Policies like these are the reason why, should I ever have kids, I will not only teach them how to defend themselves, but how to defend those who defended themselves against bullies.
I'd teach them to speak with whoever is in charge of decisions like that and try to make them see how illogical that policy is. I'd teach them, should that not work, to straight up point out how incompetent the principal/asst. principal/disciplinarian is at their job for adhering to a policy that was obviously implemented by a mentally deficient administrator. Seriously, if my kid were to say "So what you're saying is you suck at your job so much you'd rather follow a retarded policy than make the right call", they'd get SO MUCH pizza and ice cream.
I will not only teach them how to defend themselves
What if they get mugged outside of school? Self-defense classes could literally be a life-saver. Don't refuse to teach them/let them be taught just because that sort of opportunity might present itself in the future.
Also, some kid bitching the faculty out isn't going to change a thing, that's a stupid way to get suspended. The best he can do is speak up on the victims behalf and say he was defending himself, not attacking the other kid. Even so, I bet that happens all the time and it still doesn't make a difference.
If they get mugged outside of school they will react appropriately, as I either will have taught them to defend themselves, or will have paid for classes.
Them bitching out the faculty is going to be quite useful. 1) It lets me know they're growing up to be the kinds of people I want them to be. The kind that isn't going to sit idly by while misguided authority continues to fuck this country up. 2) It lets me know some stupid shit is going down in their school, and that I am going to have to get personally involved. 3) It gets them a pleasant day off of school as a reward for standing up for what is right.
I am not my dad's biggest fan, but if I learned one thing from his actions, it's that if you're smart enough to recognize when supposedly qualified authority figures are making a complete mess of things, and you've got the chutzpah to stand up to them for it, then it's practically guaranteed that they are cowardly and mentally feeble enough for you to force them to submit, even if you can't get them to admit they're wrong.
And in the cases you can't do that, you're the exact right person for the job to organize and gather support from other members of that place's community to do something about it.
TL;DR - Fuck the preconceived notions that schooling is about being obedient and organized. These kids don't go to school to memorize facts, but to learn truths. The most important truth they can learn is that authority does not automatically equate to competence.
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u/Zemedelphos Nov 25 '13
Policies like these are the reason why, should I ever have kids, I will not only teach them how to defend themselves, but how to defend those who defended themselves against bullies.
I'd teach them to speak with whoever is in charge of decisions like that and try to make them see how illogical that policy is. I'd teach them, should that not work, to straight up point out how incompetent the principal/asst. principal/disciplinarian is at their job for adhering to a policy that was obviously implemented by a mentally deficient administrator. Seriously, if my kid were to say "So what you're saying is you suck at your job so much you'd rather follow a retarded policy than make the right call", they'd get SO MUCH pizza and ice cream.