My middle schooler came home and told me that all students are required to have a transparent plastic water bottle at school every day to carry with them. Why transparent plastic? Because some small minded individual decided that they have a right to monitor what a child drinks.
At first I thought she must have misunderstood, because come on! There is no way a school is going to require a child haul around a water bottle along with their iThing. No one in their right mind would combine the possibility of water and technology. I was wrong.
There it was on the list of ‘What you must to bring to class’ and right under the list was a statement “if you do not have the things listed it will effect your grade”.
*SIGH* SO YOU KNOW ME!
There are several different ways I could start this email.
1. I could start with the fact that having a water bottle shouldn’t be part of their grade.
No kidding! It’s part of “being prepared for class”. One teacher even highlighted it in a list of ‘What you must to bring to class’. If kids are not prepared for class it hurts their grade – and I don’t mean that figuratively – I mean it literally. Their grades can drop because they do not have what is required for the class and a plastic transparent water bottle is one of the things on the list.
2. It’s probably important to mention that plastic, of any kind, is nothing but chemicals. Regardless if it is BPH free – plastic is chemicals. A metal water bottle has far fewer chemicals making it a healthier choice.
3. If students are required to have a water bottle all day during school than the school should be required to provide said water bottle.
4. WHY do they require kids to use iThings and have water bottles on the same desk as the technology? They are just asking for trouble.
5. However, the Big Issue I have is that the school has no right, what so ever, to monitor what my child drinks.
Alcohol is the same color as water and they can smell it, so they can’t say they are looking for Alcohol.
They can’t say it is in case of a fight because the plastic water bottles that cost $25 will do just as much damage as the metal bottles AND if the plastic fractured could be used as a sharp object.
My child doesn’t drink anything but plain water, but if I want to send a metal water bottle with my child that is my decision. If I want to fill it with Grape Kool Aid that’s my choice. Science has proven that sugar does NOT make children or anyone else hyper.
Schools need to take a giant step back and realize that they have no right to monitor or regulate what children do. I am tired of having these conversations and just as tired of explaining to my daughter that she has rights and what those rights are.
You must follow laws, but not necessarily rules. Rules can infringe on your rights, so you must always think though the rules before mindlessly following them.
Of course it is hard to tell a child to respect their teachers in one breath and then explain that those same teachers need to be put in their place when they start to regulate what she does.
This is the second incident this year with just the Middle School.
The first incident: a teacher gave out a homework sheet that asked ‘Getting to know you’ questions that included ‘What time do you go to bed?’ ‘Do you have a computer in your room?’ and ‘How do you use your computer?’.
Then when I questioned the homework I was informed that the children were told they didn’t have to answer anything that makes them feel uncomfortable – I wanted to say “like all the sexual predator questions?”
Schools need to get themselves in check and concentrate on teaching.
