This story is pretty funny. “Distractions in the classroom,” indeed. They take nursery school pretty seriously down there in Texas, huh?
This story is pretty funny. “Distractions in the classroom,” indeed. They take nursery school pretty seriously down there in Texas, huh?
I saw the family interviewed on TV, and it was depressing. They were stating this as the child's strong opinion, as if they had nothing to do with it.
If the parents are really such wimps in real life, they are going to have one heck of a great time during the teenage years. Looked to me like a job for "SuperNanny".
Sadly, no. In Texas we don't take nursery school (or any other level of schooling) very seriously. Otherwise we would be worried about the fact that about 1/3 of all our students fail to graduate from high school. Instead we fight over nonsensical culture war issues like little boys with long hair and fighting off efforts to rehabilitate the memory of Joe McCarthy.
On the note of random stuff and distractions, do you have the R code for these maps posted anywhere?
http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/ar…
Thanks!
While we're on the topic of education, here's today's report from my favorite middle school teacher[1], a couple courses away from a masters in science ed:
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[1] She moonlights as my daughter.
Quote got lost, somehow. Here it is:
"When asked what subjects we should teach during the ISAT [Illinois Scholastic Aptitude Test] during today's PD [Professional Development], my director said we should focus on full time for reading and writing, math if there's time, and "don't worry about what I like to call, for lack of a better term, the stupid subjects, science and social studies." Yes he called science and social studies stupid. No I am not exaggerating. My heart sank."
Wait a second.
zbicyclist, are you claiming that the parents here should just be telling their kid that he has to have his hair cut? Because I can think of all sorts of other things that the parents should be worried about and the the school board should be worried about, than the length of this kid's hair.
Sadly, some people seem mired in the same ridiculous fights that should never have been fought in the first place. Why on earth should anybody give a good goddamn about the length of a 4 year-olds hair? These school officials, if they knew how to actually deal with people, would be spending more time thinking about other things.
Sheesh! What the hell does it matter? This shouldn't even be an argument.
Eric, that's exactly what I'm saying.
Leave the school board completely out of this for a moment. In the interview with the parents I was struck by how little they seemed to be in control of the situation. They were backing up the opinion of a 4 year old.
Your duty as a parent of a 4 year old is to be a parent of a 4 year old, not some whim advocate.
Later on, will these parents turn out like Al Hofeld, the former Illinois U.S. Senate candidate [for the seat later held by Obama] who sued when his son was disappointed he didn't get on the Little League team he wanted?
I agree with you that "What the hell does it matter?" Yes, what the hell does it matter to anybody? And why is anybody letting it get to this state?
Z, What business is it of the school's to tell a 4-year-old how to keep their hair? The parents may well be idiots, but if the kid wants to keep his hair and the parents want the kid to keep his hair, why not let him? Screw the hair fascists I say – it's nursery school, not the army.