First off, sorry for the delayed response. I had to remember what the heck I was talking about nearly 4 months ago...
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Originally Posted by GGCO
What's the problem? "Oh Johnny is a straight A student, but he stays up late at night and works really hard for his grades. We should stop it. It's not fair to students who don't work hard and get poor grades." That's a bunch of hooey.
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No one ever mentioned homework so I am not sure where this is coming from.
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And what's wrong with being obsessed with a problem? What if Bill Gates had been told to stop spending so much time at his high school's computer lab coding? Or Edison to stop staying up all night working away? Or Dean Kamen to stop thinking about the Segway? So what kind of message does this send to students? "Homework is important, but you can only spend a small amount of time on it. What's more important is that you have fun, and enjoy life".
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Actually, obsession is not healthy. There is a lot of joking about how people are "overdosed on FIRST" but for the most part we need to lead normal lives. Diversifying our interests is good for the human mind and schools should encourage students to take part in many activities and discourage one activity from consuming an inordinate amount of a student's time. Actually, I do think that schools should make it clear to teachers and students that part of high school is also about what happens outside the classroom setting.
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Yeah - like that's the kind of attitude we really need right now.
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The attitude that you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar? Actually, yes it is. Statements about how it is not enforceable or how it is "stupid" don't mean anything when the people in charge think of your team as a bunch of "petulant little snots" and decide to teach you a lesson. I don't often get along with people but I know that when I want something I have to give something in return.
If I want an exception to a policy that I feel is overly restrictive I need to make a valid case. I need to start off with acknowledging that the intent of the policy is sound but the implementation conflicts with our goals (which the school presumably agrees with). Then you need to outline how you have a series of policies in place that adhere with the intent of the policy. Finally you need to prove that your policies were effective the following year. This will help you in the future should you find yourself in conflict again.
The other alternative which I see employed is to resort to attacking the person. Saying the administrators are "misguided, power hungry, control freaks who smell of hamster dung" is sure to NOT work.*
Furthermore, the school has decided to implement this policy. We can debate if it is needed (personally, I feel it is a noble goal but I disagree with it) until the pigs blow up but that won't make any difference. Instead perhaps this discussion should move towards how teams have helped teach students proper time management skills. Perhaps also we should look at what we, as mentors, can do to help students become more balanced.
*Do not ask for more details on how I know this...