I wish to share this letter with the readers. Are any of you having this experience?

My 7-year old son came home last week and asked me "Mummy, do I make you sick?" I was taken aback. I reassured him that he did not and that I loved him profusely. I went on to ask him why he had asked that question. It turns out that a certain teacher, who had sat with his class for a period of time during that week, had told the class that they made her sick. This comment had been the piece de resistance of a tirade of negative comments made to the children about their behaviour. This was the method that she chose to use to get a class of 25 7-year olds to keep quiet. As far as I am concerned, there has got to be a better way.

Dealing with Issue of Discipline
Now that the Ministry of Education and the JTA are insisting that teachers not administer physical blows to children in school, some teachers have turned instead to trying the make children behave by making negative comments about them. The Ministry and the JTA will need to address the obvious lack of coping skills that is evident in many of today's teachers. My son's Grade 1 teacher had a formula that worked. On the very first day of class in Grade 1 she lay down the rules. She told them that there was a time to play and a time to work and when it was work time, nothing else would be tolerated. She was firm when she had to be without hurting their feelings and they loved being 'rewarded' with her smiles and her kind, enthusiastic comments about their work and test performance. Why can't other teachers be like that?

Yes, I know that each teacher is a different personality, but schools need to institute the use of Best Practices. Prep schools are businesses (just check out those school fees and you'll see what I mean) and just as other entities benefit from the use of Best Practices, schools need to examine what works best and ensure that everyone on staff uses those techniques. Prep schools are after all competing for business and they compete based on the reputation they enjoy. That reputation was largely built on the number of Common Entrance passes and scholarships a prep school garnered each year. Now with the GSAT exam in place, while these are still important, parents have also become more concerned about the whole experience that their child will have.

Maintaining Discipline in the Classroom
Managing 25 children is no easy task. Managing 25 children and creating a learning environment is a challenge, but hopefully one that Teacher's College prepared teachers for. If this is not the case, then the institution of Best Practices as suggested before would provide new teachers with the skills they will need to accomplish their primary goal that of imparting the syllabus of topics to the kids. It appears to me that teachers need on-going refresher courses in areas such as "How to Recognize Attention Deficit Disorder", "Coping with Kids who are Not Disciplined at Home" and "Managing Stress". The fact is that some of the children in today's classrooms have not been exposed to the 'rules' that the teachers expect that they have. So, as was the case with the teacher who told my son's class that they made her sick, those children whose parents say negative things to them all the time were unaffected, those whose parents treat them with respect, were very concerned.

Getting the Children to Monitor Themselves
At my son's school like many others, teachers leave other kids 'in charge' if they have to step out of the classroom. That's O.K. because it seems to me that children practice Zero Tolerance naturally. Yes, it has its own problems (doesn't everything) kids who always insist on being chosen for this duty, kids who report on everyone except their friends etc. I would ask that teachers tap into this natural predisposition and provide the children with clear guidelines for resolving their disputes. Teachers should not be required to resolve every squabble, nor should they tell children who have been wronged to keep quiet because they complain too much. PALS has a place in every school.

Looking for a Good School
I have a number of concerns about the school that my child currently attends and so I am asking parents out there for feedback to help me identify a school that I'd be happy to have my child attend. Here is what I am looking for:

• An environment where children and parents are treated with respect
  
• Teachers who really like children and who are in the classroom because they want to be there NOT because it is the only job they could find
  
• Teachers who use innovative teaching methods and encourage children to think
  
• A system of discipline based on the Golden Rule - "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"
  
• Adequate and Clean bathrooms, classrooms and playground facilities
  
• An environment in which character not material possessions count
  
• And what may be the most difficult to find, a school with male grade teachers. My son has noted how few male teachers there are and has commented that none are grade teachers. Based on his experience this school year, his concern is that the grade teachers he will have will not be fair to the boys.

I would really appreciate the help. Thanks!

*Names suppressed to protect the guilty