When I coached T-ball, and when I served as Cub Scout den chief, I
maintained a secure level of discipline considerably stricter than is
evident in the public schools. The kids thrived on it, even when I had to
crack down on one of them (this rarely happened--they knew my limits, and
that was that).
All they want is consistency, and "fairness." Kids are very adaptable,
but they will always push the limits a little bit, just to see if
yesterday's standard still applies today. No problem; it's my way or the
highway. Once they understand that, we have a great time.
My problem with the schools is: the pervasive lack of discipline prevents
a positive learning environment in too many situations. It seemed
especially bad at MJHS a few years back, but the seeds were sown in the
grade schools.
In MHS, they seem to be addressing the problem. When I perused all the
papers which needed signing the first week of classes, I thought, WOW, if
these are the battles you are fighting, you've already lost the war!
(BTW, those rules & regulations used to be available on the MHS web page.
Will that become available again, sometime, now that we have a full-time
technology coordinator? I see the Alternative HS has a web page [1996],
but the MHS link via the Idaho state web resource still comes up 404.)
Robert Probasco rcp@uidaho.edu