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Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 5 days ago)
35,620 posts, read 17,953,728 times
Reputation: 50641
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phetaroi
Are you suggesting we should punish students/people for what they might do in the future?
No. But it seems to me this might be a concern that has factored into this principal's decision.
I know you are a retired principal - and I have worked extensively within our schools with the kids - as an involved parent volunteer all my kid's lives - and I'm sure you'll agree that you have to stay one step ahead of them. That's often not possible because they can be very creative with hijinks! And when you think about how public the graduation ceremony is . . . I would be concerned if I were this principal that this girl might do something to upstage the ceremony.
Note: Our school is very diverse, with a heavy Indian/Asian population. A common complaint among those populations was that at graduation, their student's names were not pronounced correctly no matter how hard the reader tried. (I get that completely, at this monumental moment, you want you child's name pronounced correctly). So at a parent meeting, an Indian parent suggested that the kids walk across the stage and announce their own names into the microphone. Um, NOO, that's not going to occur, actually!! said the other parents. Because the kids - each being more clever and funny than the previous, would turn the ceremony into a farce. Superman would graduate after a student named Black Lives Matter. So. Saying that, I think you have to look ahead to who might disrupt the ceremony and consider your options to keep that from happening.
No. But it seems to me this might be a concern that has factored into this principal's decision.
I know you are a retired principal - and I have worked extensively within our schools with the kids - as an involved parent volunteer all my kid's lives - and I'm sure you'll agree that you have to stay one step ahead of them. That's often not possible because they can be very creative with hijinks! And when you think about how public the graduation ceremony is . . . I would be concerned if I were this principal that this girl might do something to upstage the ceremony.
Note: Our school is very diverse, with a heavy Indian/Asian population. A common complaint among those populations was that at graduation, their student's names were not pronounced correctly no matter how hard the reader tried. (I get that completely, at this monumental moment, you want you child's name pronounced correctly). So at a parent meeting, an Indian parent suggested that the kids walk across the stage and announce their own names into the microphone. Um, NOO, that's not going to occur, actually!! said the other parents. Because the kids - each being more clever and funny than the previous, would turn the ceremony into a farce. Superman would graduate after a student named Black Lives Matter. So. Saying that, I think you have to look ahead to who might disrupt the ceremony and consider your options to keep that from happening.
It seems like you're mincing words.
My philosophy was almost always plan for the worst, hope for the best, and it will probably turn out somewhere in between. But let's say the girl does something on the stage. On whom does that reflect? In my view, the kid, not the school...or at least the kid most of all.
Standing up to someone on a power trip is great practice for the real world, despite what others are saying.
Only if you are prepared for the possible consequences, job loss, black listing, being ostracized, being hauled off to the back of a police car, financial hardship, whatever. You don't do that sort of thing and expect that there won't be any fallout from it. The world certainly isn't fair and I don't know what she thought the price might be, but I doubt she thought it would be much more than a slap on the wrist. Being wrong about that might cost her quite a bit in the long run, so I hope her thumbing her nose at authority was worth that price.
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 5 days ago)
35,620 posts, read 17,953,728 times
Reputation: 50641
Quote:
Originally Posted by DubbleT
Only if you are prepared for the possible consequences, job loss, black listing, being ostracized, being hauled off to the back of a police car, financial hardship, whatever. You don't do that sort of thing and expect that there won't be any fallout from it. The world certainly isn't fair and I don't know what she thought the price might be, but I doubt she thought it would be much more than a slap on the wrist. Being wrong about that might cost her quite a bit in the long run, so I hope her thumbing her nose at authority was worth that price.
Couldn't rate you positively again - but great post!
Standing up to someone in the "real world" is "great practice" is bad advice unless you are on equal footing, I agree.
A high school senior and principal are not on equal footing. That lesson is - it's foolish to think you can humiliate someone who has power over you and not suffer serious consequences.
Couldn't rate you positively again - but great post!
Standing up to someone in the "real world" is "great practice" is bad advice unless you are on equal footing, I agree.
A high school senior and principal are not on equal footing. That lesson is - it's foolish to think you can humiliate someone who has power over you and not suffer serious consequences.
Might makes right. Is that the lesson? Common sense has completely left schools.
I don't see why archaic events like HIGH SCHOOL graduation ceremonies just be abolished and the diplomas and copies of the high school transcripts just be mailed out from the central administration office to the student's home address. Then you would not have to worry about this silly little "my feelings are hurt" scenarios!!
Only if you are prepared for the possible consequences, job loss, black listing, being ostracized, being hauled off to the back of a police car, financial hardship, whatever. You don't do that sort of thing and expect that there won't be any fallout from it. The world certainly isn't fair and I don't know what she thought the price might be, but I doubt she thought it would be much more than a slap on the wrist. Being wrong about that might cost her quite a bit in the long run, so I hope her thumbing her nose at authority was worth that price.
One key difference in this situation is the power imbalance at school vs real world situations. If my boss was being a jerk I could get up and leave my job or look for a new one. If I am arrested by the police and end up in court I can get a lawyer and argue my case. Are there consequences to defending yourself, yeah sure, at times. However in this case the rules regarding her shirt is very subjective in the rule book and what may pass for one principal may not pass for another. Furthermore we are dealing with students in that holding tank known as high school. Punishment in high school is usually something mundane, such as detention for minor offenses. Then you move up to suspensions and expulsions for serious matters, like actually harming a student or teacher. To try to prevent a scholarship for something as trite like a blouse is mindboggling idiotic. As far as I am concerned this principal should get criticized for her response and ideally be evaluated before the school board.
Honestly if you knew what happened at my high school your mind would explode. We were doing much worse and no one was being hauled off by the police. But it was a private school, so maybe money makes you immune to the powers who be.
That principle is very immature. Seems like she's jealous that a minority is succeeding at her school instead of her own kids.
She needs to be the adult here and just let it go. Not sure why she's picking fights with a student. She needs to be fired. She obviously doesn't qualify to be in the role.
That principle is very immature. Seems like she's jealous that a minority is succeeding at her school instead of her own kids.
She needs to be the adult here and just let it go. Not sure why she's picking fights with a student. She needs to be fired. She obviously doesn't qualify to be in the role.
I'm sure the opinions of anonymous Internet commenters will be given appropriate consideration by the school board.
This is a flip to the school I go to, they don't go and dress code girls with leggings or short shorts or boys with saggy pants.
This situation sounds more retaliatory than just dress code due to the long-standing issues with the principal and student. I think both are wrong here.
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