tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post1306429362860047570..comments2024-03-27T08:53:29.267-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: A Bad Child?Peter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-37022969126525814382016-05-27T16:58:12.271-04:002016-05-27T16:58:12.271-04:00For most kids, school is about labels and categori...For most kids, school is about labels and categories. The teachers are usually pretty clear about their attitudes towards each student. Students also have to live with their academic labels. Some may have "medical" labels. Then the students come up with their own labels. They have labels for teachers, peers, different cliques. Eventually the teachers become familiar with the students' labels (think of the list Grace the secretary rattles off in "Ferris Buehler's Day Off").<br /><br />Labels, labels, labels. A stranger asks you if your baby is good. A teacher tells you as a parent if your kid is good. You agree or disagree. The kid lives with the label. If is a bad label, you hope for a kinder teacher next year.<br /><br />Then there are the labels you want but can't get. That is frustrating. The anti-bullying campaign says avoid labels. So everyone walks around thinking but not speaking about labels.<br /><br />Is it possible to prepare young people for adulthood without the rampant use of explicit and tacit labels? We had better find a way. The problem is, few people really do the hard work of trying to understand what it means to be in someone else's shoes. Kobishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16778054056084383752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-70615823420346413852016-05-27T10:59:15.635-04:002016-05-27T10:59:15.635-04:00Very insightful, especially the way you explain it...Very insightful, especially the way you explain it. <br /><br />My son once picked up a desk and acted like he was going to throw it. The teacher took the time to talk to him and figure out that he was upset because he was being bullied in gym class and the gym teacher wouldn't do anything about it. She talked to the gym teacher and he finally did resolve it. My son could have been labeled "bad". (If he'd been black, maybe he would have.) Rebecca deCocahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13168718846105012814noreply@blogger.com