Re: study of red****rting (late entrance to kndergarten)

Chookie <ehrebeniuk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>In article <l87i84dipbvh8r3qfkao02eqc1ftj4tr3g@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> Rosalie B. <gmbeasley@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> We don't have anything like prefects or captains.  AFAIK, no students
>> are given say over other students other than perhaps crossing guards,
>> and that's really outside school and no privileges that I know or.
>> Hall monitors are teachers.  
>
>The idea here is to give some responsibility to those students who are
ready 
>for it and who are accepted as leaders by the student body.  I suspect
that 
>there was some vote-rigging going on -- probably teacher votes were
included 
>(or worth more than one point) or unsuitable elections were ignored.

I don't know that 'leaders' need to be recognized at the lower levels
- it can change so much, and I wouldn't think that an election where
unsuitables were weeded out artificially would be really appropriate.
>
>> If anyone gives anything to teachers, the room moms or maybe the PTA
>> or other teachers do it.  My mom once organized a shower for my 2-3
>> grade teacher when she got married, but that's the only time I
>> remember anything like that.  Any time there were prize givings, it
>> would be done by the principal.  
>> 
>> There are kids who get to do the AV stuff and also there are usually
>> some who do the morning announcements, which now-a-days might be
>> televised.
>
>Assemblies are still held outside at my son's school, and announcements
are 
>given mainly by teachers and so on, but at special events, such as 
>prize-givings, the captains give the formal welcome to parents and
dignitaries 
>on behalf of the students.  Oh -- no in-school telly here AFAIK.
>
What do you mean by outside the school?  Like at a hired auditorium or
something?  The morning announcements are given over the PA system,
although when I was teaching we did get a mimeographed daily sheet
with absent students listed and any special times of the day that
things were happening etc.  But that was just for the teachers and not
for the students.

We now have at lower levels what is called an "all purpose room" which
serves as a gym, lunchroom and auditorium.  Cafeteria at one end, and
stage on one side.  When the kids eat lunch, there are tables to eat
at, and during PE the tables are pushed out of the way.

>> We do have elections for Student reps, and sometimes there is a
>> student member that attends the School Board meetings, but that's
>> outside of school.
>
>Our SRC holds its own meetings with the principal in school hours, I
assume.  
>We don't have school boards as primary and secondary education is a state

>responsibility, but most public schools have a Parents' and Citizens' 
>Association -- there is a state body to which they affiliate, which
provides 
>public liability insurance for functions and lobbies the government.  I
am not 
>sure about how the SRC is organised -- there are two reps elected to it
from 
>Years 3 to 5, but I think more from Year 6 (from which the captains are
drawn).
>
School boards are governmental functions through the county and state.
Some school boards are elected and some are appointed by the governor
or someone.  [Sheriffs are elected too although not deputies, and so
are judges in some cases].  They are responsible for setting policies,
allocating money (which they ask to be put in the budget of the county
commissioners (also elected usually) or the mayor or whoever is in
charge of the political arena they are in, and they also hire the
superintendent, principals etc.    Private schools, and parochial
schools have their own systems of course.


>> >At DS1's primary school, the children never go anywhere alone, 
>> >but only in pairs, so a classmate always accompanies a child to the
office, 
>> >sick-bay or toilet.  I don't know if the older children go anywhere
alone 
>> >during class time (DS1 is 7 and in Year 2), but I think not.
>> 
>> Teachers walk the students to lunch etc.  Teachers and sometimes paid
>> or unpaid people monitor the playground.
>
>I didn't mean at official movement times, just for errands and suchlike. 

>
Sometimes teachers will ask a trustworthy student to take a note or
something to the principal's office, but if it is an emergency,
there's usually an intercom in the room which the teacher can call the
office on.  And the office can listen in to the classroom if they want
to without telling anyone.  I used to have a creepy principal who, if
anyone was talking about him, he would immediately appear behind that
person.  I always thought he had some kind of bug in the faculty room.

>> Of course there isn't any
>> outside recess once you get past 5th grade unless the teachers put it
>> into the schedule for their group.  The schools at that level have no
>> playgrounds, so the recess is in the parking lot.
>
>Crikey, no wonder you guys have an obesity problem.  And disciplinary
problems 
>too, I shouldn't wonder -- where do the kids run off their energy and get
rid 
>of the fidgets?  When do they talk to their friends?  DS1 has about 1.5
hours 
>a day outside, spread over two breaks.  High-schoolers (Years 7-12) get
less 
>-- maybe a 15-min recess and a 50-minute lunch, but I can't remember
exactly.  
>How much time a week would a class spend on s****t?  I think DS1 gets two 
>hours/wk, and I think we had 160 mins a week of PE in high school.
>
Our kids in middle school had a half an hour for lunch.  Even at that,
the lunches run from 10:30 to 1:30 because each group eats separately.
When I was teaching 6th grade, we also organized a recess because of
what you are saying.  I don't know exactly what they did in
elementary, but I know they didn't get PE every day.

However starting 6th grade they rotated to cl*****, which included
'special subjects' (music, PE, art, home ec, shop) of which they had
two per quarter.  They walked to those subjects like they walked to
the cafeteria (all purpose room).  They could talk before school or at
their lockers.  

I don't know about the weather there - the weather here isn't deemed
suitable for outside all the time.  Too hot and humid or raining in
the warmer months and snow etc in the colder months.

>> >> Honor roll is students who have top grades in all subjects. In some 
>> >> schools, 
>> >> it's divided into two categories, those who have the absolute top
grade in 
>> >> every class, and those who have mostly the top grade, with maybe 1
class 
>> >> where they're one rank lower. Students also must have good conduct
and 
>> >> regular attendance.
>> >
>> >I see -- that would be recognised here with the annual (or
twice-yearly) 
>> >merit 
>> >awards for best/achievement/most improved in Subjectname.  THere is
also 
>> >usually an overall academic excellence award and a good/most improved 
>> >conduct 
>> >award.
>> 
>> This isn't the one who gets the HIGHEST achievement in maths (sic) or
>> some one subject, this is EVERYONE who gets top grades in all their
>> subjects including things like band and PE.  
>
>Just looked through some of my old re****ts, and I would never have got
into 
>such a thing in primary school, despite being the proverbial "excellent 
>student, joy to teach". My handwriting wasn't dreadful, but it wasn't 
>excellent, and my maths was often not in the top band either, though
overall I 
>would have been in the top 10%.  Going by my son's re****t, it is now even
more 
>difficult to attain the top band than it was -- the rumour is that an A
is 
>about two years ahead of grade level, as C means competency "at grade
level".  
>As for PE...!!  I spent Years 7-10 at high school terrified that I would
fail 
>PE and be forced to repeat a year.  My high school marks are percentages,
so 
>it's rather difficult to tell, but I think I'm pretty safe in saying that
such 
>an honour roll at an Australian school would be a list of one or two
names -- 
>say 1% of students.
>
I don't think you would be required to repeat because of PE here - I
almost failed softball in college (where when I went 2 years of PE
were required - I passed because I could memorize the rules and aced
the final, but I couldn't throw, catch, or hit), but otherwise I don't
remember having a problem with PE although I was extremely
un-athletic.  Never could climb the ropes due to not enough upper body
strength.  

AFAIK the big failure point for PE in high school was whether you took
the required showers.  A big deal to some as most of them were gang
showers, and also we (not me but some people) didn't want to get our
hair wet.  The teacher came into the locker room and checked that we
had gotten wet.  If you took the showers, you passed no matter how
klutzy you were.

I think it would be about the top 10% of students would be on the
honor roll.  I was usually on it I think although I almost flunked
Algebra II and wouldn't have been on that year.  DD#1 and DD#2 would
have been on I think.  DD#3 was competing at the national level in
eventing, and so she got some Cs although I think she still managed
National Honor Society.  DS not only was not on the honor roll but had
to repeat two cl***** in summer school and even then flunked one of
them and had to take it over for the third time as a senior.

>> We don't give a special
>> award for improved conduct or improved academics either, although
>> conduct is noted in the elementary levels or at least it was when my
>> kids were in school.  
>
>I think those awards would only be given in primary schools here, too.
>
>> When we got to college, the people who had the requisite grades were
>> on the Dean's List (or in the case of the military academies, the
>> Superintendent's List).  
>
>LOL, and what privileges would *they* get?  The mind boggles... a free
beer at 
>the bar?  First choice of rat for dissection?

No privileges for honor roll at any level.  Just recognition.  DH was
on the Sup't's list about half the time of his last two years.  I was
NEVER on the Dean's list, and was on academic probation for the last
two years because I managed to flunk a 5 credit course in German and
that sabotaged my GPA.