WILL ELIMINATING CHAINING CHILDREN HURT EDUCATION?

WILL ELIMINATING CHAINING CHILDREN HURT EDUCATION?

Education is a tough business. Teachers are constantly challenged to perform and deliver miracles every day. They are required to teach an ever more diverse student population, using constantly changing curricula, provide social and health services, and assume the roles of parent, counselor, disciplinarian, role model, confidant and friend. Sadly, two recent global events are going to make their jobs even more demanding. These changes have to do with eliminating chaining children and reducing the importance of the apostrophe. Let me explain.

Our society has reduced the number of disciplinary options available to deal with disruptive and truant students. Children can no longer be subject to corporal punishment, be kept after school, or forced to do extra homework or participate in physical chores as punishment for misbehavior. Consequently, student deportment and language have all continued to deteriorate. A disciplinary alternative that is practiced in Senegal, which held some promise, has now been ruled illegal.

A court in Senegal has handed down a two-year suspended prison sentence to the head of a Koranic school for chaining up children. All the defendants told the court that the parents had asked for their children to be chained up after they were caught skipping classes. Four parents and the metalworker who made the chains also received suspended sentences. They were all arrested last month after a photo shared on social media showed several students with chains around their feet. Many thousands of children attend Koranic schools, and some parents have said they didn't know chaining a child was illegal.

If the Senegalese appeal the court decision it might still be possible to eventually implement it in our school systems. I will keep you posted.

Another very critical blow to our educational system was also just revealed. For nearly two decades, John Richards dedicated his life to protecting an endangered species: the correctly placed apostrophe. As the founder of the Apostrophe Protection Society, he waged war against signs advertising “ladies fashions” or claiming that “Diamond’s are forever.” But last month, the 96-year-old admitted defeat. “The ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won!” Richards wrote on the Apostrophe Protection Society’s website. Given the lack of interest in correct apostrophe usage and his own advancing age, Richards recently announced that he is shutting down the group.

Though his days of lobbying on behalf of the apostrophe are over, Richards wrote last month that he plans to keep the society’s website up “for reference and interest.” Over the years, fans have submitted examples such a cafe advertising “light bite’s,” a warehouse offering storage for “boat’s” and “car’s,” and a restaurant selling “snow pea’s.” Richards told the BBC that he might once again return to campaigning, though this time for a different cause. “The use of the comma is appalling,” he said. Let us hope that he has more luck with the comma than the apostrophe!

So by removing another possible disciplinary alternative and ignoring another element of correct punctuation, teachers will continue to be handicapped in doing their jobs. Where and when will it ever end?