My daughter started her final year of public middle school this past week. After the first day, she came home and told me about her day. While she was excited about school, about the learning and the friends and such, she was bummed about the new principal. Apparently he’s a bit of a hard-ass. As my daughter put it, “He sucked the fun out of school.”
One example of this fun-sucking is simple, yet illustrates a larger point: In previous years, teachers were allowed to create their own bathroom passes, and many of the teachers picked this activity as an opportunity to inject a little levity into a tough school day. The bathroom passes from these teachers weren’t just cardboard or wood passes; some used old shoes or large wrenches or souvenir key-chains or red clown noses. It brought a smile to the kids’ faces and a slight reprieve from the arduous educational journey that is middle school.
This new principal threw that practice out the window. From now on, all teachers are assigned laminated passes that are to be worn around the neck of the bathroom-bound.
Now, I understand that this is a small thing, but it resonates deeply. These students work hard all day, 6 or so hours of a pretty rigorous academic load, plus an hour or three of homework on most evenings. Don’t they deserve a few giggles, some color in an otherwise drab day?
Those parents out there who homeschool know exactly where I’m coming from, because a lot of their focus is on making each day fun – educational to be sure, but fun is commonplace in these environments. And why is that? Because parents who homeschool *want* it. Teachers at public schools are paid, and not very well. A lot of them aren’t overly thrilled to be teaching. Sure, they get some reward, and occasionally a parent says thank you or a student blossoms under their tutelage, but for the most part, teachers who work in public institutions are forced to adhere to a state-inculcated curriculum. Not exactly a stress-free environment.
And if everyone is carrying a load, and the load is heavy, and the road is long, we all deserve what breaks we can get from the grind. So why not let the teachers play a quick game of red-light green-light with their kids before starting the day on Monday? Why not let the kids wear funny hats or bunny slippers? If it brings a little sunshine into the day, why not allow the bathroom pass to be a snow globe from Sarasota?
Folks, my point is this: They’re kids. Yeah, education is important – it’s the silver bullet for an ailing society. But fun is a silver bullet as well. Who wants a world filled with well-educated stiff-backs? Can’t we find a way to encourage intellect through a little unfettered amusement?
…just a thought…
by Stu Mark
Photo graciously provided by foreversouls, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
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7 responses so far ↓
Erica // Sep 8, 2008 at 4:32 am
Really enjoyed this article, there seems to be a lot of fun in junior school and then things get all serious the further up you go, there can be no harm in lightening up a bit.
InTheFastLane // Sep 8, 2008 at 8:28 am
It is too bad that this particular principal is a non-fun guy. In our school corp. there is a lot on emphasis on teacher attitude and the “fun” things that we can do to make kids (and co-workers) days. In fact, our opening day speaker might have been one of the funniest guys I have heard. Maybe your daughter’s principal needs to read his book: http://www.samglenn.com/ (plug for free since he really did make my day).
Meg // Sep 8, 2008 at 10:16 am
This makes me crazy. I’d love to just ask him why. What thought process brought him to laminated passes?
More fun=more learning.
But it’s not surprising, is it? In so many schools and classrooms individuality is penalized and the kids who stay strictly within the lines are the most successful. School is as much about learning how to operate as a citizen as it is about learning to conjugate verbs.
I said many- not all. There are lots of teachers doing amazing things everyday for their students. Peaking interest and rewarding curiosity. I just wish there were more of them.
Hope Noelle’s teachers find a way to bring fun back.
Kimberly Herbert // Sep 8, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Have you asked why? I willing to bet that some parents complained because their children were embarrassed to carry the funny passes either here or his last school.
Stu Mark // Sep 8, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Kimberly – The parents have had a chance to meet the principal – from what I understand, the new principal brings not just that change, but a variety of other adjustments as well. I’m not really trying to go heavy on the new administrator, but I did feel that this was a reasonable topic to discuss. Are there others who feel that there may be an upside to increased discipline at the middle school level, at a well-established middle school?
EA // Sep 10, 2008 at 2:01 pm
my kids school does not have bathroom passes. Oh what a novel concept. The kids are actually trusted to go to the
bathroom and come back to class all
on their own. I know its schocking to expect children over 6 to be able to
attend to bodily functions with out
a control devise. How ever the kids spend LESS time out of class and don’t have to interupt the teacher. How would you feelif you had to ask your boss to go to the bathroom and walk around the halls with a pass?
The Kachina // Oct 14, 2008 at 9:05 am
I would be interested in the reasons we have hall passes in the first place…my guess would be a lack of personal responsibility on the part of the students. Would we need any kind of security if students felt the importance of upholding and protecting the institution that they (or all us) make up? Look out, I feel myself stepping up on a soap box now…I often remind myself of the idea that we are here to mentor and support our children as they develop through their lives, and one of the most important things we share is the ability to be responsible for the well being of ourselves and others. I see this neglected more and more by parents for the phrase “it’s all about me”.
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