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What do you have to do to get suspended from kindergarten? |
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Written by Branden Hart
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Wednesday, 27 February 2008 |
Holding a classmate at knife point and demanding his HoHos would warrant such discipline. Taking another student hostage in the playhouse would probably require some time away from school (and plenty of therapy visits). But Bryan Ruda of Parma Community School in Ohio is being forcibly denied his education because his unconventional haircut – a mohawk – has been deemed a “distraction” to other students.
Principal Linda Geyer stated that the haircut was “disrupting the educational program.” After all, according to Geyer, classmates had indeed been commenting on the haircut, unveiling a discovery about human behavior that is sure to shake the foundation of psychology: children like to talk about how other children look.
After being absolutely floored by this startling revelation, the board of Constellation Community Schools, which operates Parma Community School, decided that the possible distraction caused by kids looking at and talking about some other kid's hair was such a complicated problem that there was only one solution: remove the “offender” from the situation. Bryan's mom could appeal the suspension, but she has, understandably, chosen instead to move her child to another school that might not have policies that remove stimuli that could help children learn valuable lessons from the classroom.
The bottom line is that children NEED to learn how to deal with distractions. Life as an adult is largely about avoiding distractions and staying on task! In a country where drugs for the treatment of ADD and ADHD are being over-prescribed at a terrifying level, we should be vigilant about teaching our children to responsibly deal with distractions, not remove those distractions entirely from the educational experience. This is yet another case where shielding children from perceived harm is exactly the opposite of what they need to gain experience and learn life's important lessons.
[Cleveland.com]
Branden Hart, a TheSequitur.com assistant managing editor, works as an editor in San Antonio. |
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