Perry's Principles: does ticketing kids for misbehavior work?

soundoff (3 Responses)

1. John Bolinger
   

   Of course we would all like parents to be caring, concerned and involved. We'd all like kids to study hard, do their homework and get straight A's. Steve Perry is absolutely correct. This is an effort to divide parents, 'good' parents vs. 'bad' parents. A transparent effort to feed our blaming society. As long as people get mad and blame someone else they never have to bother trying to find a constructive solution to a problem. Our grading system is failing our students so we've applied the same failed system to measure teachers. Now we want to add parents to the pyre? TJ, you feel for it. If you're interviewing an expert listen to what they have to say. If we wanted to know your opinion perhaps CNN could find someone to interview you. I usually enjoy you TJ, but you blew it this time.

   January 24, 2011 at 10:17 am |
2. shari
   

   TJ I just watched your interview, and was appalled at some of the comments made by Mr Perry, yes I think parents should be held responsible for the lack of attention paid to their children, I lived in New York city worked and raised three children, and felt it my duty to go to PTA meetings , I made it a point to know my children's teachers not only by name but personally. they knew me by name. Some parents do not even know who their children's teachers are, they work ten jobs and are so tired that they have no time for their children, I am always fascinated by the Ben Carson story his mom could not read but he and his brother did not find that out until later, because she would check their work and tell them they could do it better and punish them if they did not get good grades, they had no clue she could not read, and though she was a single mother she made sure they learned and did well in school, of course, he became a world renowned neurosurgeon. So yes us parents needs to step up, and take a vested interest in our children's learning.

   January 24, 2011 at 9:04 am |
3. Laura Riemer
   

   Ticketing kids in schools should be an absolute last resort - only for extreme violence. Disruptive mis-behavior is a cry for help from kids that have a need that is beyond their immediate arsenal of resources to deal with - so they act out. This happens even with pre-teens and early teens. When a young person is ticketed and put into the court system - it is demeaning, demoralizing and sends them a message that is unhealthy and creates a reponse system that does not reward. THE BETTER SOLUTION would be a community service to the school kind of system where the young person is assigned duties around the school, such as assisting in cafeteria table cleanup, scrubbing stair rails, bathroom clean up, landscape mowing or assistance. These are our opportunity to bring a troubled young person to a better place, where they can learn a comparable consequence to their poor choice of behavior - a consequence that now can bring a successful, potential very positive result into the young persons life which puts consequences directly onto the child, but in a manner that gives healthy opportunity to build self-esteem - instead of a negative consequence like ticketing, court and the legal system which can be fearful and ends up punishing the parents while making a very negative impact on a childs self-esteem, which may already be low. THIS IS NOTHING NEW - Alief ISD in Houston Texas has been doing this for over 15 years. We need to build our young people up with positive events, not scare them with fear and negative consequences.

   January 23, 2011 at 5:37 pm |