This went a lot smoother than I'd imagined...

So, Caedyn came home yesterday and requested a few extra minutes to tell me about 'something' before we got into what we're calling "Backpack inspection" and starting homework.

He explained to me his very bad no good day in Music Appreciation class where he'd lost his homework folder (which turned out to have slipped down in his backpack between the period before Music and the time he went to retreive it to turn in his homework). I'm actually thrilled that he came in ready to tell me all of this without prodding or prompting. It hasn't always been this easy to get him to communicate with us about what's going on in school, and that led to us finding out about issues far too late to actually do anything significant about them.

As he commenced with his explanation of what happened in class (the homework folder was the tip of the iceberg, apparently), he made comment about how he was worried that he'd have to do push-ups for not having his work done.

Yes, you read that right. Push-ups.

A little further inquiry brought to light that not only did said music teacher make students do push-ups as a disciplinary measure, but that they increased with each student who got in trouble during a class. The first student had 20 push-ups, and the second student had 40, etc. It's also not only done for behavioral infractions, but it's also assigned when a student gets something wrong. For example, he's taught them to stand at parade attention (like a marching band), and if a student fails to do it correctly, he is assigned push-ups.

Now, I know it's likely that some people would hear this and say something along the lines of "That's one way to keep them in line" or whatever, so let me point out one or two issues that I, for one, have with this form of punishment.

Firstly, in a nation where childhood obesity and video games over playing outside have become such major issues, physical education teachers everywhere are trying to promote the importance of excersize for health. We're teaching our children that excersize is a good thing and can prevent things like heart disease, right? So, why would you use it as punishment?

Secondly, if this was a physical education class, and the students were given push-ups for a disciplinary measure rather than joining the rest of the class in whatever activity they were doing, I might not do much more than bat an eyelash, really. When a student with a condition like asthma, who can't necessarily participate in strenuous excersize or needs extra monitoring while doing so, is assigned a physical education class, a parent will send in a note or documentation of some kind for that coach or instructor to explain the condition. Even if the student doesn't have a physical education class in his schedule, the parent may report such a condition to the school so that it's on file. Who would think to report this to a MUSIC TEACHER?

I'd like to know what happens to the kid who can't finish his 80 push-ups. I don't remember having the upper body strength to do much more than 20 when I was eleven.

Lastly, doesn't a school already have a discipline matrix in place? And what good has it done for me, as a parent, to have worked so hard to use positive reinforcement to teach my child if I'm just gonna subject him to a supposedly trusted adult who depends on fear to keep his class in line?

And believe you me, that child was afraid. He ended up crying, because of further difficulties with getting an assignment finished in time to turn it in. We already have a hard enough time convincing him the world doesn't end if he doesn't get something right the first time. This...does not help.

I had all of this in my head as I geared up to start making phone calls.

I ended up making one.

I called the program coordinator for the magnet program he is in, and she assured me that she would look into it immediately. I asked that my son's name be left out of it so that he wouldn't be subject to retaliation by the teacher, and she assured me that she has handled many teacher-student/parent-teacher/etc conflicts and that she would be inquiring in such a way that she doubted it would even come to light that it was a result of a parent's phone call.

Seems too easy. I was ready for a fight.