No love for traffic light school

Why is it that school for a first-grader has to turn the fun of learning into the drudgery of toeing the line?

In the traffic light system of behavioral herding, Jordan got his marker moved to yellow yesterday for laughing at something one of his table mate's did.

LAUGHING.

My Lord in heaven, save us from the perversion of having a classroom of laughing six year olds! Future terrorists, the lot of them. Drown that laughter in punishment quickly before it becomes genuine hilarity.

You're sensing I'm not on board with the whole Shut up, Listen, Don't Bother Anyone mindset. You're right. I don't like it.

What is so great about a system that changes a boy's eager anticipation to learn into fear that he doesn't measure up to the Green Light of Success? Is it good that now he looks forward to the school day being over?

But hey, let's not let that be the end of it. Let's coach parents into punishing the little brats for moving to yellow. Take away his privileges at home so that not only does he not look forward to going to school, now he doesn't want to face going home, where he'll be branded a loser again.

When a child breaks into tears because his idea of self-worth is torn down by a class system that wants to turn kids into bumps on logs--future fat-assed bureaucrats--I lose sleep.

I'm sure Jordan does plenty to warrant warnings and yellow lights. It's his nature. It should be the nature for EVERY six-year-old child.

The punishment system generally reacts to the last one to break the rule. The last speeder in the line of speeders gets stopped by the patrol. In one of Sunday's football games, a player committed an infraction and another player retaliated. The retaliating player was called for the foul.

In kind of a sinister, back-handed attempt to teach "turn the other cheek," school--and life--force the first one to be wronged into keeping quiet lest he suffer the added degradation of being blamed for doing unto others as they did unto him. What lesson does this teach?

I pray for better days for my little boy.