Pajamas Media

35 Comments

shaun fischer:

Back in the 80’s and 90’s my favorite comic strip was Calvin and Hobbes.Could you imagine Calvin going to elementry school today? One typical stunt pulled by a six year old boy and pooof!!The next frame Calvin would be slouched in his desk at the back of the classroom drooling and glassy eyed due to the wonders of overmedicating with the teachers best friend RITILIN!Thus the begining and end of the comic strip in two frames.

Aug 8, 2008 - 1:10 am NB:

Agreed. Of course thank God we have ADD meds or what I call male child suppressants. Glad you mentioned that because I’m sure someone somewhere will recommend this child’s childlike behavior is grounds for a prescription of some sort. . Sheesh what a world.

Aug 8, 2008 - 1:24 am Kirk:

Um, Mom, why is an institution like this raising your kid at age (1 + 3 years of history there = 4) since age ONE! The kid is on the wrong track starting out from being issued crappy parents. If you can’t raise your ONE year old, please, adoption is still an option. Then you can go back to your materialistic over purchasing crack habits.

Aug 8, 2008 - 3:36 am Barb:

I was a teacher for many years and we had adopted a “threat” policy which we had to explain to the children. One day we were playing a learning game and one of the boys said, “I’m going to kill you.” The entire class froze thinking I was going to call the police. I told him I knew what he meant, but please be careful of the words you use.
I was also advised by the principal that I could not take my fourth graders out for recess. Silly me, I knew that running around for 15 minutes would help their attention. I could go on and on, but mercifully, I won’t!

Aug 8, 2008 - 4:03 am Chaya:

I believe that little boys are being ‘deboyed’ today - that is, being made to repress (what I believe is) natural aggression. Instead of channeling that aggression into some positive channel, like sports, they are being made to suppress these feelings (the mother said she doesn’t allow her son to watch tv or play with guns; so can I assume she tries to suppress ‘aggressive behaviour?’). It has to come out some way.

Aug 8, 2008 - 4:04 am JF:

Kirk, that is not kind and uncalled for?

Aug 8, 2008 - 4:40 am Tom:

So what happens next? Now he has a record. Kyle won’t be permitted into any dayschool, and coming up is kindergarten in public or private shools, any place going to accept him unless he is on meds? Sounds like mom ‘must’ work, so any chances of him getting any kind of of stable home life is zero…..seems to be the typical childhood for this generation. Glad I breed goldens.

Aug 8, 2008 - 5:22 am Lisa:

To play devil’s advocate… there have been cases of children as young as kindergarten bringing guns to school and we’ve all heard of cases where small children have gotten a hold of guns and hurt someone.

Imagine if you were the parent of a child who was told he was going to be shot. Would you send your child to a school where he heard such a threat?

My question is if the child is not allowed to watch tv, where did he hear such language enough to use it as a threat?

Oh and as for medicating ADD/ADHD, as a teacher, I’ve seen a few cases where it worked but mostly, it didn’t do anything. The labels were slapped on the kids by the parents which allowed them to protect their kids from their own bad behavior (lesser punishments). I’ve had students call me retarded, bitch and other names but with a special ed label, there are few consequences.

Aug 8, 2008 - 5:56 am Boris:

“Also, with all the debate about our children becoming more and more obese and getting less and less exercise, one would think that a child running around would be looked upon favorably. Chalk up yet another cognitive disconnect for the adherents of political correctness, eh?”

yeah…uh, wat?

Aug 8, 2008 - 6:17 am cwm:

If you really want to see some threats try being a conservative and blogging on a liberal blog.

Aug 8, 2008 - 6:20 am bs:

Sorry, I’m going to have to go with the day care here. Tantrums are not acceptable behavior and need to be nipped in the bud. There’s not really enough information here to reach an informed conclusion, but it appears at least plausible that this kid has been a brat over a long time. It has happened that four-year-olds have shot their “classmates” in day care. You can’t blame the authorities for getting nervous when a known trouble-maker makes such threats. If they ignored it, and the boy followed through, you would be right out there in the front of the mob accusing them of negligence.
It seems to me the boy was not expelled for a single incident. It was just the last straw. I’m really going to go out on a limb here and guess that they would not have been allowed to spank the kid either. If you can’t discipline kids, and their parents won’t, who needs the aggravation? Send him back to his mother, let her cope with him.

Aug 8, 2008 - 6:34 am M.:

I had a tantrum thrower. I can guarantee you that it’s not a discipline issue. Whuppin’s don’t cure tantrums.

The kid sounds to me like he needs more free play, preferably of the outdoor variety, to reduce stress and for the adults to chill. All it takes is to consistently and calmly remove them from their audience until they have regained control of themselves and are ready to be civilized and rejoin the group. Kids are naturally social; they figure it out quickly.

Unfortunately, what they are teaching this child are the best ways to really get attention, and inject some excitement into a boring day.

Aug 8, 2008 - 7:07 am pappy:

when i was a lad we would play cowboys and indians or army for days at a time, our toy machine guns blazing. if we laid our guns down, it was only to share a snack, then back to battle. parents were concerned if we decided not to have these mock fights, fearing we may be coming down with some malady, but that was in a world where parents were involved with raising their kids and didn’t both have to work;and you were not afraid to disipline them and show them the error of their ways.

Aug 8, 2008 - 7:37 am Kirk:

JF:
Kirk, that is not kind and uncalled for?

Kindness is relative, and there are events and behaviors that warrant it’s withdrawl. Dumping a 12 month old off at daycare should be put on a pedastal? Celebrated?

It should be acknowledged as shameful behavior.

More and more commonly school and police reaction is ourageous. I’ve seen enough of those stories to pass by without comment. Dumping infants at day care deserves some mention. The “unkindness” is “called for.”

Aug 8, 2008 - 7:55 am kender:

Boris; ““Also, with all the debate about our children becoming more and more obese and getting less and less exercise, one would think that a child running around would be looked upon favorably. Chalk up yet another cognitive disconnect for the adherents of political correctness, eh?”

yeah…uh, wat?”

Boris , there is a cognitive disconnect in people who advocate our children get more exercise then discipline them for running.

Aug 8, 2008 - 8:04 am austin:

IMHO, the kid is profoundly gifted and is not getting the attention he needs. Gifted kids are not necessarily social, but they do need stuff to do which matches their deep need to learn at an accelerated pace.

Aug 8, 2008 - 8:04 am rocketeer:

I thought that the teachers and administrators at daycare centers had to be trained to deal with child psychology instead of how to administrate pc policies. We’re getting to the point in the sisifacation of this country where boys can no longer be boys. The left is DESTROYING this country and must be stopped.

Aug 8, 2008 - 8:41 am gus3:

I’m with Kirk on this one, in concept if not in words.

My brother went to day care for two hours, twice a week, just for social interactions (we lived in the country) and to give Mom a break for a little while. But in the end, Mom was still Mom, and the day care didn’t raise him.

Ever since my boss and his wife decided to dump their *3-week-old* on her parents so they could both get back to work, I’ve had little to no sympathy for parents who insist, “But we both have to work!” No, you don’t. One of you needs to stay home and be a full-time parent for a few years. That child’s needs takes precedence over your need for a new BMW.

Aug 8, 2008 - 10:55 am Cletus:

This isn’t the stupidest story in recent memory.

This is:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/256315

Aug 8, 2008 - 12:35 pm Pettyfog:

I’m sorry… the issue is not that the child’s a brat; or expelled, or that he’s been dumped there for three years, it’s that the cops were called in to investigate.

Takes ‘Zero Tolerance’ to a new low.

Aug 8, 2008 - 1:39 pm Boris:

“Boris , there is a cognitive disconnect in people who advocate our children get more exercise then discipline them for running.”

Are you serious? There is a time and a place for running, and it’s not in a school building.

Aug 8, 2008 - 2:08 pm Tolbert:

Want to hear another story of stupidity?

No? Well too bad, here it goes.

A close friend of my 10 year old son, they’ve know each other since they were both in diapers, was sent to “the office” at school today. He is a fifth grader and takes after his father, who is a professional artist who also, egads! mades a good living at it, anyway the boy sketches like only art school grads wish they could.

Today he sketched a man and a woman in an embrace, no, not anything salacious, just a man and a woman embracing.

This attracted the attention of the other children who are in awe of his talent. The teacher considered this to be a disruption and he was sent to “the office” and his father was called to the school to observe the offending material.

The school is now suggesting that the child should have a “pysch eval”. His father was annoyed, but kept his calm and suggested that they were blowing the incident way out of proportion. The staff reacted to his casual dismissal of their concerns as him not having any “respect” for their professional opinion and that it was due to his “innate racism”.

Christ on a pogo stick!

Aug 8, 2008 - 3:15 pm kender:

Yes Boris, I am deadly serious. Four year olds are not well known for their self restraint or their ability to always follow the rules. A four year old running is not a reason to write up a child for behavioral issues. If you are of the opinion it is then I suspect it is people such as yourself who are a large part of the problem.

While I have your ear Boris may I ask if you think writing up a four year old for fidgeting during nap time is an acceptable action to take? If you believe it is I would wonder if you have children.

My bet is no…

Aug 8, 2008 - 3:42 pm Bert:

As a veteran of 40 years in public education I can share with you the fact that the school system both public and private has been usurped over the last twenty years by legions of non-thinking leftist indoctrinated feminazis, lesbians, male-haters, and the dim-witted who
are unable to function mentally other than by the marxist socialist pc bologna they were fed at the their most recent ‘professional’” in-service brainwashing.
The warehouses to which “working” parents daily abandon children from infancy to five years olds are staffed by the less mentally agile, the most poorly educated, and lowest paid of the current dim bulbs have usurped public education and child warehousing. oopps I meant care!
As a parent of a truly gifted now grown and incredibly successful son I was not at all surprised to hear the tale of the ten years old who was punished for drawing a work excellence by his fifth grade teacher.
If there is one thing the brain dead lefty libtards manning our elementary schools playing teacher and administrators instantly move to crush with a totalitarian hand it is talent. They are not too keen on creativity, mental acuity, and dynamism either.
Not until my son went to high school and was administered a standardized test on which he scored 99th percentile in science, math, social sciences, vocabulary and abstract reasoning was he automatically placed in the the state mentally gifted programs id he begin to thrive. I had spent 9 years trying to get the morons at his elementary school to test him.
His high school shared with me a fact I had as an instructor for seniotr high gifted programs discovered thirty years earlier that elementry school personnel are almost completely incapable of determining their students true capabilities and when they see a super bright kid they are threatened and squash them especially if it a boy.
Home schooling is exploding for more than a few good reasons and hence the eduweenies recent increasingly determined attacks on it via the courts and legislatures.

Aug 8, 2008 - 5:43 pm bs:

Pettyfog @ 1:39 pm: Point taken. By all means take it seriously, but handle it! No need for police.

M: “Whuppin’s don’t cure tantrums.” - Whuppin’s per se don’t cure anything, except maybe trust and affection. They’re an essential tool of parenting, but still just a tool. Firmness, consistency, and love are necessary. Not saying you’re guilty of anything at all, but many parents spank sporadically, inconsistently, or in anger. I firmly believe tantrums can be nipped in the bud, barring possibly conditions like autism or ADHD. And contrary to what some people will tell you, there are some situations where medication, including ritalin, are called for. I have a grandson who was unable to sit still or concentrate in school; since starting medication, far from becoming a zombie, he has become a star pupil, and qualified for the school’s advanced stream.

I suspect that this boy doesn’t get much firmness and consistency at home. Put that down to my knuckle-dragging prejudices. Parents who don’t allow their little boys to play with toy guns just strike me as a couple of leftist flakes who would try to “reason” with their children. Toddlers can’t be reasoned with; they must be trained.

Tolbert: Isn’t it amazing how anybody who disagrees with them is “racist”? They seem to think the magic word is some sort of unanswerable argument for all purposes.

Aug 9, 2008 - 8:12 am Gringo:

His high school shared with me a fact I had as an instructor for senior high gifted programs discovered thirty years earlier that elementary school personnel are almost completely incapable of determining their students true capabilities and when they see a super bright kid they are threatened and squash them especially if it a boy.

From my experience decades ago in elementary school: yes and no. One teacher called me “obnoxious” for pointing out a student teacher’s error in geography. Most of my elementary school teachers were pretty good natured about my correcting them. I found out years later that I had so intimidated one first-year teacher (and she was no dummy- her son later went to Dartmouth.)that she had told my parents, ” If Gringo says it is so, it is so.”

Perhaps it is different today. OTOH, there are some students who will correct a teacher who are dead wrong- they just do so to disrupt things.

Aug 9, 2008 - 8:18 am NahnCee:

Tolbert: Isn’t it amazing how anybody who disagrees with them is “racist”? They seem to think the magic word is some sort of unanswerable argument for all purposes.

Who is “they”? I don’t have children and have never paid attention to elementary school or day care since I myself left them behind, but is what is being left unsaid here that black “professional educators” are inhabiting this strata of society and dumbing down the bright kids under their control to their own level?

One of the commenters above commented that all elementary level educators are incompetent. It was my own experience that 90% of the administrators and teachers at the high school level, too, were equally backwards and unenlightened, but then I think that mileage may vary depending upon location and tax base of whatever school system you’re in.

Currently I’m equally jaundiced about the competence and intelligence level of our colleges and universities too.

As I said, though, I don’t have children and am deliriously delighted about that fact, so it’s not my problem other than having to face repeated requests and demands for funding to make sure that the children the rest of you have spawned can read and write and not go on a shooting spree.

Aug 9, 2008 - 10:32 am Augustus:

Here’s a perfect example why “good kids are taking heroin.” Read Bert’s comment. Also, many adults have lost the capability to nurture children. One would think they take heroin based on their theology belief.

Aug 10, 2008 - 9:45 am Nora:

I am going to play devil’s advocate here. And bear in mind, calling in the University Police was ridiculous.

To me, reading about how there were numerous issues in the past with the kid, and the University not releasing these incidents due to privacy concerns, suggests to me that there was a disconnect between the University’s style, and the mother’s. She said she discussed every incident with the child, but it seems like nothing changed. The behavior is normal 4 year old behavior; the problem is that normal four year old behavior is rarely attractive when it’s not your child.

Not knowing more about the incidents, I can’t say where the disconnect occurred.
The school may have needed the parent to set limits on acceptable behavior at school that the parents were not willing to set, but the parents weren’t the ones who had to deal not only with one 4 year old, but 20. They also weren’t the ones who had to worry about liability issues if something happens to one kid while the teacher is dealing with another’s tantrum.

It does seem to me, regardless of one’s opinion’s on child-rearing, that a smaller group setting or one on one attention from a nanny or full-time parent would have been appropriate here.

I’m sure the pre-school would have discussed this with the parents after the first 30 incidents and suggested that the child might be better off someplace else, but given that Kyle was still there, the parents either could not or would not make other arrangements for him. So the daycare waited until he gave them a reason to kick him out permanently.

Calling in the University Police was ridiculous. But so was the daycare needing a reason not to take him anymore, instead of being able to say to the parent - he’s not ready to be here everyday, and you need to make other arrangements.

Aug 11, 2008 - 7:41 am ggs:

Who are any of us to presume that this parent “dumped” her child in daycare? Who said anything about working so she could buy a BMW? Remarks like these just tick me off!! Try living on half or less of what you are making right now. You have no idea what a one-income family faces today. And if she’s a single mom, her only other choice is welfare, and I doubt many readers here would favor that, huh? My kids had to go to daycare from 6 weeks of age. I’m not proud of it, but I’m not ashamed of it either. My son was a lot like this 4 year old, and he got tossed out of a couple of daycare centers because they didn’t want to bother with actually caring for him, as opposed to warehousing him. It took time, and money, and tears, but we found the right fit. And no, neither I nor my spouse was in a position to quit working and stay home. Well, I suppose if we were willing to default on our loans, and live in publicly subsidized housing, and use food stamps, and free public health care, I guess so. Gee, what was I thinking! Here I was working for a living and all that time I was damaging my kids. I thought I was demonstrating responsible behavior. Go figure.

Aug 11, 2008 - 7:50 am wh:

My God, what a lot of self identified child experts there are on the right. Having taught in the public schools for almost thirty years, here’s what I’ve actually seen. Children have gone from having at least one parent at home to being placed in daycare centers. Why? Because the politics in place has made it impossible for parents to provide the same standard of living they enjoyed as children. Or worse, they just want to make sure their children get enough to eat. Yeah, there is something about parents feeling the need to work in order to afford all the materialistic crap that we’re told over and over that we “need” (gotta have that 400 piece knife set) but after the wage slide that’s taken place under Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and shrub, it’s more a mater of making enough to eat and not being able to find affordable housing. You want to argue any of that, go right ahead, then send me a check for all the money I’ve spent on food for the children who have come to my class in the morning hungry. No, their parents aren’t flakes. They didn’t start off poor. They are, by and large, lower middle class people who have had their jobs disappear. Thank you Walmart and the politics of outsourcing. We’ve become a country that doesn’t make anything except profits for the corporations.
Now I’ve noticed something, whenever I’ve talked to folks about this. By and large, Republicans don’t want to think about it. Like, if they don’t see the problem, it doesn’t exist. If they do recognize the problem, it is always the person’s own fault. I’ve come to believe that the reason for this attitude is based on fear. They are either fearful that, in order to solve some of society’s ills, they might actually end up with less money and that, in turn, gives rise to the fear that they will end up in the same situation as the victims they blame. So, an attitude of, “Better them then me and mine” prevails. What these people don’t realize (or won’t face) is that, where that path inevitably leads is a national gated community and, ulp! revolution. Much as I despise Hillary, she had something with her, “It takes a village.” I can hear some moron right now thinking, “NO! It takes a parent!” Well that’s fine but that parent isn’t raising their child on an island. They live in a society. Either that society acts adult and realizes that each member plays a part and has an influence. Either we quit being so damn selfish and support and educate our children or we, as a society, die. Right now we are spending many times the amount all the other super powers combined are spending on their military budget. Wouldn’t it be better to spend the money on our children, and training, and paying people who actually can work with children? Or would you rather like to support those kids for life housing them in a prison. Take your pick. Oh, and one last thought. Show me a liberal and I’ll show you a conservative that’s fallen on hard times. All that bs about taking personal responsibility evaporates the moment God comes along and deals you a crappy hand.

Aug 11, 2008 - 9:08 am ggs:

“All that bs about taking personal responsibility evaporates the moment God comes along and deals you a crappy hand.”

Cheap shot wh. What do you know about anyone else’s “hand?” You sure as **** don’t know mine!

Real character shows up when one can take personal responsibility regardless of the “hand” you are “dealt.” Even better, when you can learn from your own past behaviors.

Oh, and if it gives you any comfort, I have benefited from public assistance in my lifetime, and have repaid that amount 10,000 times over in income taxes. It’s supposed to be a help up, not a lifestyle.

Aug 11, 2008 - 11:24 am SGT Ted:

Wouldn’t it be better to spend the money on our children, and training, and paying people who actually can work with children? Or would you rather like to support those kids for life housing them in a prison.

Judging by the results we get from “professional” teachers, why should we throw more money down that rathole? At least with military spending, you get quality for the money; the best in the world, even without a union! teacher training is garbage, judging from the performance of your charges. And the idea that all that stands between the children and a life in prison is YOU getting more government money for your incompetent results is insulting. Everyone knows that the people with the lowest GPAs in college tend to become teachers and you have succeeded in making sure to add the barriers to prevent other, more competent people to enter the field. An extra year of college, lots of diversity crap and a politicized union that gets rich off of its members while keeping actual teacher wages low just guarantees more of the same as smarter people say “no thanks”. Public schools have corrupted themselves with leftwing garbage and it’s no wonder that more and more parents are homeschooling and producing educated young adults that leave public school students in the dust. Which just goes to prove the incompetence of public education in stark relief.

And as far a needing both parents to work, most of that is optional if people actually wanted to do it, despite the economically illiterate claim of “hard times”. It’s called priorities and delayed gratification. Just ask me; I pulled it off. I worked and my wife stayed home and we budgeted accordingly. We didn’t live in the best house and we didn’t drive new cars, nor did our kids get the 100.00 sneakers or other useless expensive crap that other kids “must have”. Oh and ‘It takes a village” is just collectivist nonsense.

Aug 12, 2008 - 10:36 am Robert:

I noticed the same thing Kirk did - that the child had been institutionalized since age 1. Not a good way to start off, pretty much constantly separated from his parents and missing out on the love, caring, and role models only the parents can provide. This is in-line with numerous studies that found kids stuck in pre-school or day care for too long at too early an age suffer damage.

Aug 27, 2008 - 5:48 pm

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