Re: study of red****rting (late entrance to kndergarten)

In article <l87i84dipbvh8r3qfkao02eqc1ftj4tr3g@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
 Rosalie B. <gmbeasley@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> We don't have anything like prefects or captains.  AFAIK, no students
> are given say over other students other than perhaps crossing guards,
> and that's really outside school and no privileges that I know or.
> Hall monitors are teachers.  

The idea here is to give some responsibility to those students who are
ready 
for it and who are accepted as leaders by the student body.  I suspect
that 
there was some vote-rigging going on -- probably teacher votes were
included 
(or worth more than one point) or unsuitable elections were ignored.

> If anyone gives anything to teachers, the room moms or maybe the PTA
> or other teachers do it.  My mom once organized a shower for my 2-3
> grade teacher when she got married, but that's the only time I
> remember anything like that.  Any time there were prize givings, it
> would be done by the principal.  
> 
> There are kids who get to do the AV stuff and also there are usually
> some who do the morning announcements, which now-a-days might be
> televised.

Assemblies are still held outside at my son's school, and announcements
are 
given mainly by teachers and so on, but at special events, such as 
prize-givings, the captains give the formal welcome to parents and
dignitaries 
on behalf of the students.  Oh -- no in-school telly here AFAIK.

> We do have elections for Student reps, and sometimes there is a
> student member that attends the School Board meetings, but that's
> outside of school.

Our SRC holds its own meetings with the principal in school hours, I
assume.  
We don't have school boards as primary and secondary education is a state 
responsibility, but most public schools have a Parents' and Citizens' 
Association -- there is a state body to which they affiliate, which
provides 
public liability insurance for functions and lobbies the government.  I am
not 
sure about how the SRC is organised -- there are two reps elected to it
from 
Years 3 to 5, but I think more from Year 6 (from which the captains are
drawn).

> >At DS1's primary school, the children never go anywhere alone, 
> >but only in pairs, so a classmate always accompanies a child to the
office, 
> >sick-bay or toilet.  I don't know if the older children go anywhere
alone 
> >during class time (DS1 is 7 and in Year 2), but I think not.
> 
> Teachers walk the students to lunch etc.  Teachers and sometimes paid
> or unpaid people monitor the playground.

I didn't mean at official movement times, just for errands and suchlike.  

> Of course there isn't any
> outside recess once you get past 5th grade unless the teachers put it
> into the schedule for their group.  The schools at that level have no
> playgrounds, so the recess is in the parking lot.

Crikey, no wonder you guys have an obesity problem.  And disciplinary
problems 
too, I shouldn't wonder -- where do the kids run off their energy and get
rid 
of the fidgets?  When do they talk to their friends?  DS1 has about 1.5
hours 
a day outside, spread over two breaks.  High-schoolers (Years 7-12) get
less 
-- maybe a 15-min recess and a 50-minute lunch, but I can't remember
exactly.  
How much time a week would a class spend on s****t?  I think DS1 gets two 
hours/wk, and I think we had 160 mins a week of PE in high school.

> >> Honor roll is students who have top grades in all subjects. In some 
> >> schools, 
> >> it's divided into two categories, those who have the absolute top
grade in 
> >> every class, and those who have mostly the top grade, with maybe 1
class 
> >> where they're one rank lower. Students also must have good conduct
and 
> >> regular attendance.
> >
> >I see -- that would be recognised here with the annual (or
twice-yearly) 
> >merit 
> >awards for best/achievement/most improved in Subjectname.  THere is
also 
> >usually an overall academic excellence award and a good/most improved 
> >conduct 
> >award.
> 
> This isn't the one who gets the HIGHEST achievement in maths (sic) or
> some one subject, this is EVERYONE who gets top grades in all their
> subjects including things like band and PE.  

Just looked through some of my old re****ts, and I would never have got
into 
such a thing in primary school, despite being the proverbial "excellent 
student, joy to teach". My handwriting wasn't dreadful, but it wasn't 
excellent, and my maths was often not in the top band either, though
overall I 
would have been in the top 10%.  Going by my son's re****t, it is now even
more 
difficult to attain the top band than it was -- the rumour is that an A is

about two years ahead of grade level, as C means competency "at grade
level".  
As for PE...!!  I spent Years 7-10 at high school terrified that I would
fail 
PE and be forced to repeat a year.  My high school marks are percentages,
so 
it's rather difficult to tell, but I think I'm pretty safe in saying that
such 
an honour roll at an Australian school would be a list of one or two names
-- 
say 1% of students.

> We don't give a special
> award for improved conduct or improved academics either, although
> conduct is noted in the elementary levels or at least it was when my
> kids were in school.  

I think those awards would only be given in primary schools here, too.

> When we got to college, the people who had the requisite grades were
> on the Dean's List (or in the case of the military academies, the
> Superintendent's List).  

LOL, and what privileges would *they* get?  The mind boggles... a free
beer at 
the bar?  First choice of rat for dissection?

-- 
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia 
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/