Here's one I heard today that FLOORED me!!

[StaceyinLA]

I was at a gas station, grabbing a drink and overheard a lady talking about silly bands and how her dd's school wouldn't allow kids to bring them to school. She then commented about how she remembered when she was young and you could bring bb guns and pocket knives to school (boy have we come FAR from that!!!)

 

I just jokingly commented that they never let kids have fun at school anymore, and she replied, "There is ZERO socialization at my daughter's school."

 

And just when I thought I had deprived my kids all those years... ;-p

[Mandy in TN]

I just jokingly commented that they never let kids have fun at school anymore, and she replied, "There is ZERO socialization at my daughter's school."

BwaHaHAHA!

[Kathleen in VA]

I was at a gas station, grabbing a drink and overheard a lady talking about silly bands and how her dd's school wouldn't allow kids to bring them to school. She then commented about how she remembered when she was young and you could bring bb guns and pocket knives to school (boy have we come FAR from that!!!)

 

I just jokingly commented that they never let kids have fun at school anymore, and she replied, "There is ZERO socialization at my daughter's school."

 

And just when I thought I had deprived my kids all those years... ;-p

 

Oh, my - that is hilarious. Guess we can stop worrying that we are ruining our kids' chances of getting along in society. Thanks for sharing.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Oh wow, that is great!:lol::lol:

[dansamy]

At the local public middle school, they are not allowed to greet each other in any fashion in the halls. It's been that way for at least 5 years. The kids are still doing things like oral on the bus ride.... This is why my kids will not set foot in there. Maybe back to public for high school. I haven't decided

But definitely not middle.

[teamturner]

I was discussing my memories of fire drills with our 3rd grade neighbor friend in public school and how much fun they were. She told me they are not allowed to talk at all the entire time during a fire drill. Wow! Times have changed! :confused:

[elegantlion]

So did you burst out laughing in front of her or wait until you were in the car? :lol::lol:

[Chris in VA]

I think that, around here and in other places where the teachers lose pay or lose their jobs if the kids do poorly on testing, the teachers have clamped down on a lot of what they call "distractions." Talking to friends would be in that catagory, especially during instructional time.

 

Silly bands are stupid, imo, and definitely distracting, but I'm not sure any more than baseball cards used to be. But that's not the point, really--

 

I'm glad you got more affirmation about homeschooling.:001_smile:

[Closeacademy]

The buses where I live the kids have to sit facing forward with their feet on the ground. They are not allowed to talk, read, do homework or play with anything. They have to just sit quietly.

 

Some of the kids I know who go to ps have up to 2 hour long bus rides in grade school. And if they break a rule like turn around in their seat a note goes home and they can get kicked off the bus.

 

Also, recess (lunch time) at the best ps schools are organized games. No free play.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Wow, schools here are behind times. They let the kids talk and play dodgeball and wear silly bands. Are the ones running the other schools inhuman? And how do they get the kids to do that? Mine would rebel in about 5 seconds (oh, and I'd be in trouble too).

[meet me in paris]

So did you burst out laughing in front of her or wait until you were in the car? :lol::lol:

 

:lol: I might have done it right then and there.

[TN Mama]

I was discussing my memories of fire drills with our 3rd grade neighbor friend in public school and how much fun they were. She told me they are not allowed to talk at all the entire time during a fire drill. Wow! Times have changed! :confused:

 

In the ps system where my girls started school, they were not allowed to socialize during LUNCH. What? :confused::confused: Can't talk in the classroom, can't talk in the halls and now no talking in the lunchroom. Nice. Save it all for that 20 minute recess.

[NanceXToo]

Well, I agree with her! My daughter was in public school from K through most of third grade before I pulled her out to begin homeschooling, and let me tell you, she was CONSTANTLY losing her recess (all lousy 15 minutes of it) even in KINDERGARTEN because of "talking too much."

 

Kindergarten is too academic these days (already geared toward standardized testing), they weren't allowed to socialize in their classroom...

 

...and you'd think well, okay, they can talk at lunch, right?

 

Wrong.

 

They had "silent lunches." Nobody was allowed to talk in the lunchroom. This was so they could hurry through their lunch so they could have time for that lousy 15 minutes of recess (if they hadn't already lost it), so they could hurry back to their desks for more teaching to the test.

 

And that was how they expected 5 year olds to thrive.

 

My daughter gets way more and way better "socialization" being at home. And I'm thankful that at least I "discovered" homeschooling before my son got put through the same public school nonsense my daughter did!

[oldskool]

My ds always said that ps took the fun out of everything.

[Capt_Uhura]

At my son's school, we had the opposite problem. The lunch room was so noisy, he developed anxiety around going to lunch. At the other school I visited, as I walked past the lunch room, I had a visceral reaction to the level of the noise. THere is no way I could sit and eat under that stress. They need some heavy curtains or something to absorb the noise.

 

But a friend's school also had the no talking at lunch, no talking in the halls etc. THere was very little socialization.

[Chris in VA]

At dd's school, they have a traffic light that shows green if the noise level at lunch is acceptable, and moves to yellow when it gets too loud. A red light means they have to be silent.

But who determines too loud?

[dansamy]

My dc was never able to finish her food because they had only 30 mins to eat. Including going through the line. They line kids up by last name. We're in the last half of the alphabet....

Edited September 10, 2010 by dansamy
Fixing the auto-correct typos because I posted from my Droid!

[k2bdeutmeyer]

My de was never able to finish her food because they had only 30 mind to eat. Including going through the line. They line kids up by last name. We're in the last half of the alphabet....

 

DD's public school (I pulled her out last year) implemented a new policy last year of 15 min lunches. They had 15 minutes to get through the line and eat before they kicked them out of the lunch room. That is just INSANITY.

[LuvToRead]

DD's public school (I pulled her out last year) implemented a new policy last year of 15 min lunches. They had 15 minutes to get through the line and eat before they kicked them out of the lunch room. That is just INSANITY.

 

I takes my 5 year old 15 minutes just to eat a piece of toast. Both of my girls would starve if I sent them to school!

[Murphy101]

I agree with her.

Jail house prisoners get more socialization than kids in school.

[The Girls' Mom]

I agree with her.

Jail house prisoners get more socialization than kids in school.

 

 

I was just about to post the same thing. The girls and I have joked a lot that PS was like going to prison everyday...only prisons get recess. (My girls didn't get recess a lot when they were in school...and at the middle school they did away with it all together.)

[Murphy101]

DD's public school (I pulled her out last year) implemented a new policy last year of 15 min lunches. They had 15 minutes to get through the line and eat before they kicked them out of the lunch room. That is just INSANITY.

 

Part of the reason they do that is to reduce the calorie intake of the many many obese kids.

 

I don't agree with it either. I think it's donkey bum backwards and can harm the kids who aren't obese, but common sense isn't very common in schools, IMO.

 

Dh says that would have wrecked havoc with his type 1 diabetes in 1st grade.

[Garga]

At dd's school, they have a traffic light that shows green if the noise level at lunch is acceptable, and moves to yellow when it gets too loud. A red light means they have to be silent.

But who determines too loud?

 

When I was in middle school we had that. (I just realized that middle school was...gulp...25 years ago. The time has flown!)

 

I think it's a great compromise. The kids can talk, but if they're all yelling and the noise is outrageous, they can start to tone it down.

[BikeBookBread]

 

I just jokingly commented that they never let kids have fun at school anymore, and she replied, "There is ZERO socialization at my daughter's school."

 

PDG has been in PS first grade for one week now. This is what she told us at dinner yesterday: she is told by her teacher where to sit in the lunchroom, with whom (it's been a boy every single day, and she wants to sit by a girl, naturally), she is not allowed to talk with children at the other tables, only the children at her table. The rules she has spouted off are overwhelming. I don't know if *I*, as an adult, would be able to keep them all straight. Grrrrr. One step closer...one step closer...one step closer to pulling back out, I think (and pray!)!!

[K-FL]

I agree with her.

Jail house prisoners get more socialization than kids in school.

 

 

Is it just me are do you feel we're living in a post-Apocalypse Sci-Fi movie ?

[Mimm]

I guess we need to start asking public schoolers how their children will possibly be socialized. :)

[FriedClams]

To me it's the ultimate irony...

 

PS parents always are concerned that HS kids aren't "socialized" but then are up in arms if their kids don't buckle down and get to work at school and they are totally OK with silence at lunch...

 

How many times did your teachers say "This isn't social hour. Get back to work!", when you were in school?

 

Frankly it cracks me up. I think they should teach some logic, but apparently they are too busy...

[Dawn in OH]

Jeez, how are all these public school students going to function when they go out into the real world?

 

I have always hoped I would get to ask that question someday after having to respond to it for so long.

[Sahamamama]

 

Jail house prisoners get more socialization than kids in school.

 

 

 

Mind if I quote you the next time my sister mentions "socialization?" :D

[AngelAnnie]

I don't know a lot of PS parents and those I do know we don't really talk about this kind of stuff. This was very interesting! I'm not sure if the schools in our area are like this or not. I'm thinking not so much - as the kids in my neighborhood seem to love school. :) Making my daughter want to go. :(

 

I can't wait to read this thread to my husband when he gets home tonight.

[Murphy101]

 

 

 

Mind if I quote you the next time my sister mentions "socialization?" :D

 

Sure.:)

 

I'd like to blame current schools, but the truth is I remember feeling that way while in public school nearly 20 years ago. I remember assigned seating and silent lunches and putting heads on desks while we waited for other students to finish assignments and hating gym/recess because I was a toothpick thin klutz and it seemed like my whole life was waiting in lines. I still have almost no patience for waiting in line and avoid situations requiring it if at all possible, so the theory that kids need to learn it that way obviously backfired with me. And I hate, hate, hate rooms without windows. Those were the worst classes for me bc the only freedom I had was imagination daydreaming as I looked out the windows. It

was so depressing trying to use imagination to make cloud pictures out of the patterns in the paint on the cinder block walls. I have an attic room in this house that I refuse to use as a bedroom for just this reason until dh pays a contractor to put in windows. And back when we used private schools, I insisted on touring the entire school and dh laughed at me for automatically checking off any that I felt didn't have enough sunlight. If they had enough sunlight, then I asked about curriculum and teachers.:lol:

Edited September 10, 2010 by Martha

[Murphy101]

I don't know a lot of PS parents and those I do know we don't really talk about this kind of stuff. This was very interesting! I'm not sure if the schools in our area are like this or not. I'm thinking not so much - as the kids in my neighborhood seem to love school. :) Making my daughter want to go. :(

 

I can't wait to read this thread to my husband when he gets home tonight.

 

I wouldn't put much stock in those kids supposedly liking school.

 

I think the sickest thing about it is that they are taught and trained into thinking they should like it. Kids who don't comply are difficult and have attitude and need to be disciplined.

[Sahamamama]

I remember feeling that way while in public school nearly 20 years ago.

 

:iagree: Make it "30 years ago," and you've got me covered. I'm 43, but I haven't forgotten that awful "inmate" feeling. So glad we home school.

[Plucky]

Part of the reason they do that is to reduce the calorie intake of the many many obese kids.

 

I don't agree with it either. I think it's donkey bum backwards and can harm the kids who aren't obese, but common sense isn't very common in schools, IMO.

 

Dh says that would have wrecked havoc with his type 1 diabetes in 1st grade.

 

I don't think it would help heavy kids either. It just teaches them to eat really fast and that must surely carry over into other parts of their life.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

Jeez, how are all these public school students going to function when they go out into the real world?

 

I have always hoped I would get to ask that question someday after having to respond to it for so long.

 

:lol:

[Murphy101]

I don't think it would help heavy kids either. It just teaches them to eat really fast and that must surely carry over into other parts of their life.

 

:iagree:

[Dobela]

DD's public school (I pulled her out last year) implemented a new policy last year of 15 min lunches. They had 15 minutes to get through the line and eat before they kicked them out of the lunch room. That is just INSANITY.

Yeah. I worked at a school like that. Lunch, including recess, was 20 minutes. If you wanted to play, you didn't eat. Since there were no other recesses pity the teacher who had lunch duty that week - she wasn't allowed to eat in front of the children so she couldn't eat on the playground. It was almost impossible to eat. The same school also started serving the first lunches at 10:30. School started at 8, they didn't leave until 3:15, and I am sure many were starving, unable to focus mentally, and having behavior problems just because they were hungry.

[Dobela]

I think that, around here and in other places where the teachers lose pay or lose their jobs if the kids do poorly on testing, the teachers have clamped down on a lot of what they call "distractions." Talking to friends would be in that catagory, especially during instructional time.

 

Silly bands are stupid, imo, and definitely distracting, but I'm not sure any more than baseball cards used to be. But that's not the point, really--

 

I'm glad you got more affirmation about homeschooling.:001_smile:

The main distraction with toys such as silly bands (or what ever the current fad is with kids) is the amount of time spent dealing with "Someone stole my silly band." Or "I think I left it on the playground" and so on. As a teacher I always hated those kinds of things coming into the school.

[mom2denj]

I was at a gas station, grabbing a drink and overheard a lady talking about silly bands and how her dd's school wouldn't allow kids to bring them to school. She then commented about how she remembered when she was young and you could bring bb guns and pocket knives to school (boy have we come FAR from that!!!)

 

I just jokingly commented that they never let kids have fun at school anymore, and she replied, "There is ZERO socialization at my daughter's school."

 

And just when I thought I had deprived my kids all those years... ;-p

 

 

LOVE IT!!!!!!