Dave Hodges, Contributor
Activist Post
Any parent who lets their child darken the door of a public school needs to seriously reconsider their options. No, it is not that there aren’t highly qualified and caring professionals in the education profession who truly care about the welfare of children, there are. However, the system of public education is irreparably broken and parents would be wise to take a closer look at the options that are out there.
However, let’s first take a look at increasingly dysfunctional system. Just as we see the governments of Spain and Greece using severe authoritarian methods in an attempt to preserve the status quo through the imposition of austerity, we are witnessing the same abusive leadership style from many school administrators who are increasingly turning to more authoritarian methods in order to preserve an antiquated and dying system.
Discipline With Love?
The premise behind any discipline plan should be to restore the offending child into becoming a fully functional contributing member of the classroom. In order to achieve that goal, discipline should be offered in the spirit of love and positive rehabilitation. Yet, all too often, this is not what our children are receiving. Increasingly, our children are being conditioned to accept totalitarianism complete with illogical and abusive consequences which are applied, all too often, to innocent behaviors.
Take the case of Wilson Reyes, a seven-year-old elementary school student from the Bronx who got into a tussle with a classmate over a $5 bill.
