Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A rose by any other name

Iris has spent many recesses in the "opportunity room" lately. I asked her, "What is the opportunity room?"

"Room 3."

"Yes, but who goes there and why?"

"We go there to write letters apologizing for what we did."

How did detention become an opportunity?

So far, the letters are about forgetting to bring her homework home or back to school or for not paying attention in class. She sometimes finishes her homework packets early. I tell her to turn the homework in as soon as she finishes it so she doesn't lose it again. She says she won't lose it; she will put it in her desk. Guess what is not there when it is time to turn it in?

* She thinks she goes there only about twice a month. I think we sign her letters acknowledging her transgressions almost weekly.

** I asked for her permission and received it before writing this post. As children get older, they get touchy about their privacy. We both thought this was an amusing story, though.

3 comments:

  1. Opportunity!! The English language is rapidly becoming less and less comprehesible...

    ReplyDelete
  2. It looks like another case of trying to turn a negative into a positive.

    This is a feature of English school behaviour policy. So that here the poorly behaved get rewarded for managing to do what is expected of everyone else.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:29

    It's kind of like calling kids "special." It used to be a good thing...

    ReplyDelete

Comments are open for recent posts, but require moderation for posts older than 14 days.