David Bulley
3.5K posts
@DavidBulley
writer, teacher, songwriter, creative hippy type, with a strong belief in restorative justice
At ASE, we consider laughing at a student for a wrong answer or a "dumb question" to be among the most serious offenses there is, whether it is for mispronouncing words (which, I agree, is often a sign of reader) or for anything else. This happens with every new group of students within a few days: someone tries something, gets it wrong, and the class laughs at them. When this happens, we ask our teachers to put aside our general principle of "address misbehavior in the least disruptive effective way" and instead stop the entire class and speak calmly but harshly to the students. Students must understand that laughing at each other is absolutely poisonous for learning. If students feel it is even a remote possibility that they might be laughed at, they will refuse to speak, or will only speak when they are completely sure they know what they are saying is the "right" thing. This fear cuts their learning by at least half, probably much more. Educative discussion becomes impossible. Valuable questions go unasked. Misconceptions go unaddressed. Connections between ideas go unmade. I think too many schools accept this kind of thing as "how kids/teenagers are." Sure, they will behave this way if it is accepted or encouraged. But you can put a stop to it, at least in class. And learning that value does eventually impact how kids behave outside of class, as well. We have a credo of "We Help Each Other Learn." We go back to it basically every day. Laughing at others is the opposite of that principle.
If a cashier accidentally gave you more change than you were supposed to get, would you give it back?
12% to 17% of kids in Public Schools are sexually harassed (or worse) by a government employee of the school. Would you hire a babysitter that has a 17% chance of sexually harassing your child? Millions of parents say "yes" everyday.
Why a basic Personal Finance and Investing class is not taught in High School is beyond me
2 grass-fed steaks a day keeps the gays away. 🚫🏳️🌈
Some friends said they’re sending their kids to a no screens private school and I was curious how much it cost. It costs $47,200/year!!!!!!!!!!! $47,200!!!!!!! $47,200 DOLLARS
