From Opinion Journal - Best of the Web Today
"A special education student in Naples, Fla., 'who kicked a Naples teacher's aide and spent several hours in juvenile jail is facing felony battery charges,' reports the Associated Press.
"The alleged perp, Takovia Allen, 'is being charged with battery on a public education employee. It's possible she will enter a program that includes counseling. If she completes the program successfully the charges could be dropped.'"
"Did we mention she's 6 years old?"
This article has more details.
It is hard to believe that the 6 year old girl was hauled away by the police and spent time in jail.
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Technorati tags: children, schools, public schools, discipline, jail
2 comments:
From what I understand the Americans with Disabilties Act really impacts public schools. Any child with a label then is special education and must be given special services (such as perhaps a full time teachers aid who sits by her side all day long and helps her). Disciplinary actions against children with various 'problems' or 'disorders' cannot be enforced, let alone truly, truly go to jail.
I bet the mother sues the town/school system for some harm the child then suffered due to this jail experience.
I have heard stories in my area, of autistic children who have injured adult school workers, teachers and aids, and then the public school just figured it was easier to pay a private school to educate (read: deal with) the child instead of recurring injury to school staff. I can only hope that the child's attendance in an austism specific private school ends up being a real bonus for the child. My nephew has autism and I am very sensitive and aware of the very specific challenges with autistic children and given that the latest statistic is 1 in 166 children have autism this is a real problem for SOCIETY. Given some very real issues that children have today, the real issues, I have a hard time getting upset if they injure an adult due to their condition, sometimes it is just what happens, especially with frustrated children who cannot verbally communicate (such as some autistic children).
On the other hand a plain unruly or undisciplined child with no medical or psychological problems is a real problem for the schools and the classmates (but that is not what this story was about).
My brother is 28 years old now and homeschooling did less for him than public. He is still violent, cannot write and is the most belligerent person you will ever meet. Everyone in the family tried to encourage my parents to send him into a military academy. You will get your ass kicked either as a child in school or in the local penitentiary after you have murdered your parents. So, if you are thinking of homeschooling your kids then you need to think twice about that. Are they really going to receive the social skills they need? Are you a teacher? Will they be exposed to their peers which in adult life they will have to face? You might have a college degree and a good job just like my parents did but that does not qualify you to be your child's teacher. Kids need outside exposure. K-12 is all about structure and routine and dealing with people you may or may not like. How to get up each day and get to your next appointment on time and without hassle. It's not really about learning much of anything other than how to get along with others and walk away with the basic skills to work at a fast food joint.
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