We had a faculty meeting on April 1. It was a very appropriate date for the discussion we had. We had just returned from “Spring” break (aka Easter Vacation). The day before the break began we had a fight on campus. To most people you would just throw the book at the kids involved and get on with life. Not so in modern, politically correct, anti-bullying, Venus dominated education. It was a time for soul searching, breast beating and serious contemplation.
One of the tongue lashings we received was about how we as teachers should respond to fights. The average adult would assume that we were criticized because we did nothing. Not so. We were reminded that it is not recommended that we break up fights. That was bad enough but we were then told we were forbidden from breaking up fights. Then they said it was district policy for us to do nothing. Then they really went overboard and said it was state law.
Can you believe it? Believe. In an atmosphere where people are afraid to send their children to school because of the violence, we are being told to do nothing when we see it. We have serious lack of leadership. Of course most of these people also believe that Islam is a religion of peace and the real danger to the country are the gun owners who have never broken a law but insist on going to church and marrying people of the opposite sex for life.
Real leadership would approach this in a different way. They would tell us we would be fired if we did not break up a fight. They would assure us that they had lawyers on staff who protect us from law suits and cover us if we lost in court. They would make sure that our backs were covered and tell us to do our job.
The humor here is in talking about “real leadership.” The school’s approach is to call the office and if we insist on getting involved to tell the students, “Please stop.” It was also recommended that we carry whistles. Brings to mind the statement that when seconds count the police are only minutes away.
homo unius libri
You should have suggested that they "walk softly and carry a big stick!" I bet their blood pressure would have popped their heads right off their shoulders, and those that survived would have charged you with hate speech.
ReplyDeleteIt might be worth the risk.
DeleteGrace and peace.
It was appropriate that the meeting took place on April 1st.
ReplyDeleteThat was kind of the way I saw it. Do you think they meant it as an April Fool joke? Naw. That would require a sense of humor.
DeleteGrace and peace.