We are having tardy sweeps at our school. Part of it is a great idea. We are to lock the doors to our rooms when the bell rings and all the students left in the hall will be gathered up for a serious consequence.
Like almost everything that public education does, they take a good idea and make it worthless.
The first failure was that someone came on the PA and announced there would be a tardy sweep that period. They repeated the announcement until the bell rings. The security staff walked around yelling, and I quote, “Get to class. Don’t be late. We are doing a tardy sweep.” This is extremely effective in getting kids to class on time. In one class where I usually have about ten kids late, all were on time. They are tardy, not stupid.
I am not sure what the adults’ problem is.
Consider.
Occasionally the Highway Patrol sets up a speed trap in our school parking lot. As you should know by now the speed limit is drastically lowered in school zones when children are present. By sitting in our parking lot they are not visible to motorists. They might balance the states budget if they did it often enough. Now, picture how many tickets they would write if I went down the block and put up one of those highways signs that blink and send a message announcing that there was a speed trap ahead. It would produce model motorists, for the day. When the cops went home all would revert to normal.
So it is at school.
The second problem is the consequences. In my sixth period class I asked a kid that I know was picked up what the consequence was. He said, “A warning.”
Powerful.
So we had a great day of on-time students. Public education has a major victory. We are setting high standards and holding students accountable. We can write a book about it, get a government subsidy and hit the lecture curcuit.
But don’t come back tomorrow.
homo unius libri
(eyeroll). Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Why even bother doing it?
ReplyDeleteYou obviously are not a credentialed teacher or administrator. It isn't results that matter. What is important is being able to say you are doing tardy sweeps and because on those days the kids get to class you can even show numbers about how well it works.
DeleteGrace and peace.
Around here, they always warn about sobriety checkpoints (which are illegal anyway) 2-3 days in advance on TV and in the newspaper.
ReplyDeleteI don't think our students have a long enough attention span to announce it more than a few minutes ahead of time.
DeleteGrace and peace.
They need to grow a pair of mental balls and start actually discipling those who can't walk fast enough to class. Funny thing is these are the same ignoranuses that are able to sprint to the ice cream man after school.
ReplyDeleteYou may have noticed the same character traits in dogs that can't hear you unless you are talking about treats.
DeleteGrace and peace