The answer is yes. I’ve seen multiple ways of handling school systems. I’ve lived in many different places. And I can tell you that school can not only be fun, but in my opinion, should be fun. At least a little.
My daughter got perfect attendance. We went to the award ceremony today. This school system is relatively new to us (as we’ve only lived here for 2 years), and they surprised me yet again. Last year they had the “Kiss the Pig” contest in which the class that raised the most money for a certain cause got to see their teacher kiss a pig. (It was one of those cute baby pigs, but still…) This year, it was a much different cause. One of the students is having a major operation to have his sight saved. Here’s a link to the news story about it: Ryan’s Sight Fight. It was also a much different contest. This time, whoever raised the most got a pie in the face. That’s right. Someone got to throw a pie in their teacher’s face. Not only that, but the administration got involved. Imagine throwing a pie in your principal’s face. Now, if you’re a teacher, imagine throwing one in the face of the superintendent. That happened too.
It was quite fun to watch. The surprise part is that it even happened. Back in Louisiana, we didn’t do stuff like that. Everything was very strict. Here, they have fun all the time. Yet, the students are more advanced educationally than they are in the stricter environment. Does that tell you something? It tells me something. Sure, discipline is important. But the students are also kids. Let them be kids at least a little bit and they’ll love you for it.
Even the high school has some great activities. They had the “Powder Puff” dance. Basically where boys (mostly football players) dressed as girls for fun. They have a couple of those old fashioned popcorn machines in the gym and I’ve seen them get full and then used for pranks instead of eating. By the teachers, mind you.
I’m quite happy with the school system out here. I’m glad we moved. And seeing as I want to be a teacher (and finally only have a year left before I’m certified), I’m glad I’m in a place that allows the teachers to make school fun for their kids.
So are you of the mind that I’m a total nut for wanting and liking this kind of educational atmosphere? Do you think discipline is the only route to educational success? Or do you you think it should be all fun all of the time? Or maybe, you like a mixture of both, like I do? Feel free to comment. I know some of you will have great stories about the fun things you did in school when you were younger. And some of you might attend schools you enjoy now. Let me know. I’d love to read the stories and opinions.
Related Posts:
- 6 Qualities of an Effective School
- What Do I Make?
- Old Lesson Plans. Useful?
- Modified Poetry Reading: Marvel the Blues
- The Substitute
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
By joshuaongys on May 31, 2008 |
Tagged You!! Don’t Worry, Its a short tag… http://joshuaongys.blogspot.com/2008/05/tag-by-mchkoii.html
joshuaongyss last blog post..Tag By Mchkoii
By Gary R. Hess on May 31, 2008 |
School should definitely be fun. The students interact more and don’t dread Mondays.
Everything like Powder Puff dancing and Powder Puff football was organized by the student council when I was in high school, as was pretty much anything related to fund raising. I was my class representative for two years, so I experienced first hand on what our student council did. It was fun too and we did several things behind closed doors that wasn’t mentioned publicly, even in the student newspaper.
One thing, was all the money we raised from the candy/snack machines went towards buying presents for the children in need for Christmas. So what we did was go to stores, run around buying everything we thought would be fun for an elementary school student, then hand them off anonymously. I’m sure that made several young kids happy, and ourselves. Some of us were happy for our own selfish reasons though, like being able to skip school to go shopping.
Gary R. Hesss last blog post..Absolute vs Relative Internal Linking
By Margaret on Jun 1, 2008 |
I’m in total agreement that school should be something kids look forward to. I always did and never missed a day of school unless I was deathly ill. I don’t know that all my schools were fun per se, but I am someone who has always been curious about the world around her and school was my way of finding out what it was all about.
ê¿ê
By Saphrym on Jun 16, 2008 |
I love teachers who make school fun. I’ve done quite a bit of research and trials for using humor in the classroom. When humor is used effectively, the class tends to do much better with their school work.