Sept 20, 2018, Schenectady (NY) Daily Gazette: District gathers feedback from parents about improving schools https://dailygazette.com/article/2018/09/20/district-gathers-feedback-from-parents-about-improving-schools … The comments came as part of one of nearly two dozen focus groups the district hosted this week with parents, students, teachers and community members as they gathered input in what the district should focus on in the coming years. In recent years, the district has shifted its approach to handling disruptive student behavior, emphasizing “restorative” practices that aim to address behavior constructively rather than punitively. But the parents said they were worried that approach has come off as overly permissive or even rewarding of behavior that made it difficult for other students to learn. They asked: What does it look like to the students who are behaving themselves in class and trying to study if the disruptive students are allowed to leave the class for a walk or get sent to a special calming space. “Some of the bad kids get rewarded,” Casper said, relaying the kinds of things she said she has heard from her kids. “What do I get for doing what I’m supposed to?” Janine Johnson said she wishes her daughter’s teachers could offer her more attention instead of focusing on disruptive students. She said the bad behavior seemed to be reinforced at times.
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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