female only Off topic....want your input

[thamilton 0]

This has nothing to do with the band, but I wanted to see what you guys thought about this. I know some of you are teachers on here, so maybe you can tell me how it works at your school.

I went to my son's school today to take him his inhaler, they told me he was at lunch and I could find him in the cafeteria. The volunteer who told me this said it was very quiet in there because no talking was allowed...I said hmmm...really...none? Anyway I went to the cafeteria, and you could have heard a pin drop. Not only was it it silent they were all sitting on the just one side of the tables, they couldn't even face each other. It was bizarre if you ask me....in the past they have had a red, yellow, green system where if the kids got too out of control they were put on red and no talking after that. I understand they need control of the kids but this seems extreme, there is absolutely no talking in the hallways, bathrooms and in some areas the playground as well as the gym.

I have great respect for educators my two best friends are teachers and I am even in school completing my degree to teach. How does it work at your local schools, does this sound too extreme or am I overreacting? It may have to do with the size of our school...approx. 600 students in K-5....what do you all think?

[want_so_bad 0]

wow. wonder what their punishment is for talking? i need to implent this at my house, lol. just kidding. but really, no talking on the playground? isnt that what a playground is for?

good luck with this. i am interested to see others responses.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

I'm a retired elementary teacher and I ran a tight ship but I think kids need to let off steam - and no talking at lunch is going too far. We all need an opportunity to talk to our friends over food - that is part of growing up - learning table manners, socializing, etc..The red, yellow, green light can work. And the noise should not be allowed to get out of hand. Unless they eat for a certain amount of time and then are given outdoor recess to let off steam, I would talk to the PTA and ask how other parents feel about this. Then approach the principal if you all agree it is too restrictive.

I doubt all 600 students eat at the same time. They probably have at least 3 lunches. So they have about 200 students at a time. That can be difficult to handle, but with lunch aides and teacher supervision (usually the special teachers - art, music, etc..) it should be doable. Perhaps split the upper grades so that they don't eat together. Put grade 5 with K, grade 4 with grade 1, and grades 2 & 3 together. The older kids can help the young ones too.

[crzytchr 3]

At my school the teachers stay with their students during lunch. We have approximately 15-20 minutes of actual eating time (this is why I drink Soup each day). The students need to eat during the first 10 min. and then they are allowed to talk after they are finished eating. This insures that they don't get so involved in conversations that they forget to eat. Our cafeteria is never silent. I would be slightly frightened if I ever walked in and heard a pin drop, and the sitting on one side of a table is creepy.

[RestlessMonkey 7]

I would be slightly frightened if I ever walked in and heard a pin drop, and the sitting on one side of a table is creepy.

Agreed. I don't have kids, and am not a teacher but I was lucky to get to go to several different local schools (private and public) during my nursing school as parts of "community" and "pediatric" experiences and they are kids down here, not little robots. I didn't ever see any food fights but lots of laughing talking happy youngsters acting like kids. (ok maybe they WERE little robots LOL)

What you describe sounds just short of abusive if you ask me. I wouldn't like to have to do that and I'm a grown up.

[melmarlem 0]

I'm not a teacher, and I don't have kids of my own, but this sounds crazy to me! Yikes! :thumbup:

[thamilton 0]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thought it was weird. I am going to take Cleo's advice and talk to other parents and the PTA, I'm all for control but there has to be a happy median so kids can still be kids. They do eat by grade level so they are not all in there at once....last year I was eating with my son and the principal yells across the lunch room "Third graders shut your mouths, second grade is coming in for lunch...be quiet no talking!" I was like dang no wonder Jacob hates school. That makes me sad for him, I don't want all of his school experiences to be negative. It's a really good school district with great teachers and administrators, but this has gotten out of hand.

[heartfire 4]

At first I wasn't even going to post. I just was thinking, "how strange." But I got a few pages away and kept thinking about it and now I actually find this quite scary!

This is NOT normal! I would definitely talk to other parents about this. BUT how many of them tho, really even know about this? You didn't! I would also be parking my butt in the principal's office to be getting some answers directly from him.

If you can't get any satisfactory answers, and I'm not sure there are any, I would then be taking this to the next school board meeting and the district heads. If you can't get anywhere with this, I would seriously consider taking him out of school. You say, "no wonder he hates school." In all honesty, and I'm just asking, not judging, have you ever asked him specifically WHY he hates school so much? You might just get some surprising answers.

I'm wondering if this is a rule for the classrooms too if they even restrict talking on certain areas of the playground. I understand the need for some control in the classroom but when teaching there is (should be?) interaction amongst the students and teacher. Right?

I mean, maybe I'm way off base here but this just sounds so wrong on so many levels!

Best wishes to you and your son. Let us know what you decide to do. Take care!

[RestlessMonkey 7]

It's kind of "1984 meets Children of the Corn" or something. Very unnatural. Poor kids! I'd have hated school, too.

[Kat817 19]

Personally, while I would go to the school board meetings, PTA etc. I would take it to a local news channel or the local paper. Get others involved who have no kids there, but have experience in what interaction deprivation does to people, in this case kids.

Talk to a local jailer, I bet even in a county lock up they get to talk!

Since the kids can't make noise, I damn sure would be!

Keep us posted what happens.

[BethFromVA 5]

How does it work at your local schools, does this sound too extreme or am I overreacting? It may have to do with the size of our school...approx. 600 students in K-5....what do you all think?

It sounds VERY extreme, and I'd yank my kids out of that in a heartbeat. Like they're trying to make little Stepford Children or something.

[sberrys 0]

Wow that is seriously messed up. How are the kids supposed to make friends if they aren't allowed to talk anywhere in school? This is denying them the opportunity to learn social and conversational skills.

I went to many different schools growing up as my family moved around a lot and the ONLY place I ever remember not being allowed to talk was in the classroom or when a grownup was addressing the group or during an assembly or something. This is not normal and sounds to me like some teachers or the principal at that school is/are extremely controling and has no patience for children. I don't understand why people who hate children go in to the teaching profession.

And imagine if they can't talk anywhere at school what other kind of insane rules they have that you don't know about? I feel so bad for these children and just want to shake these teachers for coming up with ridiculous rules. :biggrin:

[tapshoes 2]

This is wrong. Just wrong.

BY talking you learn how to converse, you learn about social interactions, you learn to listen, you learn to make friends and be friends, you develop social skills. Yes, there needs to be respect, there needs to be some quiet times, there needs to be the consumption of food at lunch, but they are people...and people (young and old) talk.

After verifying this info, I would pull my child out, alert the media, the school board, the department of education - any and every one I could think of.

[hope2bthinr 0]

I was going to say it sounds like they want Stepford Children....but someone read my mind. It sounds like they just don't want to have to deal with controlling the undesirable behaviors that naturally occur and are part of the learning experience, peer pressure results in correcting ones behavior when it deviates too much from the group norm, but there won't be any of that kind of learning in that environment. I wonder if this is some kind of experiment or punishment or if it's like that every day? I don't think I could leave a little bundle of energy in a school run that way. Where do the kids get to blow off steam and develop friendships? This is when they are figuring out who they are and their relationship to the rest of the world. What can they figure out if they're all just staring at each other in silence? Sounds like something you'd see in a creepy movie...

[BethFromVA 5]

The whole quiet lunch thing freaked me out. What put me over the edge was that some areas of the PLAYGROUND are quiet areas?????