My daughter is afraid to go to school tomorrow. Today she had a reprieve as she had been vomiting during the night, so I kept her home. She was fine all day of course, so tomorrow she has to go. And she's dreading it because she got some questions wrong on her exam papers and her teacher has a policy of using corporal punishment to try to get the kids to do better. It doesn't work. Well, it hasn't worked for either of my kids.
As you do when kids are absent, I wrote a letter to explain why she was away, but I took it a little further and explained how my daughter is feeling about being in her class. It took me three drafts and the better part of an hour to get across my message without making it sound like I was telling her off (which is really what I'd like to do - God help her if we meet up - I'll really give her a piece of my mind then).
So this is what I wrote:
Dear Teacher,
Jilian was absent today because she had an upset stomach and had been vomiting during the night. I think this was due to the stress she has been having about school. She is worried about the consequences of her exam results. Although she studied hard, her results were not as good as they could have been because of this stress. I would not like to see her punished as she has tried her best.
Please understand that we do not speak, read or write Chinese at home and quite often she cannot read the questions you ask her to do. She does have a tutor, but her tutor is not available all the time to help her when she needs it.
I would appreciate any patience and understanding you are able to give her. As a teacher myself, I know how busy you must be, but I would be grateful for your co-operation in this matter, as I want my daughter to love school, not be afraid of it.
Thankyou
Jilians Mum
What I really wanted to write was much nastier and to the point - something like "keep your fucking cane off my kids, bitch." I would not like to lay eyes on that woman right now. But I can't do that so I have to appeal to her in other ways. We'll see if it works. If it doesn't, I'll have a few words to the vice principal - again. I hate this part of life here the most. Ex just laughs it off, saying it's part of school life here. I don't agree - on so many levels. So we don't talk about this, because if he asked me something about it, I'm not sure I could contain my anger.
I wanted so much for my kids to love school, but at the moment, they just hate it. :(
1 comment:
I am a great believer in discipline at school but corporal punishment is no ones solution to a problem. I had an opposite reaction from a teacher at Matts school. He got disciplined (told off)for sticking a rubber glove on his head, as a consequence he missed his bus home The teacher let him ring me to organise a pickup. I as usual just said start walking into town (20min)and catch the next bus and while you are walking think about how silly you acted. The teacher went into a tailspin thinking i had reacted a bit harshly and asked him if he would be corporally punished at home and organised a ride for Matt to the front door to ensure all would be OK. He thought my reaction was a bit callous.
I just thought I was teaching my son responsibilty.
oh well call me a hard arse and have a good laught at that, my son came up the winner getting a free ride home.
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