Years ago I was talking with a very sweet teacher at one of the strictest schools I had ever seen. The children were amazing, the parents were amazing, and the staff was amazing. But that teacher mentioned to me, you have to put in reasonable rules if you want children to learn to respect rules.
If you put in rules that are frivolous, children grow up learning to disrespect rules. They had to balance this approach with their students, and sometimes they lost because you’d see the children lose their joy.
When Head Masters were hired that understood this important task, everything worked so much better. When a teacher is charged with policing the height of socks on an ankle, kids can figure out how absurd those rules can be.
Now that we’ve made teachers into the mask police, I’m starting to see what she meant. These kids are starting to lose respect for rules, and those in charge of enforcing the mask mandate.
Parents have lost respect for the people in charge of their school district, and we are seeing that backlash played out in school board meetings around the state.
What is all of this doing to children who have been struggling the last few years under schools shutting down, activities and sports being canceled, and now they are forced to wear masks when they don’t have to wear one anywhere outside the school?
There are many issues to consider, but one is, the forcing of compliance.
How are we treating students whose parents have already acknowledged they don’t need to wear a mask? They are watching their parents dismissed as the authority in their child’s life. Someone else, who does not know their children, now gets to decide what is best for them. In addition, if the child does not comply with these rules, they will be punished.
Look at the way this school administrator addressed the parents:
This is a school in Derry, NH.
He did come back and try to smooth over the damage with another statement by dropping the punishment. That’s certainly better than letting it stand, but it really gives you a glimpse into the kind of authoritarianism these public school administrators are showing.
Newmarket is up next. In Newmarket, students will face suspension if they go maskless. Remember when suspensions were reserved for bad behavior that needed a serious consequence? By instituting these kinds of policies that undermine parental authority, these schools have put themselves in a position of having to issue consequences.
They are turning rule-following students into kids who are not going to respect the rules. Many of these kids are good kids who never get into trouble. Some of them would defy rules anyway. As you can see, your good kids are beginning to lose respect for rules.
Forcing kids to grow up in an atmosphere where they have to comply with rules that make no sense, undermine their parent’s authority, are contributing to physical and mental health issues, isn’t good for kids either. In fact, I find it scary.
One parent in Newmarket brought it all to a head when she was quoted as saying, “I think if they are going to require them to wear masks then they should not be using cloth masks because they don’t work. If anything, they should provide each child with an N95 mask that will actually do something to protect the child and teachers.” (Parent Jolene Felix)
Parents see the absurdity and hypocrisy in these mandates, and she called them on it.
From the Seacoast Online article: ”
“If they want to police the students and harp on them about something how about the illegal smoking devices used in the bathrooms and hallways that jeopardize everyone’s health and well-being. Or how about policing the social distancing? I have seen social media posts of the hallways packed with kids.”
Parent Erika Hiera said she was one of a number of parents who advocated for a mask optional policy at the beginning of the school year.”
See the hypocrisy in the rules and enforcement?
It would help to check your school’s ESSER3 funds application to see if any promises were made to the federal government to keep those masks on in order to keep those federal dollars $$$ flowing into the school. Sometimes they sell your kids out for federal $$$, proving this wasn’t about health, it was about chasing federal $$$ money.
You can’t put parents in charge of their child’s masks because the federal govt. may not reward your school with $$ money.
With school board elections coming up in March, start asking questions of the candidates. It is more important than ever to find candidates who respect parents.
