What do you think about this punishment for bad grades?

[redhen]

Gahhh! You green heads!!

 

[Rubyegg]

This happened close to us. DH saw the kid standing out there with his sign. On the news the Mom said she was at the end of her rope with him, had grounded him, taken things away, nothing was working. My first thought was did you get him a Tutor? Had they met with a Guidance counselor to see if they School could offer him one? While I can appreciate that she's disciplining him the way she sees fit as is her right, that looked like one humilitated kid to me, and humiliation can turn into anger real quick in a male teenager. (Mine I could say Good Morning and have some toast and they'd be mad) An angry teen with a low self esteem from being humiliated in public can be more dangerous then I'd like to think about. I hope for his sake some people at his school saw this and have made offers to help him out.

 

[EweSheep]

No child left behind........not sure if the school know or they rather keep it quiet under wraps how they failed him.

 

[Rubyegg]

In that area of Tampa, I'm sure more than just the schools failed him

 

[EweSheep]

Well I can tell you guys one thing about this mother, she does CARE about him succeeding in school. I believe in the black culture, if you succeeded better than your parents, got a good paying job, done well, well, its call PRIDE!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Quote:
This would not work with the Kinder Major. The wife and I spent so much time and effort trying to make sure she would like to read that we overshot the mark. Now she'd LOVE it if all she got to do was lay in her bed reading a book and taking care of her birds.

"Put the book down and come to supper."
"Put the book down and get your bath."
"Put the book down and get ready for school."
"Put the book down and..."

Yeah, same here A.T., I guess being sent to their room to read isn't much of a punishment. But At least the like to read!

Now if I could just figure out what a Justin Beaver is....

A pernicious rodent. There's no season on the things. Take as many as you can bag...

 

[The Chicken Lady]

I applaud the parent for at least trying *something.* There are plenty of parents out there who don't care or don't think they have the time to care. I am betting he'll remember it, and who cares if he resents it for awhile? All kids resent being punished, but the truth is, that they get over it. Being the kid's friend and not showing tough love and discipline when it's needed doesn't do the kid (or the parent) any favors. Being a teacher -- or a parent -- isn't easy, and if a person doesn't have the backbone to discipline, they shouldn't be in charge of raising and teaching kids, IMHO.

 

[BrattishTaz]

I can't believe this story has made national news already. I used to own a house in that neighborhood (for 14 years), I remember the family from neighborhood watch meetings. My older daughter went to school with the boy. The high school maintains an "F" rating and has no control over the students. Every few years a new group of kids start trying to form gangs and cause hell to break out in the neighborhoods. There are literally police cars on every corner and a helicopter patrolling the area when school lets out. It takes extreme parenting to keep "at risk" kids on the right path. Parents know they are not just fighting for their kids education but for their lives.

I remember two gangs forming about 10 years ago and trying to kill each other in front of my house. There were dozens of kids fighting and throwing bottles. We were waiting for the police when we saw a large group of moms marching down the road. They were carrying belts, sticks, flip flops, switches, and anything else they could find. They grabbed their kids and proceeded to beat, yell at, and even drag them home by their hair. The police came and decided to let the moms deal with it. We never had problems with that generation of kids again.

I am so glad I never had problems with my daughters. I credit some of those extreme moms for that. I always told my girls I would handle them in the same way if they started messing up. I guess they believed me.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
You win!

 

[Mattemma]

I don't think humiliation will make him work harder in school.

The parent needs to find out WHY he cares so little about learning. Maybe it is the teachers or the learning material. Maybe she needs to put the boy in a charter school that focuses on HIS interest. He would benefit from counseling to identify what his needs are. If he just wants to sit on his arse all day playing video games then the mom will need to SHOW HIM that no one will work/support his habits.

The boy needs to be inspired.He needs to be *moved* somehow to see that educating himself will give him the ability to reach his goals.That desire was there when he started school.Every child starts with a desire to learn more.What killed it?

If he has no goals then humiliating him on a street corner will just make him less motivated to do anything in life.

My kids are doing Montessori right now and get no grades.Even if they were getting grades I would not bother to share those grades with them except at the high school level,because the grades will affect their ability to get scholarships/grants. With more people homeschooling the grades are not always so important. Places are looking beyond grades into what students are DOING and what they are SAYING......not just the grade on a paper.