now, if this other kid was a bully to lots of kids, hopefully your son will get some major cred from his classmates. Give your son some from me.
I think that this is a great chance for your child to learn that sometimes you have to do what you have to do, but there are consequences for your actions, even if they are justified. It is a fact of life. But I definitely would have a conversation with the school though. Just to make them aware.
If a coworker was calling you names, would you give him a black eye? Violence isn't the answer. Kids fight because they're not mature enough to deal with things in a nonviolent manner, but you should know better. As an aside, I had a couple of friends who wanted to be teachers but quit early on in their teaching careers. The low wages didn't bother them. It was having their job description change from educator to babysitter, without the support of administration or parents.
If you said you were a teacher I would not of questioned you. Parents these days hardly ever take the school's side. Don't you agree? How is every teacher with 30+ kids in a class going to always prevent a fight from breaking out, especially without any of the parent's support?
I don't know what the purpose of your hypothetical is. The situation might be different if this other kid had punched him first, but that's not what FalconsTalon said happened.
Once in the past I did. It cost us both our jobs. Now days I'd use my brain to screw his world if he was still employeed after said punch.
If the kid had no alternative but resort to physical violence (which sometimes happens), tell the kid that he did right and get his back with the school. Even if the school wins, let the kid know that you supported him. The effects this will have on your father-son relationship will last much longer than the school. But emphasize that he should only resort to violence if there is no other way. (note: I have a 4-year-old daughter and haven't had to deal with this [yet] so I'm not really speaking from parental experience). Oh - and ignore Mr. Meowgi. He's a buddhist, peace-loving guy who doesn't even believe that we shoulda retaliated for 9/11. -- droxford
He's your kid, bring him up how you think is best. I'm sure you are trying to instill in him the proper values. I do agree with whoever posted that you were disingenuous in your thread opening. I don't sense that your feelings are in any way mixed.
As a school teacher I will put it like this a lot of the time parents automatically assume a coach was not paying attention. We as parents are to quick to say I am right the school is wrong. I do P.E. and science and one of the coaches I work with got in trouble because a kid said he was pushed. Most of the time a child wont even tell the teacher but goes home and says they were not paying attention. and when you have two teachers trying to watch over 100 students you do miss certain things even if you watch. Here is something a parent told a teacher. Her son said F U to a student and got in trouble. Everyone heard it the teacher was right there as well. Instead of owning up the parent comes in and yells at the teacher and says is your hearing right and when was your last physical. I am not saying what your child did was wrong or right but do not automatically assume a teacher was not paying attention unless you were sitting there watching them.
